Second in a three-part report on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.
Level 6 of New Mexico's state penitentiary in Santa Fe is a dense complex of prison cells, stacked tight. As the gate opens, men's faces press against narrow glass windows. They spend 23 hours a day in solitary.
Security is so high that talking to one of the inmates, Nicklas Trujeque, requires a guard passing a microphone through the food port of his cell door.
Trujeque has a round, pock-marked face, dark eyebrows and a thin mustache. Tattoos climb his neck to his ears. He's 29. He's been in and out of jail since he was 11, often for violent crimes.
[For more of this story, written by Natasha Haverty, go to http://www.npr.org/2015/08/24/...-moves-toward-change]
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