a change in tone from a church that's clamped down on dissenters. now, a special report from lucky severson on the debate over solitary confinement for many prisoners. sometimes or the decades. is that morally wrong, necessary to protect others or something in between? >> on any given day it's estimated there are 80,000 americans locked in a small cell for 24 hours or more per day. it's known as solitary confinement. sometimes called segregation, restricted housing or if you're one of the inmates flat time or the hole. >> you can imagine yourself locked in a closet. >> heather rice-minus is with the prison fellowship ministries. it takes a position as do other religious organizations that solitary confinement is an unchristian practice. researchers have found it often does more harm than good.

>> many of the people that they worked with who were held in solitary confinement experienced paranoia. hallucinations, depression. some reacted eventually with violent, uncontrollable anger. >> bobby delalo knows what it was like. he was in solitary for five year. >> you go crazy. you hear guys saying yeah, what? the ventilator called his name. a thing that really scared me in there is i was watching my humanity and compassion slipping out of my grasp. >> john russer is chairman of the washington, d.c. corrections officers union. he thinks as do many prison guards nationwide the solitary is getting a bad rap. it's necessary to preserve the safety of inmates and guards within the prison. >> i do not see how you could run a prison system at all

without -- without some type of segregation. and i don't prefer to use the term solitary -- >> solitary? >> solitary, yes. i think that has too many negative c negati negligent connotation. >> and bobby delalo ended up in solitary after trying to escape. >> five years and one month for trying to escape. i embarrassed the department of corrections. >> when he got out of prison he volunteered to work with the quaker program focusing on prisoner's rights. ironically it was the quakers who first introduced solitary confinement, thinking it would give the guilty some time by themselves to feel sorrow for their actions. now the quakers are working to a abolish solitary.

christopher epps is trying to do his part. his conversion occurred in 2007. >> it was a real bad year. worst year that i ever had since i have been in corrections which is 32 years. >> the mississippi department of corrections had a serious problem at the state's super max prison. an outbreak of inmate violence, stabbings, killings, suicides. but instead of putting the prison on total lockdown which is what usually happen, the corrections commission took a giant leap. >> this was a major decision. i mean, to take individuals that had been locked up for years and take them from a single cell and put them in the general population unit, it was a major decision. >> not one that was politically popular in an election year in a state that prides itself as being tough on criminals. the commissioner who once locked a thousand inmates in solitary removed 700 to the general prison population, and violence

inside the prison went down 40%. >> i have watched inmates placed in the single cell and over a period of time i watched the mental capacity change severely. i think that if you treat them like animals, that's exactly the way they behave. >> the hate, anger and rage was totally out of control. it's hard to explain to you, but cutting guys' heads off in my mind and rolling them down the corridor. that was relieving to me. >> but many corrections officers say that's precisely why you need solitary -- who us to hous really bad guys, the rapists, assaulters and crazies. >> if you work in solitary, the chances of you being assaulted, the chances of having bodily fluids thrown on you, i mean, you are in there in a very, very

volatile situation. >> the top reasons for placing someone when they look at the records of discipline infraction of why the person went there are not because of significant safety risks, but are refusing an order. being in the wrong place at the wrong time. just minor rule violations. being a nuisance. >> what all sides agree on, there are far too many people in prison who are mentally ill who need help and that's especially true in solitary. >> i guarantee you that the district's jail is the largest mental health provider in the district of columbia. i guarantee you. >> for those in solitary the question is, are they put there because they're mentally or does solitary cause mental illness? >> in today's world, we're getting so many mental health people walking through the door that in some cases it's protective custody and in some cases they're out in the general population and acting out and it's causing problems.

>> they're locking people up in solitary confinement to prevent this violent behavior, in fact it may instigate because of the impact on their mental health. you know, even more violent behavior. >> anti-solitary activists say it's not uncommon for prisons to release an inmate directly from solitary into the community. a study in washington state showed those inmates are far more likely to commit more crimes. >> there is a perception that solitary confinement equals safety, whereas i would argue solitary confinement equals a threat to public safety. >> 97% of the people in prison today are coming to the street. the real question is how do you want them back in the street? better or worse than they went in? they're coming out worse. >> what's driving the effort to seriously cut back on solitary confinement as much as anything else is money.

>> it's about $102 a day and a regular inmate is about $41.50 a day. everything for the most part is room service. you bring his meal to him. bring his medication to him. >> we requested an interview with officials at the federal bureau of prisons which houses over 12,000 inmates in solitary. they declined the interview but they stated it publicly in a senate hearing in 2012. then the bureau director said the use of restricted housing or solitary remains a critical management tool. few argue that solitary should be abolished all together. mississippi commissioner epps still has 300 inmates in segregation out of over 22,000 in state prisons. he recommends that inmates in solitary be reviewed every seven days by an impartial committee. the man who spent more than five years of his life in solitary agrees. >> when you've got an individual

that was really, you know, out of control, where do you put him? you have to put him in the segregation unit. but that doesn't mean you have to keep him there for years and years. don't just put him in there and weld the door shut. >> when the mississippi commissioner closed the state's super max segregation unit, it saved the state nearly $6 million annually. that's one reason commissioner epps who is president of the american correctional association has become a pied piper against solitary confinement as he travels around the country. >> without that, stop talking about the crime, we get smart on crime. so you and our tax dollars can be spent the way it was meant to be spent and still trying -- instead of trying to impress someone. >> for "religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm lucky severson in jackson, mississippi.

