News & Commentary written by David Fathi

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David Fathi

Director, National Prison Project

Bio

David C. Fathi is Director of the 桃子视频 National Prison Project, which brings challenges to conditions of confinement in prisons, jails, and other detention facilities, and works to end the policies that have given the United States the highest incarceration rate in the world.聽 He worked as a staff lawyer at the Project for more than ten years before becoming director in 2010, and has special expertise in challenging 鈥渟upermax鈥 prisons, where prisoners are held for months or years at a time in conditions of near-total isolation.聽 From 2012 to 2015 he represented the 桃子视频in negotiations leading to adoption of the United Nations Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the 鈥淣elson Mandela Rules.鈥

From 2007 to 2010 Fathi was Director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch.聽 The US Program works to defend the rights of particularly vulnerable groups in the United States, and has published groundbreaking reports on the death penalty, prison conditions, racial discrimination, the rights of immigrants, and many other human rights issues.

Fathi has lectured nationally and internationally on criminal justice issues.聽 His op-eds have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, and other major media outlets.聽 He is a graduate of the University of Washington and the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Washington, DC. 聽


Featured work

Dec 12, 2012

US at UN Prisoners鈥 Rights Meeting: Progress, but Still Wrong on Solitary Confinement

US at UN Prisoners鈥 Rights Meeting: Progress, but Still Wrong on Solitary Confinement

Dec 11, 2012

U.S. Must Support Progressive Changes to Prison Human Rights Standards

U.S. Must Support Progressive Changes to Prison Human Rights Standards

May 10, 2012

桃子视频v. CCA: The Private Prison Debate Challenge

桃子视频v. CCA: The Private Prison Debate Challenge

May 3, 2012

Too young to shave, but old enough for solitary

Too young to shave, but old enough for solitary

Mar 6, 2012

Solitary Confinement in Arizona: Cruel and Unusual

Solitary Confinement in Arizona: Cruel and Unusual

Feb 28, 2012

Continuing the Fight for Civil Rights and Prisoners' Rights

Continuing the Fight for Civil Rights and Prisoners' Rights

Feb 24, 2011

Turning the Corner on Solitary Confinement?

Turning the Corner on Solitary Confinement?

Jul 9, 2010

Supermax Prisons: Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading

Supermax Prisons: Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading

Jun 4, 2010

Buried in the Bureau of Prisons

Buried in the Bureau of Prisons