Prisoners of solitude : bringing history to bear on prison health policy

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Original citation:

Charleroy, Margaret and Marland, Hilary. (2016) Prisoners of solitude : bringing history to

bear on prison health policy. Endeavour . doi: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2016.07.001

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Prisoners

of

Solitude:

Bringing

History

to

Bear

on

Prison

Health

Policy

Margaret

Charleroy

*

and

Hilary

Marland

CentrefortheHistoryofMedicine,DepartmentofHistory,UniversityofWarwick,HumanitiesBuilding,Room449,Coventry,CV4 7AL,UnitedKingdom

SeasontwoofthepopularprisondramaOrangeistheNew Black opens in a small concrete cell, no larger than a parkingspace.Thecelliswindowlessandsparsely furn-ished; itholds atoilet,a sinkand alimp bed.The only distinguishingfeatureweseeisamuralofsmearedegg, madebythecell’sresident,theshow’sprotagonistPiper Chapman. When a correctional officer arrives at this solitaryconfinement cell, hewakes her, and mocks her egg fresco. ‘‘This is art,’’ she insists. ‘‘This is a yellow warblerdrinkingoutofadaffodil.’’Herramblingsuggests theconfusionanddisorientationassociatedwithinmates in solitary confinement, who often become dazed after onlyafewdaysinisolation.Asthescenecontinues,wesee Piper exhibit further symptoms associated with both short-andlong-termsolitaryconfinement—memoryloss, inabilitytoreason,moodswings,anxiety—allindicating mentaldeteriorationandimpairedmentalhealth.Inthis andotherepisodes,webegintoseesolitaryconfinement asthegreatestvillainintheshow,more villainousthan anycharacterawritercouldcreate.Thenewandgrowing trendoftelevisionprisondramaslikeOrangeistheNew Blackbringstheissueofsolitaryconfinement,alongwith other issues relatedto incarceration, toa more general audience,exposingveryrealproblemsinthefailing con-temporaryprisonsystem,notjustinAmerica,but world-wide. The show’s success leads us to ask how history,

alongside fictional dramas and contemporary case

reports,candraw attentionto the issueofsolitary con-finement.

Solitary confinement harms prisoners who were not mentally ill upon entry to the prison and worsens the mental health of those who were. Both historical and contemporaryevidencehasdemonstratedhowboth short-andlong-termsolitaryconfinementthreatensthephysical andmentalhealthofthosewhoendureit.Sohowandwhy hasitbecomeoneofthemostwidelyusedmeanstocontrol and punish inmates in the Western prison system, one involvingaround 80,000peopleinprisoncurrentlyinthe US?And,howcanhistoricalperspectives inform contem-porarydiscussions concerningtheeffects ofsolitary con-finementonthementalhealthofinmates?

Thehealtheffectsofsolitaryconfinementarecurrently beingdebatedbypolicymakers, governments,academics,

prisonstaff,criminologists,psychiatristsandhistorianson both sides of the Atlantic. The potency of historical evi-dence—onthisandotherthemesrelatedtomentalhealth andthecriminaljusticesystem—wasondisplayatarecent workshopinLondonon‘‘ThePrisonandMentalHealth,’’ co-convenedbyProfessorHilaryMarlandattheUniversity of Warwick, England and Dr. Catherine Cox, based at University College Dublin, Ireland. The event involved historians,criminologists,psychiatristsworkinginprison settings, representatives of prison reform organizations and policymakers,who cametogether toexplorethe po-tential of history toinform, enhance, andshape current debates on the prison and mental health. The event, showed, aboveall,howahistoricalperspectiveallows us tolinkcontemporarydebatesaroundsolitaryconfinement withtheprisonregimesandtheirassociatedphilosophies ofrehabilitation,treatmentandpunishmentthatinspired this lingering practice. It also underlined the close and enduring relationshipbetween solitaryconfinement and high rates ofmental illness.Until now, a historical per-spective hasremainedlargelyabsentfrom academicand legal writing on a topic that strives to produce policy changesinprisons.Yethistorycanmakeapowerful con-tributiontothesediscussions,documentingshiftsinprison policyanddisciplineandactingas thewellspringof nar-ratives that highlight the devastating impact ofsolitary confinementoverthelonguedure´e.Viewingcontemporary policy through a historical narrative exposes sources of enduring problems, as wellas giving themfaces, names andstories.

