Date Type Case No Country Mandate(s) Summary of the allegation transmitted Reply USA 3/2013 Torture; 18/03/2013 United States of AL America Alleged practices throughout New York state prisons that subject thousands of incarcerated persons to prolonged solitary confinement, other extreme isolation practices, and inhuman or degrading conditions of detention. According to the information received, in 39 prisons across New York state, nearly 4,500 prisoners are held in isolation cells, or Special Housing Units (SHUs), each day. It is further reported that more than 68,000 sentences placing inmates in SHUs have been imposed as punishment or disciplinary sanctions for violations of prison rules by inmates between 2007 and 2011. It is alleged that while the average length of the sentences is five months, many prisoners are held in extreme isolation for several years. It is alleged that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) places no limits on the number of consecutive SHU sentences a prisoner may be forced to serve. Mr. William Blake, aged 49, has allegedly been held in a barren concrete cell with no furnishings other than a steel bed frame for 25 consecutive years. Mr. Stephan Poole received a sentence of 36 months in the SHU for allegedly planning an escape and has reportedly accumulated additional lengthy SHU sentences for non-violent prison infractions. Mr. Kenneth Wright has been repeatedly confined to SHU as punishment for using marijuana, despite proactively seeking treatment from the DOCCS. EGY 5/2013 20/03/2013 Egypt JAL Allegations relating to a new draft law on associations which, if passed without changes, 19/05/2013 would violate international law and standards pertaining to the right to freedom of association. According to the information received, on 7 March 2013 a new draft law on associations, presented by the Freedom and Justice Party, was presented before the Human Development Committee of the Shura Council. Several provisions of this draft law would unduly and severely restrict the rights to freedom of association and of peaceful assembly. Freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Human rights defenders; Violence against women; A/HRC/24/21 19