Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single cell with little or no contact with other people.

What is solitary confinement? Solitary confinement is the practice of isolating people in closed cells for as much as 24 hours a day, virtually free of human contact, for periods of time ranging from days to decades.

2023年11月16日 · Solitary confinement is associated with significant increases in anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and physical health conditions, such as vision loss. Learn more here.

2025年2月8日 · Solitary confinement, form of incarceration in which a prisoner is isolated from other inmates. Critics of this controversial practice characterize it as inhumane. Solitary confinement, also called punitive segregation, is often used strictly as a punishment.

Prolonged solitary confinement causes prisoners significant mental harm and places them at grave risk of even more devastating future harm. These harms may be permanent and persist even after one is released from solitary.

2020年12月8日 · Solitary confinement goes by many names, including “special housing units,” “administrative segregation,” “disciplinary segregation,” and “restrictive housing,” but the conditions are generally the same: 22 to 24 hours per day spent alone in a small cell.

Solitary confinement first arose in the United States in the 1700s among religious groups like the Quakers, who thought isolation with a Bible would lead to repentance and rehabilitation.

2023年6月6日 · What is solitary confinement and why is it used? Solitary prisoners are typically confined to their small cells for 23 hours a day except for an hour in a rec pen, “an outdoor cage connected to a cell by a door,” writes Matthew Azzano in a 2022 article for The Marshall Project.

A: There are more than 80,000 men, women, and children in solitary confinement in prisons across the United States, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Note that figure is a decade old and doesn’t include people in jails, juvenile facilities, and immigrant detention centers.

Solitary confinement is the practice of isolating people in closed cells for 22-24 hours a day, virtually free of human contact, for periods of time ranging from days to decades.