From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Solitary confinement and prison reform.

Hello again, I'm Marvin Olney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Some 88,000 inmates of state and federal prisons are in some form of solitary confinement,

although it's not called by its real name.

Concerned about abusive detention, even on death row, has reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The mental damage caused by isolation is well known, but often inmates are

released directly from solitary into the general population outside. Some prison systems are

trying to change their ways. We'll look at the practice of solitary confinement and the available

alternatives. Today's talking point, can a chicken become a dinosaur? First, here's the news.

Listen to KCRW's 24-hour all-news channel, stream BBC World Service, NPRW programs,

continuous coverage and accessible via our smartphone app or online at kCRW.

Support for To the Point comes from the members of KCRW and from the Public Radio International Program Fund.

Hello again, we're on. I'll be back with To the Point. More than a hundred years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged the cruelty of solitary confinement.

Recently, the suicide of a New York teenager, isolated for two years without ever being charged, has created an uproar.

Why is solitary still used?

Where are the alternatives?

Today's talking point, Jurassic World may not be a fantasy after all.

Researchers have modified the beak of a chicken to resemble the snout of a dinosaur.

We'll talk with a paleontologist who says a dino chicken is about to be made real.

First is news update.

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