In thepast decade,prisonadministratorsinboththe UnitedStates andEnglandhave significantlyincreased theuseofsolitaryconfinementasameansof‘‘managing’’ difficultprisoners.Butsolitaryconfinement,as illuminat-edattheworkshop,isfarfromnew.Itsrootscanbetraced totheriseofthemodernpenitentiaryintheearly nine-teenthcentury,whenisolatingallinmateswasusedasa meansofrehabilitation,orsoprisonreformersand admin-istratorsthought.Whatbeganasaprogram to rehabili-tate inmates in America during the early nineteenth century,andwasbroughttoEnglandjustoveradecade later, inpracticeledtoincreasedratesofmentalillness among prisoners, which the prisonphysicians and cha-plainsrecorded.Anineteenth-centuryinmateatEastern StatePenitentiaryechoedtheexperienceofPiper:‘‘Inthe gloomysolitudeofasullencellthereisnotoneredeeming Correspondingauthor:Charleroy,M. (m.charleroy@warwick.ac.uk).

*Correspondingauthor.

ScienceDirect

www.sciencedirect.com 0160-9327/ß2016PublishedbyElsevierLtd.

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principle.Thereisbutonestepbetweentheprisonerand insanity.’’1

Despitetheseeffects,solitaryconfinementsprangfrom high-mindedmotives.Atthestartofthenineteenth cen-tury, prison reformers reconsidered the relationship

be-tween punishment and reformation, and experimented

withprisonregimesandarchitecture.In1787,acoalition ofPhiladelphiasocialreformers,mostlyQuakers,andled by Benjamin Rush, formed the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the MiseriesofPublicPrisons. Indirect con-trasttothecorporalandcapitalpunishmentemployedin existingprisons,thePennsylvaniareformersbelievedthat, onceisolated,prisonerswouldbereformedthroughsilent, spiritual reflection. To achieve these reformative goals, they designed aprison where inmates would have little ornocontactwitheitherotherprisonersorstaff.Thisstrict isolation,itwashoped,wouldallowinmatestoreflectupon their actions, inducing penitence and promoting deep-seatedmoralandspiritualreform.

These reforms were the foundation of what became

known as the Pennsylvania system—also known as the

separatesystem—ofprisonpolicyandinmatereform.The system wasfirstimplementedat Eastern State Peniten-tiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1829. With the constructionofanewprison,advocatesofthe Pennsylva-nia systemwere able tobuild the assumptionofsolitary confinement intothe very architectureofthe prisonina waythat hadneverbeforebeenattempted.Prisonersate allmealsintheircells.Cellwallswerethickandprevented inmatesfrom communicatingwithoneanother.Attached to each cell was a small yard for private exercise by inmates.Theneedforthesesolitarycellsguidedthe phys-icaldesignoftheprisonandledtothefamedradialdesign, pioneeredbyJohnHaviland(Fig.1).

Jeremy Bentham’spanopticon—thoughneveractually built—was the inspirationforHaviland’s radialplan.At the center of Haviland’s structure stood an eighty-foot tower, which served as a viewing platform for prison guardswhowouldthusbeabletoobservealloftheprison corridorsfromasinglevantagepointandmonitorinmate behavior at alltimes. Seven singlestory wings radiated from the central tower. The tower guards could see the prisoners in their individual exercise yards, though the prisonersthemselveswouldhavehadnocontactwithone anotherbecauseinmatesweregiventimeintheir individ-ualexerciseyardsatstaggeredtimesthroughoutthedayto diminishthepossibilitythattheywouldcommunicatewith oneother.Indeed,communicationbetweenprisonerswas punished harshly.EasternStatewas apenitentiaryina literal sense. The physical structure, which reinforced strict solitude, was designed to encourage introspection and, ultimately, penitence. Haviland’s radial design for EasternStatePenitentiarybecamethemostwidelycopied prisonformatinthenineteenth-centuryUnitedStates.

