Weban inmate looks out a window in his solitary confinement cell at the main jail in san jose. Gavin newsom vetoed a bill that would have limited solitary confinement in state prisons. Webabout 122,840 people in federal and state adult prisons and federal and local jails were placed in restrictive housing — informally known as solitary confinement. Websolitary confinement is never the answer: Webin recent years, prison officials have increasingly turned to solitary confinement as a way to manage difficult or dangerous prisoners. Many of the prisoners subjected to isolation,.