John Walker Lindh challenges US on Solitary Detention

John Walker Lindh, so-called American Taliban, has put forth a lawsuit via ACLU that will challenge the present US federal prison policy of isolation for Muslims. Walker Lindh is presently detained in a a Communication Management Unit, or CMU, a form of detention designed to severely restrict prisoner communication with family members, the media and the outside world.  The AP reports, 

Praying in his cell is not appropriate, he said, because the Quran requires a ritually clean place for prayer and he is forced to kneel "in close proximity to my toilet."

Lindh wrote that Muslims in the unit are currently being allowed to pray together once a day during Ramadan. At other times, the group prayers had been limited to once a week, court documents said.

The suit seeks class action status.  24 of the 41 CMU inmates are Muslim and the program is criticized as a form of repressive punishment largely discriminatory against political activists. Here is a clip form last year about CMU's from democracynow.org:



In a separate case, five CMU prisoners and two of their wives complain that the units place draconian restrictions on inmates' contact with the outside world and even their own families without offering any reason. They also say inmates can be placed in the CMU without being told why, and have no way to earn their way out.

The government contends that conditions at the CMU_ where inmates are free to leave their cells to watch television or play basketball, but not to hug their loved ones when they come to visit — don't violate prisoners' civil rights .