Less than a decade after Eastern State Penitentiary opened its doors, it became apparent that isolation was causingmentalbreakdownamongsttheprisoners.Reports describing theeffectsofthe Pennsylvania systemonthe

mindsofinmatesappearedinannualreportsofthePrison Discipline Society,The Journalof Prison Disciplineand Philanthropy, and numerous other publications popular amongsocialreformersandscholars.Inthe1838reportof thePrisonDisciplineSociety,the‘‘EffectsoftheSystemof SolitaryConfinement,Day andNight,onthe Mind’’was included as subcategory of discussion, one that was retained through the following decade.2 Their argument was simple: isolationproduced higher rates ofmortality andinsanityamongprisoninmates.

English prison reformers visitedAmerican prisons at theheightofdebatesaboutthemeritsanddrawbacksof solitaryconfinement.In 1833WilliamCrawford,founder member of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline,was commissionedbythe Britishgovernment

to report on American prisons and penal ideas. He

returnedtoEnglandentrancedbythesysteminoperation at Eastern State Penitentiary, eager toapply the same modelofprisondisciplineinthenewprisonbeingplanned inLondon,PentonvilleModelPrison.

Crawfordand Reverend Whitworth Russell,whowere appointedprisoninspectorsforLondonin1835,were vig-orous advocates of the separate system and brushed off warnings of the dangers inherent in the regime to the mental state of the prisoners that American reformers putforth.Theyarguedthatwhatdistinguishedtheirmodel atPentonvillefromthePhiladelphiasystemwastheaccess prisoners would have at all times to the prison officers, notably the chaplains. Pentonville’s critics were not con-vinced. During his travels in America, author Charles Dickensmostwantedtoseetwosights:thefallsatNiagara andEasternStatePenitentiary.HisvisittoEasternState promptedacriticalresponse.Inparticular,hecondemned the system of solitary confinement imposed there in his

American Notes, published in 1842, the year Pentonville tookinitsfirstprisoners.EncounteringseveralofEastern State’sprisoners,hereferred tohowonewas ‘‘a dejected heart-broken wretched creature,’’ another ‘‘a helpless, crushed,andbrokenman.’’3Dickensconcluded,‘‘Iholdthis slowanddailytamperingwiththemysteriesofthebrainto beimmeasurablyworsethananytortureofthebody.’’4An editorialintheLondonTimes,whichcampaignedagainst theseparate system,predicatedthat insanitywouldbea ‘‘probable,’’ even ‘‘inevitable,’’ outcome of the Pentonville regime.5

PentonvilleModelPrisonheraldedthelaunchofanew prisonsystemandapproachtopunishmentinBritainwhen itopenedin1842.LikeEasternStatePenitentiary, Penton-villewasintended,throughreligiousexhortation,rigorous discipline,moraltrainingandtheimpositionofseparation initsmostextremeform,toproducetrueanddeep repen-tance and rehabilitation in its convict population. The approachwasexactingand rigorous.Pentonville,withits 500inmateshousedintieredlinesofcellsradiatingfroma

1_State_Penitentiary_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Pennsylvania_Records,_Series_4,

Prisoners’Correspondence,Prisoners’Letters,AmericanPhilosophicalSociety, Phi-ladelphia,PA.

2_Thirteenth_Annual_Report_of_the_Board_of_Managers_of_the_Prison_Discipline_Society

(Boston:TheSociety’sRoom,1838),236.

3_Cited_in_David_Wilson,_{‘‘Testing}_a_{Civilisation:}_Charles_Dickens_on_the_American

PenitentiarySystem,’’TheHowardJournalofCriminalJustice48(2009):280–96,on 290–91.

