The Disturbing Reality of What It's Like To Live In Solitary Confinement

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be stuck in solitary confinement? 

To be in a cell no wider than your wingspan with nothing but a bed and a toilet? 

Inmates reveal the brutal conditions of being alone for up to 23 hours a day, and the toll it takes on your psyche. 

Prisoner Talib Akbar did 10 stints in solitary, and said it did irreparable harm to his mental health. 

"Nine times out of 10 you'd play with [an insect] because it was something to do. [...] 

[At one point] I thought the fly was dead… (then) he popped up, and I said, 'My friend!' I had a fly that was my friend [...] A frickin' fly."

Brian Nelson spent 23 years in solitary, and even after being released suffers emotional trauma, saying,

"I'm still in that box ... Those four walls beat me down so bad."

Sarah Jo Pender was told she'd receive one year in solitary for attempting to escape, but wound up serving for five years. She wrote,

"Despite knowing that isolation can drive people insane, the mental health care here is woefully inadequate. 

Once a month, a mental health staff comes to ask us if we are hallucinating, hearing voices, or are suicidal. 

More frequent meetings can be requested, but they offer no coping skills, no therapy, no advocacy.

The luckiest among us are prescribed anti-depressants to numb us from the hardest parts of being alone.

Acutely psychotic women who refuse medication are frequently locked in a cell where they bang and talk and argue with voices, scream about God and demons, and/or refuse to shower or eat for fear of being poisoned. 

This can go one for weeks until some invisible threshold is crossed and E-Squad officers dressed in full riot gear come in, hold her down, and a nurse injects her with an anti-psychotic medicine. 

This scene gets repeated every two weeks until she cooperates."

Chandra Bozelko spent a month in solitary and says that as if the conditions aren't bad enough, the guards add to the psychological torture.

"When I spent a month there in 2008 during my six-year sentence at York Correctional Institution, 

the staff thought it was funny to push the white, take-out style boxes that my meals came in off the tray slot before I could catch it, causing food to spill on the floor. 

And there was nobody to tell that I was starving.

Nobody could see the guards' behavior either. 

If you get abused in solitary, the only person to whom you can report the abuse is the abuser. Or the abuser's colleagues."

Robert King spent 29 years in solitary confinement, and says he's all but blind now as a result of it.

"It was in 1983, and I couldn’t see really six feet in front of me. 

What had happened was my eyes had become acclimated to smaller distances. 

The thought dawned on me, that being in a small cell like that, you could be impacted."

Cesar Francisco Villa was a "gang-validated" prisoner who thought he could "beat" solitary. 

But after over 11 years in isolation, he realized he was wrong, saying,

"My sense of normalcy began to wane after just 3 years of confinement. Now I was asking myself, can I do this? 

Not sure about anything anymore.

Though I didn't realize it at the time - looking back now - the unraveling must've begun then. 

My psyche had changed. I would never be the same. The ability to hold a single good thought left me, as easily as if it was a simple shift of wind sifting over tired, battered bones.

There's a definite split in personality when good turns to evil. 

The darkness that looms above is thick, heavy and suffocating. A snap so sharp, the echo is deafening. 

A sound so loud you expect to find blood leaking from your ears at the bleakest moment."

Solitary confinement is oftentimes isolating for family members of prisoners as well. 

Many prisons don't offer updates on the well-being of those segregated from the general population, and some outright refuse to respond to requests from loved ones.

Billy McCarthy, singer and songwriter of We Are Augustines last saw his brother James McCarthy before he went into solitary confinement. 

After five years living in isolation, James took his own life. 

We Are Augustines have songs reflecting the mindset of a family member dealing with the aftermath of this.

One inmate who'd been in solitary for over 10 years said he hadn't seen the sunlight in so long, it overwhelmed him.

"One time I was going to the hospital... and we were riding the ferry and the sun was coming up and it was the only one I'd seen in years. 

[...] I'm a pretty tough guy, but it brought tears to my eyes."

Chelsea Manning was thrown in solitary confinement in 2016 after attempting to take her own life. 

Mental health advocates decried this decision, saying isolation will only make issues worse. 

Sure enough, Manning quickly attempted suicide again in solitary. 

