Prison system and solitary confinement

Exploring the effects of loneliness in different groups and communities led us to look at the structure of the prison system and solitary confinement. Studies show that the psychological and physiological effects of imprisonment on individuals appear in both long and short-term sentences. Impoverished environments in many prisons and its effects, especially in solitary confinement, together with the stigma associated with ex-offenders result in a form of violence against the being, where prisoners’ sense of identity and ability to understand the world are undermined by being isolated from the “outer” society. Moreover, the near-complete social isolation and lack of stimulation accompanying this segregation raise serious civil rights questions.

By looking into the personhood of prisoners and its destruction during incarceration, we question the current value of the prison system and try to critically analyze its impact on the daily life of ex-offenders.

Solitary confinement especially can cause serious negative psychopathological effects due to extreme social isolation and sensory deprivation, some of them being psychosis, suicidal behavior, and self-mutilation. In some cases, it leads to what is defined as social death, an assault on being (their embodied, interrelational subjectivity) rather than a form of racial or political violence. Prisoners’ sense of identity and ability to understand the world are undermined by being isolated for weeks or months. By looking into the personhood of prisoners and its destruction, we question the value of solitary confinement and try to develop a critical analysis of social death in the prison system.

Albert Woodfox was held in solitary confinement for more than 40 years in a Louisiana prison before being released in 2016, when he was 69 years old. In his book Solitary, published last month, Woodfox writes that every morning, “I woke up with the same thought: will this be the day? Will this be the day I lose my sanity and discipline? Will I start screaming and never stop?”

Thousands of people, 61,000 on any given day and likely many thousands more than that — are in solitary confinement across the country, spending 23 hours per day in cells not much bigger than elevators. They are disproportionately young men, and disproportionately Hispanic and African American. The majority spend a few months in it, but at least a couple of thousand people have been in solitary confinement for six years or more. Some, like Woodfox, have been held for decades.

Solitary confinement causes extreme suffering, particularly over prolonged periods of months or years. Effects include anxiety, panic, rage, paranoia, hallucinations, and, in some cases, suicide.