4_Charles_Dickens,_American_Notes_for_General_Circulation:_Vol₁_(London:

Chap-manandHall,1842),239.

5_Editorial,_The_Times_,_May_1,_1841.

2 Endeavour Vol.xxxNo.x

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centralblock,operatedlikeamachine,witheveryminuteof aconvict’sday,fromthefirstbellat5:30a.m.untillights out at 9:00 p.m., regimented, directed and observed in meticulous detail.Prisoners were forbidden to communi-catewitheachother,andlockedtwenty-threehoursaday isolatedintheircells,wheretheyate,workedandslept.As atEasternState,inmatesweremovedthroughtheprison with their faces covered by hoods, seated in chapel in separatestallsandexercisedinseparateairingyards.6

Cracks in the system quickly appeared and were

recordedinthejournalscompiledbyprisonmedicalofficers andchaplains,thelatterparticularlystaunchadvocatesof theseparatesystemandkeyfiguresinitsimplementation. Within weeks of its opening, Pentonville was rackedby alarmingcasesofmentalbreakdown,delusions, hallucina-tions, panic, depression, anxiety and morbid feelings, according to medical staff and chaplains. Prisoners de-clared that they were visited by the spirits of the dead, that they were being poisoned, that there were snakes coiled around the bars of their cells and that ‘‘things’’ crawledoutoftheventilationsystem.Thechaplainsand medical officers were preoccupied on a daily basis with

Fig.1. Radial design of the Eastern State Penitentiary, designed by John Haviland, as it looked in 1855. The lithograph was made by Samuel Cowperthwaite, an artist and convict number 2954 at the penitentiary. The caption reads: ‘‘This Institution known as ‘Cherry Hill State Prison’ at Philadelphia, is the model prison of ‘The Pennsylvania SystemofPrisonDiscipline’or‘SeparateSystem’asitiscalledtodistinguishitfrom‘TheCongregate.’EachConvictoccupiesasingleCellorWorkshop,andisthus separatedfromallotherconvicts.TheBuildingwasbegunin1822.Thewalls,30ft.high,12ft.thickatbase,2ft.9in.attop,encloseasquareplotofTenAcres.Thereare 7 Corridors of Cells, capable of receiving 500 convicts. The average number contained annually is less than 300. Some cells are 11 ft. 9 in. by 7 ft. 6 in. with yards attached, 15ft.by8ft.Othersaredoublethissize,alllightedandwarmedandventilated.—Gasisintroducedintothecorridor.Heatbyhotwaterthro’pipes.—Waterineachcelland otherConveniences.TheaboveisaBird’sEyeViewoftheBuildings—GroundsandEnvirons.’’

Credit:Library Company of Philadelphia, used with permission.

6_See_Michael_Ignatieff,_A_Just_Measure_of_Pain:_The_Penitentiary_in_the_Industrial

Revolution1750–1850(NewYork:Pantheon,1978),3–8;SecondReportofthe Com-missionersfortheGovernmentofPentonvillePrison(London:ClowesandSons,1844), 18–20.

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attemptstosubdueandcalmprisonersintentonviolence, suicide, or self-harm. Official reports, with some reluc-tance, confirmed the relationshipbetween high levels of mental disease and the rigor with which the separate system was implemented. As a result, already by the mid-nineteenthcentury,theseparatestallswere disman-tled in the chapel, solitary exercise and the wearing of masksdiscontinuedandtheperiodspentinsolitary con-finementreducedfromeighteentotwelveandthentonine monthsby1853.However,thismoderatedseparatesystem endured in Britain for the remainder of the nineteenth century,driveninthelastquarterofthecenturybyideasof appropriatepunishmentratherthanreform.Itcontinued to beassociated with the mental breakdownofBritain’s growingprisonpopulation(seeFig.2).7

This system of physical isolation was expensive and cumbersome,andincreasinglycontroversial.Evenat East-ernState,whereitwascreated,itgraduallybrokedown. MostprisonsbuiltintheUnitedStatesinthenineteenth centurywereproductsofthenewphilosophyoftheAuburn system,whichrequiredthatprisonersworkinassociation —andinsilence—duringthedayandsleepinsolitarycells

at night. Although the Pennsylvania system enduredin Europe,SouthAmericaandAsia,bytheopeningdecadesof thetwentiethcentury,theUnitedStateshadlargely aban-doned it and Britain had reduced the use of solitary confinement, hastened by the widespread, and now ac-knowledged,mentalhealthproblemsrelatedtothe isola-tionofinmates.