Her legal representation says she's been subjected to "demoralizing and destabilizing assaults on her health and her humanity."

Comparative psychologist Harry Harlow conducted the Monkey Love Experiments in 1970, which showed that when infant monkeys are put in isolation, they quickly become immobile and seem to lose hope. 

This shows how mammals are social creatures, and being alone for extended periods of time are physically and emotionally harmful to them.

 This experiment has been cited as a reason for better ethics in prisons, but mostly to no avail.

Andrea May Darlene Weiskircher suffered from mental illness before going to prison. 

But according to her, the three years spent being segregated from other humans made things much, much worse

"I'd beg the janitor who came over to clean to bring me coffee, and you're not allowed to have coffee in Seg. 

I fought with the guards all the time, and once I dumped my tray on one of them. I'm not normally like that, but being in there you feel like you don't have anything left to lose, so why try?  

It wasn't good for anybody that was inside. Nobody was ever happy.

Every time I went in front of the Ad Seg board they denied me. 

I went from having my whole life to having nothing, and I think I maybe just lost my mind a little bit. 

I started getting sadder and sadder. I actually ended up slitting my wrists inside of there."

Social psychologist Craig Haney has spent over two decades studying the psychological effects of social isolation in prisoners. 

He says they experience something he calls  "social death," which is where they've been alone for so long that they are so emotionally withdrawn and lonely they no longer are capable of carrying on even basic conversations.

One prisoner explained to Haney the type of social death he felt with his own family members, saying,

"I got a 15-minute phone call when my father died [...] 

I realized I have family I don't really know anymore, or even their voices."

Anthony Graves, who was wrongly convicted and spent 12 years on death row said,

"I did not know it would mean 12 years of having my meals slid through a small slot in a steel door like an animal. 

I did not know it would mean 12 years alone in a cage the size of a parking spot, sleeping on concrete steel bunk and alone for 22 to 24 hours a day. 

All for a crime I did not commit. The injustice."

Former prisoner Joe Giarratano said that some prisons even inflict sense deprivation on inmates.

"I was told that I would cooperate or be broken. I was placed in a small cell, 8' x 10', at best, with low ceiling. There was no window. 

Bar door, and then a solid steel door that was closed to cut off any contact with others. 

Once locked in, with steel door closed, the overhead light was turned off. The cell became pitch black. 

I could not see my hand in front of my face, nor see the toilet/sink combo. I stayed like that for 10 days. 

Twice a day a bag meal would be tossed into the cell through a food hatch that would slam shut behind it. The mice had a field day."

According to researcher Peter Scharff, being sedentary in isolation for 23 hours a day can lead to "chronic headaches, heart palpitations, 

oversensitivity to light and noise stimuli, muscle pain, weight loss, digestive problems, dizziness and loss of appetite."

Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, a former death row inmate, wrote:

"I was messed up when I came here, and in many ways I have far more self-control. 

But at the same time, I feel frayed, like I've been living in the face of this sandstorm for 11 years, and it's worn my soul down to a pathetic little nub. 

They don't really kill you when they give you a date. You are pretty much already dead by that point. 

The only ones that really bemoan their fates are the ones that were too dense to learn a lesson from this place. That's sort of the sad part. 

This place ruins people. Some it makes insane. 

Some, like me it forces to go so deep that they aren't ever able to crawl back out again. 

Some people get so hard that discipline simply can't ever imprint on them again."

The judge who convicted William Blake wanted to give him the death penalty, but since it was in a state that abolished that punishment, 

he was sentenced to 77 years, 25 years of which must be spent in solitary. Blake wrote,

"I am convinced beyond all doubt [solitary confinement] is far worse than any death sentence could possibly have been."

Recreation time is spent by himself, and the only items he's allowed are 

"ten books or magazines total, twenty pictures of the people you love, writing supplies, 

a bar of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, one deodorant stick but no shampoo, and that's about it."

According to Illinois Senator Dick Durban, 

"The United States holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation in the world." 

But how much does that cost?

It costs  three times as much to keep someone in isolation than it does general population, nearly $78,000 a year. 

There are nearly 80,000 inmates in solitary, and that adds up to nearly $6.4 billion dollars annually.