we have a profile today by bob faw on the enormously successful crime novelist james lee burke. his characters reveal the worst of human behavior, but his themes are classic and sometimes biblical. the mystery of evil. the struggle for salvation. >> james lee burke now 76 not only pounds a speed bag nearly an hour every day, he also still writes feverishly every day. turning out novels which have sold more than 10 million copies. burke's crime stories are modern morality plays about a world which is in his words intransgent and corrupt, where rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. >> i write about the world i know, and i try to write it in an accurate fashion.

>> burke has been called america's best novelist, but success didn't come easy. one of his early books was passed around two publishers for nine years. >> it was rejected by 111 editors. and it's a record in new york. this is the most rejected book in the history of publishing. everyone says that. >> once published it was nominated for the pulitzer prize. until he took jobs as a surveyor and even a social worker on skid row. >> it's a vanity, it's a conceit. every artist has this notion that he sees the truth about the world in an exquisite, perfect fashion. and he's compelled to tell others of his vision. he will have no peace until he does so. that's the compulsion. >> after all that time in the literary wilderness, burke

struck pay dirt, creating louisiana detective dave robicheaux, who like burke is a recovering alcoholic and is portrayed here by alec baldwin. >> i want to drink all the time. all those colored bottles. >> the subject now of two motion pictures and 20 novels, robicheaux tormented by alcoholism and depression, is a two-fisted st. augustine quoting lawman who patrols the demimonde, damaged but following the unerring compass. >> this character is based on the everyman character in the medieval morality and religious dramas. but also, primarily i see his antecedent as the good night in chaucer's canterbury's tales.

there's a peace maker in the pilgrimage. >> that pilgrimage says burke is what defines good literature. >> as far as redemption is concerned, i was speaking as an artist. i believe all the themes in occidental literature is about the search for salvation. it's the basic theme of western literature. and that's what we all end up painting, acting out in dramas or writing about. >> missy gets the last one because you're a slow poke. come here. >> robicheaux has brought burke fame and fortune. two horses on 120 acres, nestled in a towering tree lined valley in montana where he lives with his wife pearl and an impressive firearms collection he lovingly maintains. >> boy, a beautiful pair of guns. pearl gave me these for christmas.

>> and still he writes. 1,000 words on a good day. >> it's an incremental discovery. that's what i believe. the right line is there. you have to wait and you've got to hear it. you have to hear it. it's all in the unconscious. you just have to listen to it. listen for it. there. >> patiently copying on the a computer words he's earlier scribbled into one of the many notebooks at his bedside when he write something down in the middle of the night. >> and a piece of dialogue here that i know -- i don't know where it goes, but it goes somewhere in the novel. >> in his two latest books, burke draws upon both his roman catholic upbringing and education in classical literature. his voice says "the new york times" has grown more messianic, more biblical. >> this is from isaiah, chapter 43, verse 20. the wild beast will honor me.

the jackals and the ostriches. >> it's not just using an inscription from isaiah or language suffused with religious imaginary. >> the stories i've written are the passion plays. they come out of the new testament. the imaginary, the icon all have to do with golgotha. >> main turners and major motion pictures yes, but what burke is really doing is grappling with some unanswerable mysteries such as are there people who love evil for its own sake? >> a black wind blow the weather vane in the wrong direction and reshape our lives and turn us into people we no longer recognize? >> you talk about the darkness that can live in the human breast. you talk about men who have no parameters. >> yeah. there's no explanation. it's not just an aberration. it's something that allows them

to step over a line or as dave robicheaux says they murder all light in their souls. dave says they try to erase the thumb print of god from their souls. but nobody knows why. >> in his writings he might have wrestled with some of those eternal mysteries but burke does not pretend to have found the answers. >> when you get down into the top of the night, when you're standing on third base, you realize the great mysteries were going to remain the great mysteries. if wisdom comes with age, it has bypassed me like a freight train. >> in the end dave robicheaux though he rarely turns the other cheek does find a kind of peace and a perspective about what is important in life. >> at the bottom of the night, you count up the people you love, both friends and family, and you add their names to the fine places you have been and the good things you have done.