Apracticedesignedasameanstorehabilitateinmates underthe regimeofthePennsylvania system,and aban-donedforitsabjectfailuretodoso,wouldberevivedinthe late-twentiethcenturyasatoolofpunishment.The sepa-ratesystemwasinessencesolitaryconfinement,albeitone thatinvolved allprisonersandthat wasassociated, par-ticularlyinitsearlyyears,withreformandrehabilitation ratherthanpunishment.Evenundertheseparatesystem, prisonssuperimposed isolationindark cellsasaform of punishmentfordisruptivebehavior,fordisobeyingprison rulesor forfeigning mentalillness.Pentonville Prisoner no.683,forexample,wasgiventhreedaysinthedarkcell withapunishmentdietinJune1845forrefusingtowork andattemptingtocreate‘‘abeliefthatheisanimbecile.’’8 Today, solitaryconfinement isalso used as a punish-mentandcanbe envisagedas aform ofprison within a prison.ItisusedmorewidelyintheUnitedStates,withthe populationofindividualsconfinedinsolitaryconfinement equalingnearlytheentireprisonpopulationoftheUnited Kingdom,wherefewerthan500inmatesareestimatedto be in solitary confinement at any given time(a modern solitary confinement cell is shown in Fig. 3).9 As Suzie Nielson, former inmate, describes it: ‘‘While there is no universallyagreed-upondefinition,modernsolitary—also called supermax, isolated segregation, and ‘‘thebox’’—is commonly understood to involveconfinement to a small cell for 22 to 24 hours a day.’’10 Under such regimes, prisonersaredenied access toleisure activities and hob-bies,and,justasinthenineteenthcentury,areforbidden fromcommunicatingwithotherprisoners.Theyareoften handcuffedandshackledontherareoccasionswhenthey leavetheircells.Notallprisonersaresenttosegregation units,as theyareofficiallydesignated,asaform of pun-ishment. Some, as Erwin James explained in a recent

Guardianarticle, ‘‘engineer’’ theirmove, seeking respite fromlifeonthechaoticmainwingsoftheprison,toescape risks of violence from other prisoners, or togain easier accesstoprisonmanagers.11

Contemporarystudiesonthehealtheffectsofsolitary confinement conclude, in line with the observations of nineteenth-centuryreformersonbothsidesoftheAtlantic, that long-term isolation can cause hallucinations, panic attacks, impulse control, paranoia, anxiety, confusion, obsessionsandmemoryloss.Deep Custody,areport pro-ducedbytheEnglishPrisonReformTrustin2015,andalso

Fig.2. A woman prisoner in solitary confinement at Woking Prison, England.

Credit:WellcomeImages,usedwithpermission.

7_Pentonville_has_been_explored_in_more_detail_in_Catherine_Cox_and_Hilary

Mar-land,‘‘‘‘Hemustdieorgomadinthisplace’’:Prisoners,InsanityandthePentonville ModelPrisonExperiment,1842–1852,’’BulletinoftheHistoryofMedicine, forthcom-ing2017.

8_Pentonville_Minute_Book_1845–46,₇_June_1845,_The_National_Archive,_London,

UK.

9_Elisa_Moser,_{‘‘Solitary}_Confinement_in_Great_Britain:_Still_Harsh,_But_Rare,’’

Solitary Watch (January 19, 2012), http://solitarywatch.com/2012/01/19/ solitary-confinement-in-great-britain-still-harsh-but-rare/.