It is very claustrophobic. Your mind wanders and wanders.

And you start counting the walls, ceiling tiles. Then you pacing heel to toe in a line like a sobriety test.

You become hyper aware of germs and start cleaning things.

There's no window to look outside to see what is going outside your door.

The guards check on you by sliding the little steel slot where your food comes in.

If you are trouble, they give you Jute Balls which is all they food blended together and served in a bowl.

You have no contact with the outside, no letters, no phone calls, no visits, no nothing.

You can have your mind go Coolio if you don't stay “solid” that is, in control.

You see bugs and other things. It is evil, that is enough right now, I don't want to talk anymore about it.

Tracey Burtis-Chavez

Do you really want to know? First, find a bathroom 6′ long and where you can press your palms flat on each opposing sidewalls at the same time. Next, put a sleeping mat in this bathroom and close the door and spend one week in there, which is nothing. Now if you really want to know spend 6 months in there, no phone, no conversation with anyone. I’ll bet a year's salary against 1 week of yours that you can’t handle it. I’ve heard of many killing themselves after just 2 or 3 weeks.

I was 17 at the time, never charged w a crime, no criminal record, I wasn’t awaiting trial, nothing and I spent 6 months in solitary confinement in an adult prison. How is this possible? Why did this happen?

I’ll tell you this as I write these words from a small room of 8′ x 7′ some 43 years after the fact.

A person will either go insane, kill themself or become an introvert, I became the latter. I’ve now been in this room for the past 10 years and it’s the only place I feel comfortable. Although I have a full house I seldom ever leave this room and in these past 10 years I have had 0 visitors.

What those 6 months did to me caused a life long self-imposed isolation.

I was14 when I was abandoned for the 3rd and final time. At 17 I was stopped by the police and when I explained I had no home or family and that I had been abandoned at 14 I was taken into the station. The town was a rural one with no facility for kids and since I would be turning 18 in less than a year but still underage I had to be placed in custody. Since the only facility within a 100 miles was a state prison I was put there but because I was a minor I could not mingle nor talk with the adults, I couldn’t even say hi to the trustee who was escorted by guards when my food was brought to me. For 6 months I never talked with anyone but myself.

Think you can handle it? I doubt it. I’ve heard of people spending 30, 35, 40 years in solitary, I have no idea how they do it, I would have killed myself for sure.

But as I mentioned, I live 24/7 in a tiny room and that includes a bathroom, here I feel normal. This is what that 6 months did to me in 1977.

One thing I remember telling myself during that time, “When I turn 18 and get out of here I will never do anything that would be a cause for me being locked up”
Oh and one last thing, that 6 months turned me inside, from that point on I never trusted a cop again and just about hated each one. Every time I’m even around a cop I am filled with the heaviest of anxieties. I hate them with a passion.

That’s what months of solitary can do to a person. 60 years old now and never in my life have I committed a criminal act.

Chris Thomas

Lonely. You are already in a place where everything has been stripped from you and you follow their rules.

Well you decided to break the rules so you end up in solitary.

You eat, sleep, read a book and if you’re lucky you get a new one once you’re finished. You write a letter once you’re allowed your paper and pens and such.

You look forward to shower day which is once 3 days a week.

Then you’re allowed outside rec time handcuffed in a tiny outdoor cell with fence and you can only see the sun from above.

You beat yourself up mentally for why did I do this to get here, was it really worth it. You count down the days which just run together.

It is loud with people hollering all the time for no reason except they are starting to lose their minds or already have.

The day I got out after 53 days in after I was to serve a 360 day sentence I vowed I’d never go back and I didn’t.

Sara Charlier

Yes I have, on a few different occasions in fact.

Most people who think about “solitary” today mistakenly think of some place they've seen in the movies. In fact, what they consider “solitary” today is what is actually better known as administrative segregation.

It's just another unit in most prisons. There’s not a lot of movement but there is enough that you can still stay somewhat connected to others and family.

But. The “solitary” I was in is called Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (“the SHU”). I did a year and change in there. There is very little movement in that place. Generally, you are in a very small unit with 7 other guys.