>> that's it. that's it, brother. i don't know if it's wisdom or not. it's the way it is. >> a no nonsense approach much like advice, burke was given long ago as a catholic schoolboy. >> a franciscan told me once, don't keep track of the score. the score will take care of itself. you never measure yourself in terms of days or weeks or months. in theology it's called the fundamental option. you make your choice, you make your troth, you never go back on that silent contract you make. and be pleasantly surprised at the arithmetic on the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth. that's how it works. >> james lee burke at 76 confronting the past, embracing the present, pounding away hard as ever. for "religion and ethics newsweekly," this is bob faw in montana.

a massive outpouring of grief in jerusalem this week. more than half a million israelis filled the streets to mourn the death of influential former chief sephardic rabbi ovadia yosef who died at the age of 93. yosef was the spiritual leader of the ultra orthodox shas political party. on our calendar hindus have two popular holidays celebrating the triumph of good over evil. the first is what honors the univers universal mom and then the lord rama's killing of the evil demon. as we noted, muslims are observing the hajj which culminates with the three-day festival of eid al-adha, the feast of sacrifice. it recalls abraham's willingness

to sacrifice his son in obedience to god. last year, as million performed the hajj, hundreds of children from dar al-hijrah practiced the rituals themselves. >> the journey to this house once in your lifetime is in the islamic tradition a requirement. so people will leave their familiar and they will come to this house established by abraham. but the 6 million people cannot fit inside this house. and so people will pray around the house. >> seven circuits around the ka'ba is the tradition. when hagar was left in mecca by

abraham with her baby, she was looking for more. the angel came and sprung a well and in a kind of holy water, then they'll run between the hills in a way that hagar did. minna is the tent city. and they will live in this tent and perform five daily prayers. t the prophet muhammad, when he made his pilgrimage he came to the top of the hill and he gave his final sermon. it is the belief that after one completes this day that all of your sins are forgiven. the prophet instructed his companion to collect some pebbles.

and the next morning after that comes and throws symbolically their pebble like abraham threw at the devil when he was tempted. while we are in minna throwing our stones, people in mecca are celebrating eid. it is like thanksgiving on steroids. we sacrifice the sheep and we give that food to the needy around our planet. my hajj is not valid unless i make the sacrifice. >> that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on twitter and facebook and watch us any time on the pbs app for iphones and ipads. and visit our website where there's always much more and where you can listen to or watch each of our programs.

join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, music from the dominican sisters of mary, mother of the eucharist. their cd was number one on billboards classical traditional chart for seven straight weeks. ♪ ♪ major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, a private family foundation dedicated to the founders' interest in religious, community development and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america. designing individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement

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tyler: what's good? how y'all feeling, dc?

i'm tyler, and i'm amped about today's show! rachel: yeah, how are you guys doing out there? i'm rachel, and i'm pretty excited, too! sierra: and what's up, what's good dc? i'm sierra! tyler: and let's not forget to show some what's good dc love for our dj, 4d! ♪ thanks to the flow, right now, what up? ♪ ♪ a lime to a lemon remind you of the sky ♪ ♪ when i'm in it, we on cloud nine ♪ sierra: rachel, i see you over here with the flag reppin' h.u. pretty hard! rachel: you know! sierra: now, who's the real h.u.? or is hampton the real h.u.? rachel: sierra, how could you ask me a question like that? of course we're the real h.u.! we have the best alum, we're in the best city, and we have the cutest guys! sierra: i don't know about all that. because down in morehouse, they might have y'all beat! tyler: well, anyway, we've got some important stuff to discuss today, alright. like, how many of you guys out here are preparing for college? everybody, good, good. making the transition from the crib to university,

that's what we're talking about today. today's guest is gonna talk to us about all of those things. the best method for choosing a college, the different options you might have. rachel: right, because there are four-year universities, two-year community college, tech schools, and online colleges. sierra: but don't forget the art schools. tyler: of course, art schools, too. so, basically, there's something for everyone! and today's guest is going to talk to us about preparing for college, studying for the a.c.t. or the s.a.t. anybody out there preparing for that now? a lot of people. and lastly, how to find the money to pay for all of it! sierra: and up later, we have a special guest performance from dc's own asheru. student 1: the most challenging part i think was s.a.t.s, getting ready for those, studying, preparing for 'em. as a result of poor preparation, i didn't do too well, unfortunately.

student 2: i guess, believing that i could do it. i had to just, i had to get myself in the right frame of mind to know that this was something that i was ready to try to tackle. so once i decided that i was gonna do it, everything else kind of, like, went smoothly. student 3: the most difficult part was, for me, deciding what to do, which major to pick, what i would do with that major later, and i think, just narrowing down a career path. student 4: you always have to think about what steps you have to do, and then it's all about just getting it done. because you always have to go back and forth sometimes, when it comes to certain aspects of applying for college. sierra: well, the idea of a college is scary for a lot of students. most people worry about how to pay for school, because it is such a large financial investment. for others, college is stressful, because they don't feel that they are academically or socially ready. i'm glad that we are going to discuss all of these elements today, because a lot of students, including me, need more guidance.

arbie: what's good, dc? so, i don't know if any of you are out there like me, but my sister and i will be the first in our immediate family to graduate from college. and me being the second oldest of five, i knew that affording an out-of-state education could be quite a strain for my parents. and i didn't really think about some of the associated costs of a private out-of-state education, such as books, food, and, honestly, just enjoying yourself as a student. but upon receiving my acceptance letter to howard university, i pleaded with my parents to embark on this journey. i literally packed up a pickup truck and moved to howard. i didn't even secure housing yet, and i didn't know what i was getting myself into. so, if anything, hopefully i can help you guys avoid some of the mistakes that i made.