10_Suzie_Neilson,_‘‘How_to_Survive_Solitary_Confinement:_An_Ex-Convict_on_How_to

SetYourMindFree,’’Nautilus32(January28,2015).http://nautil.us/issue/32/space/ how-to-survive-solitary-confinement.

11_Erwin_James,_‘‘Prison_Segregation_Units_are_a _Breeding_Ground_for _Mental

HealthProblem,’’TheGuardian,December17,2015,http://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2015/dec/17/mental-health-prison-segregation-units-prisoners.

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discussedattherecentLondonworkshop,highlightedthe ‘‘toxic’’ effectsofsegregation, caused by ‘‘social isolation, reduced sensory input/enforced idleness and increased controlofprisonersevenmorethanisusualintheprison setting.’’12 Overhalf ofthe sixty-three individuals inter-viewedreportedthattheyhadthreeormoreofthe follow-ing symptoms after forced isolation: anger, anxiety, insomnia, depression, difficulty in concentration and self-harm.13 _In _the _words _of _one _of _the _prisoners inter-viewed: ‘‘The longer you’re here, the more you develop disorders.Beinginsuchasmallspacehassuchaneffect indecreasingyoursocialskills.Itlooksrosy,butithassuch anegativeeffect.It’sisolationtoan extreme.’’14

Recentstudies also note high rates of self-mutilation andsuicideamonginmates in solitaryconfinement.One 1995 study found that prisoners in solitary confinement accounted for nearly half of all suicides in California’s prisons between 1999 to 2004.15 Nor are the negative effectsofisolationlimitedtoprisoners’timeinsegregation. Thosewhoarereleasedfromsolitaryconfinementintothe general population of the prison often have difficulties

adjusting due to social anxiety and social atrophy from prolonged isolation. Prisoners often report bizarre and disturbing subjective experiences after they leave isola-tion. Neilson writes: ‘‘Some say the world regularly col-lapses inonitself. Othersreport theyareunable tolead ordinaryconversations,or thinkclearlyforanylengthof time.’’16

Thisischanging.In2011,hungerstrikesbyinmatesin California’sprisonendedwhenthesystemagreedto pro-videcalendarstoinmatesinlong-termisolation(Fig.4).In September2015,thestateofCaliforniaannouncedplansto overhaul the use of solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. The agreement came after a lawsuit was filed against the state by inmates held inisolation for ten or moreyearsatCalifornia’sPelicanBayPrison.Underthe provisionsofthesettlement,clearerguidelinesforuseand timeofisolationwerelaidout;prisonerscannolongerbe keptinisolationindefinitelyandinmatescannotbe isolat-edbecauseofgang affiliation.

Other states in America, like New York, are piloting alternativestosolitaryconfinementintheirClinical Alter-nativestoPunitiveSegregation(CAPS)program,launched in2013.Inmatesassignedtotheseunitsarenotlockedin isolation,butinsteadare‘‘lockedout’’oftheircells, encour-agingthemtoparticipateintherapeuticactivities, includ-ingpsychotherapy,art,educationalprogramsandmental health counseling (both individual and group settings) during thedaytime.Althoughthe costoftheseunitshas limited their adoption in the state-wide prison system, prisons that do offerthis alternative to solitary confine-mentreportphenomenalsuccess,measuredbyareduction inself-harm,suicideandhospitalization.

However, the speed ofchange is slowanduneven, as illuminatedbythe 2015reportDeepCustody,referredto above.ThoughincomparisontotheUS, thescaleof soli-taryconfinementismuchsmallerintheUK—inJanuary 2015,thetotalsegregationcapacityinEnglandandWales was 1,586 cells, while close supervision centers had a capacityofjust54—manyprisonersstillendupincellular confinement for longperiods, as result ofpoor provision ratherthan aspunishmentforinfringementofrulesora perceivedneedforsegregation.17Thoughprisonreformis highontheagendaofthecurrentBritishgovernment,and welcomed by prison reform organizations, there is little evidence tosuggest that the problem of prisonersbeing lockedintheircellsforexcessiveperiodsisbeingtackledin anenvironmentofstaffshortagesandverypoorconditions indecayingstructuresdatingfromtheVictorianperiod.A

recent report on Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London

revealed that manyprisonershadlessthan two hoursa day ‘‘unlocked’’andallhadonlyfortyminutes ofoutdoor exerciseaday,lessthanthetimeprescribedatPentonville in1842.18