Unfortunately, the Mexicans or Whites don't talk to the Blacks so it was a long 18 months. I was in that pod by myself, as far as Blacks go, so I didn't talk to anyone for a very long time.

There's 8 cells in each pod, bottom and top tier, just 4 cells on each tier; a very small shower at the end of each tier; and at the other end a “yard” that we are each allowed into every other day or so for an hour, an hour and a half.

The “yard,” for lack of a better term, is a solid concrete enclosure with four concrete walls that are about 25 feet high. It's an approximately 10′ X 20′ enclosure with heavy mesh wire fencing and a video camera on one side at the top, and on the other side it's open in case you wanna feel the rain on your face or something.

They took away my television when I got there so all I had was books and my paperwork. That got me focused, and I think it may have been a turning point for me.
When most people think of solitary this is what they think it is.

It is a scary place because of the corrupt guards but it was a truly cleansing moment for me. I appreciate that now in hindsight, but I certainly didn't like living through it at the time.

Mac Tatum

I was in a Medium security prison in NM in around 2000. While I was there a double murder happened. Two guys were killed in two different units on the same night and were not discovered till morning.

As far as I know, no one was ever caught. So, the prison went into lock down. This is common and usually lasts 3 days to a week depending on the issue for the lock down. But administration was so freaked out by the killings and how they went down that they decided to change the prison into a Max over night.

The problem was that it was not set up to be a Max. No food ports in the cell doors, no cages in the shower, no recreation areas. I had been in solitary a few times before this for 2 weeks or a month, which was like a little vacation/rest.

But on this occasion, they actually came by with a cutting torch and welder, told you to go the back of your cell, put a wet towel over your head.. and they cut and installed the the food ports while we were in the cells. It took months to retrofit the whole prison. Other than one or two showers a week, we were in our cells for a solid 8 months before our dog runs/rec areas were built. I tried to go to committee

in order to go back to the line.... but because I had some issues about playing nice with others.. I was in that cell until the day I got out. 2 years in that box total. So, yes.. the other comments are spot on. I would lay on my side and read, and when my ear would get sore, I would flip over and give that ear a rest.

I ended up with blisters and scabs on my ears. Some of the things I was surprised by is that you can talk to the guy in the next cell through the electrical outlet. Also, although it was never something official, there is a sort of truce between races and gangs in the hole. On the line or general population you can not just hang out or associate with other races or ganges unless you are conducting business of some manner.

But in the hole, if the guy in the next cell was a soldier for the Mexican Syndicate, there was no issue with us talking through the vent or socket for hours about our families, our past, hopes for the future... whatever. There was also a sort of non disclosure agreement. I would never go back to the line and talk about this guys family issues and the like. I heard some of the most honest and heart full things from some of the most feared men through those vents and wall sockets.

It was also understand that no matter how “friendly” those conversations may have been, that back in population, it would be back to standard rules of engagement. For two years the only physical human contact I had was from time to time when I would put my hands though the food port to be cuffed for shower or rec, the COs hand would, by accident, brush up against my hand. I used to look forward to those brief moments of feeling the touch of another human.

One of the things that I later realized caused me to struggle was that on my release day, I went from that cell after two years, and within an hour of being considered a danger to humanity, I was sitting in a Steak House with my family. They wanted to give me a really nice first meal out.... but I could not even taste my meal because everyone in the place had a knife. I sat with my back to the wall, tensing up everyone time someone picked up a knife to cut their food. I will say though that those four walls broke me. After about a year in that cell, I knew I would not earn a living through crime when I got out and that I would go to college. I have not been a saint every day of my life after prison.

And I have been in jail a couple times for a day or two. But never back prison. Knock on wood. Most folks understand that there needs to be better rehabilitation in prison. But for folks getting out and for their families who love them, it would be really nice to get a pamphlet like ‘what to expect on the other side’.. or ‘your loved ones brain will be scrambled-good luck with that’ and maybe little tit bits like ‘day one, ease back into public places and large crowds - P.S. maybe no steak houses for a while.

I have seen the studies about how isolation like this effects your brain, and I think for about 2 weeks I did go insane off the deep end. But honestly, I have met people that I do not know any other way to stop them from killing other humans.

Some folks are addicted to drugs or sex. Some people a just hooked on killing and damaging other humans. One positive thing is that there is not much the world can throw at me that could break me, and no matter what I face.. it is really hard for me to say now that “Im having a bad day”

Dal Ellington

I can only share what it was like for me.

First off, I am probably on the spectrum. I've even had doctors say things to me like, “you know you're autistic, right?”.

If I am, well, I'm over 40 years old now and besides from complaints from the Fairer Sex on my communicative skills, I like what I am.

The reason I bring all that up is to show that I am introverted to the point of a medical diagnosis. I have never been lonely and highly prefer to be alone, so you'd think solitaire would soot me fine. It didn't.

Having absolutely no one around, stuck in a spartan box with nothing, I think, to a human being is hell. It is beyond torture because your own mind betrays you.

This is confusing and causes anger. All the while, you yearn. For company, for warmth, for a change.

I was let out of the hole after only 2 weeks along with another guy at the same time.

We were allowed a shower and both of us were so happy to be around another person, we talked to a crooked CO and became cell mates that night. I have nothing in common with that guy but we are still friends!

Solitary confinement is one of the worst things you can do to someone. It goes against our very nature, and should be outlawed.

Dan Halen

Imagine being locked in a small room . No phone calls .No goodies. No drugs.

Well that depends. Lol.There is nothing but a metal bed toilet and shitter the walls concrete.

It is cold ,and mostly quiet. Your days revolve around each meal you receive.

There are no clocks . You will swear it's lunch time already ,Yet your guesstimation is off by 2-3 hours. You will be hungry and upset.

Always trying to do something to occupy time. You will think of the most insignificant things and ponder on them for hours upon hours .

It's like being forgotten . You begin to think you are not really alive. Maybe your dead and don't know it? Your going to sleep until your back is so sore you can't take it you must sit up. You are going to read and read some more.

When you finally get released you are going to feel like YESSS. I am never going back in that shit hole again.

Never. Yet you get back to the yard and the Llavero (Shot Caller)tells you welcome back and by the way we're going to war with the another race once the yard opens up,everybody must participate no exceptions get your shit,be ready.

You know your going back to the hole...and there ain't a damn thing you can do about it.

Gabriel Adame

I like being alone. I hated the constant noise in prison, the inability to get a moment's peace.

I went to the SHU and spent a little time there. It was bliss. Even though there were guys continually banging on walls and screaming night and day, and even though the lights were on 24x7, it was the closest thing to a vacation I'd had in a while.

But I was only there for around ten days, and was not there for punitive reasons.

Even if you like being alone, having absolute segregation forced upon you for months or years is something else completely. The UN defines solitary confinement for extended periods as torture, and has repeatedly criticized the United States for its use of the practice against a conservative estimate of 80,000 men, women, and children.

What's the longest period of time you've been alone? I don't mean a couple evenings after work with your TV and latest NY Times bestsellers. I mean really alone — locked in your bathroom without even any shampoo bottles to read. If you're lucky and haven't pissed off the guards, you might get one book a week, and when the prison is fully staffed you might get one hour a day “outside.” In the context of solitary confinement, outside means four different walls to look at, possibly with chain link diamonds for a sky.

Only thing you have to look forward to each day.

Try getting locked in a bathroom for six months and we can talk again. Boredom can become so all consuming that many people begin to hallucinate. Even for those that don't, their vision degrades — they never have the need to focus on anything more than six feet away. The hippocampus in their brain, the region responsible for spatial reasoning as well as the forming of new memories, shrinks. In Alzheimer's patients, the hippocampus is one of the first areas to go.

This means that the damage from solitary confinement is permanent. Once a prisoner is eventually released, his ability to interact with and tolerate his fellow man is forever crippled. This makes him less likely to reintegrate into society.

Sure, a week in the hole is no big deal. Six months or a year will exact a toll that's hard to imagine for those of us that haven't experienced anything remotely close.

Jim Christmas

So I have a health condition and went I went to take my plea my lawyer tried to use it to argue that I be allowed to stay released at least until sentencing.

It backfired and I got put in jail anyway but they put me in solitary because of the health problem. This was real solitary confinement 23/1 lock down.