Asdescribedintheopeningvignette,aninmate’s expe-rienceinsolitaryconfinementisshownvividlyinepisodes of the television series Orange is the New Black to an

Fig.3.SolitaryconfinementcellsattheWestVirginiaStatePenitentiary,aretired, gothic-style prison in Moundsville, West Virginia, that operated from 1876 to 1995.

Credit:LibraryofCongress.

12_Ibid.

13_Sharon_Shalev_and_Kimmett_Edgar,_Deep_Custody:_Segregation_Units_and_Close

SupervisionCentresinEnglandandWales(London:ConquestLitho,2015),93.

14_Ibid.,_55.

15_Ian_Lovett,_{‘‘California}_Agrees_to_Overhaul_Use_of_Solitary_{Confinement,’’}_New

York Times, September 1, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/us/ solitary-confinement-california-prisons.html.

16_Neilson,_‘‘How_to_Survive_Solitary_{Confinement’’}_(ref._10). 17_Shalev_and_Edgar,_Deep_Custody_(ref._13),_5.

18_Report_on_an_Announced_Inspection_of_HMP_Wormwood_Scrubs_by_HM_Chief

Inspector of Prisons, November 30–December 4, 2015, https://www. justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/inspections/hmp-wormwood-scrubs-2/.

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Fig.4. Drawings of one-time California prisoner Ernest Jerome DeFrance. DeFrance made these images while incarcerated in the California prison system, where he spent extended periods of time in solitary confinement. He submitted these works to Sentenced:ArchitectureandHumanRights, an exhibition held at the University of California, Berkeleyinfall2014,producedbyArchitects,DesignerandPlannersforSocialResponsibility(ADPSR).TheseworksbyErnestJeromeDeFrancewerelaterfeaturedinthe

showDemos:WapatoCorrectionalFacilitybyartistcollectiveERNESTatc3:initiativeinPortland,OregoninSeptember2015.

Credit:Ernest Jerome DeFrance.

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audiencewholikelywillneverfacethedeleteriouseffects ofisolation.TheseriesisbasedonthebookOrangeisthe NewBlack:My Yearin aWomen’s Prison,by Piper Ker-man,whowasherselfaninmateataUnitedStatesFederal CorrectionalFacilityforthirteenmonths.Sincethe publi-cationofhermemoir andproductionofthe series,Piper Kermanhasbecomeavocaladvocateonbehalfof incarcer-atedindividuals.InJune2015,Kermantestifiedbeforethe UnitedStatesSenateJudiciarySubcommitteehearingson solitary confinement. Her personal experience gave her authority.But itwas thetransformation ofherpersonal storyintoawidelyconsumedtelevisionnarrativethatgave her influence. And it gave a voice to many individuals currentlyisolatedinsolitaryconfinement.

Historicalresearchtoohasaroletoplayinarguingfor the amelioration ofsolitaryconfinement, contributing to

the samedebatesandworkthatKerman andothers are doing. Whateverform it tookand whetherdriven by re-formist principles, punishment, convenience, or prisoner requestsforsegregation,historycandemonstratethe dev-astatingconsequencesofseparateconfinementon prison-ersandinparticulartheirmentalwellbeing,establishing connections andcontinuities over two centuries. History adds significantly tothe weight of evidence andforce of argumentonthedestructiveimpactofisolationandjoins forceswiththereportsofpolicymakersandprisonreform organizations in urging that new approaches must be soughtandtheimpactofsolitaryconfinementmitigated.

Acknowledgments

TheauthorsgratefullyacknowledgethesupportoftheWellcomeTrust, SeniorInvestigatorAward,grantnumber103341/Z/13/Z.