They let us out for an hour a day and not even to go outside, just to shower or use the phone. They also made us shower in handcuffs.

Most of the people were there because they’d done something and this was punishment.

5 days in it started to take a mental toll. Thankfully, after one full week I was transferred to another jail.

After that I was in another couple of 23/1 lock down situations but with these there was a TV on outside of the bars, so it wasn’t as bad.

When I got to my designated prison finally I found out they lost my paperwork, so instead of going right on the compound I had to stay in the SHU (Special Housing Unit, the feds version of the hole) until they found it.

This turned out to be three days.
The SHU was not solitary confinement. It was worse. You were locked in a cell with TWO other people. The cell also had a SHOWER in it.

That should give you an idea of how tight of a fit it was.

Garland Ragland

Solitary means being alone.

But indication is more recent prisoners use the term solitary and “the-hole,” as including being in barred front cells they talk with other prisoners through, cast ‘fish-lines’ back and forth, and generally do things that would not indicate solitary.

Indication is the only place where solitary confinement exists today is at super-max prisons.

But that is only when cells are in small pods where prisoners cannot see each other or throw fish-lines back and forth under the door.

Once again, solitary means being alone.

Being in Administrative Segregation, Protective Custody, Death Row, Disciplinary Lockup, means segregated from General Population, but it does not mean solitary. End of preaching.

Robert Grooms

Yes. At Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan.

They have very young offenders in what would be a Maximum security unit.

The rest of the prison is Medium Security.

The confinement cells consist of a thin “mattress” on a slab, and a metal toilet stool.

They are given their food and meds through a slot in the door.

They are brought out of the cells in cuffs.

At some point they can get “ yard” time in a cage that looks like a dog run.

They come out of there pretty “ squirrelly “.

They kinda bob around and act hyper. Made me feel bad for them in a way.

Roach Sue

I did six months in solitary for something I did not do.

Knowing that I was innocent made it easier in ways yet more difficult in others. Being innocent and only there as a result of corrupt deputies and corrupt county government some how shielded me.

It's as if me being innocent formed a barrier to taking ownership of the nightmare.

I recall feeling this sureal dreamlike existence that was so wrong it could not be real.

Simultaneously crying and giving thanks for being alive. I could sense the contempt of the guards when the looked at me.

It was weird feeling their hate towards me when I couldn't really claim it.

In spite of it all, it wasn't that bad. Till I was released. Six months in solitary was nothing compared to the shock of being released.

I was so fucked up, I could not even go into a store without shaking, sweating, extreme difficulties to just do normal things. It has not gotten much better either.

The only time I don't feel alone is when I'm by myself.

Philip Dethsay

The short answer is lonely. You are locked in a small cage 23 hours a day one hour for rec time.

You are permitted a shower twice a week (you adjust to the stench of your b.o. by breathing through your mouth) you hear all the buzz of activity....but you see nothing.

It’s like being in a cocoon in a very public place.

It’s dehumanizing it’s isolating....its the worst punishment the staff can mete out.

Tom Rissmiller

it sucks. All day inside with nothing to do.

You can read and work out and maybe talk to the dude beside you or across from you.
Our cell doors had these flaps in them that they would put our food trays through and sometimes they would leave them open and time and the guy across from me talked quite a bit.

We would pass each other coffee or other stuff.

We got caught passing so they moved me to a cell in population.

Drew Hardy

Boring, lonely, mind numbing.

Usually 23 hour lock up in your cell. Might get out for a hour for a bit of exercise and a shower if you are lucky.

Food delivered through a slot in your cell door that they unlock and open up to pass your food through.

Every so often someone will look through the little window in your cell door to check up on you. It's very easy to completely lose track of time and days.

If you are lucky you might get a book or something to read but don't bank on it.

It's a punishment that sucks in my humble opinion.

Adam Bowyer

At times it can be very difficult and trying. Most people that are imprisoned, either in jail or institutions are already at a low point in their minds. Well at least I can say I was anyway.

At first it doesn't seem all that bad. You get away from the drama, and there is plenty of it to go around. So you have a little bit of peace and quiet. Get some peace of mind. Or thats what I thought. What ends up starting to happen though is the exact opposite. There were days I was beginning to think I was losing my mind.

When you are removed from essentially all forms of human contact, you begin to realize the necessity of it. Even for your “loners”, or “socially awkward”, “introverted” types that prefer to be somewhat isolated or alone, I think would find it borderline unbearable.

You have to realize and try to imagine the silence. No tv background noise, no birds chirping, no sound of people moving around, nada. You can literally hear a pin drop.

You will have the occasional slamming or opening of heavy metal doors (which are usually bothersome and annoying) that become almost a comforting, welcomed sound.

Occasionally (and I am talking very rarely) you will have the idiots come into segregation (solitary confinement) that cause an uproar, wipe shit on the walls, plug and flood their toilets, refuse to give their food tray back out through the slot, etc.

So you will have some commotion, noise, screaming, yelling, banging, for a short period of time. The guards in and out yelling orders “inmate this is your last chance to comply or we will entet the cell” blah, blah, blah...... then the guards will suit up, (looking like storm troopers in their gear) walking tough with the shock shields, extract said inmate from cell, move them to a “special pod” and its over and done with. Back to the silence.

I should mention though, that the above said commotion will drive you crazy as well, so it's actually not a reprieve from the long suffering silence.

There have been numerous studies done on the effects of solitary confinement and the impact it has on a person's mind. There are several people in groups for that matter that considered anything more than 15 days in solitary confinement as a form of torture.

There are people who are put in solitary confinement for years at a time.
I guess the rest of what I would have to say about it is an answer for another question, at another time. So to go ahead and sum this one up..... I would have to say that essentially how hard it is to be in solitary confinement depends on the following:
The amount of time you have to spend in there and
Your mental state before going in
After so much time, some people begin to suffer many different effects from the solitude and they mentally break. They experience hallucinations, anxiety, illness, this list is long and dreadful for those that experience them. It can literally cause lifelong problems. Mental and physical included.

Jennifer Corado

For me it was very difficult to be in solitary confinement at first.

Solitary confinement in the county jail is much more difficult than it is in prison.

Depending on which county jail you were in there are usually extremely punitive and harsh conditions.

L.A. County Jail had a few horrendous solitary confinement (or administrative segregation) units.

I was in one place where the conditions were EXTREMELY filthy, dark, and overrun with mice and roaches.

Contact with other prisoners was minimal. I was in another tiny ass cell somewhere in a place called Wayside that was completely black inside.

And about 10–15 others that were pretty rough.

But they only put guys in there for 10 days at a time.

Prison solitary is a lot less difficult because you can have some property and sometimes even a television or radio.

Mac Tatum

i did 2 stints of 62 and 73 days in Federal prison SHU. It nearly broke me.

Extreme boredom! Limited commissary, limited reading materials and books,

lights on constantly, constant screaming and yelling, cold / lukewarm food, and 1 hour of recreation where I was shackled to an outdoor cage/ kennel 20x30 where you can walk the perimeter and rec can be in the middle of the night most times when you get it but never any consistency when or if you would get it.

They gave me an orange jumpsuit 1 piece that was 3 sizes too big that I would wear 5 days in a row before getting a change.

The mental torture at all this was the fact that I never knew how long my stay in there would be. Nobody would ever tell me.

Steven Williams

This depends on what kind of confinement. For example, administrative confinement is basically just holding you while an investigation is pending.

The biggest perk there is that you can have most of your property, which means books. Books are the best way to spend confinement time. The staff know this which is why you don't have them in disciplinary confinement.

Disciplinary confinement is just that. You have pretty much nothing.

So talking to your roommate, or whomever is next door is what you spend most of your time doing. Exercising is another. Alot of guys go on a workout routine.

But you don't get alot of food, so you have to weigh how much energy you burn working out against how much food you get to determine how hungry you'll be at night.

There are books floating around Disciplinary confinement. But you will usually have to pay for them.

Either with stamps or other hygiene items you're permitted to buy while in there.

You shower 3 nights a week, and the officers usually shakedown your cell while you and your cellmate are taking your 4 minute shower.

If you have books, and they find them, they take them.

I've been in confinement with guys many times where we made our own little games on notebook paper to play. Anything to pass the 30 or 60 days you've got to do.

Rob M.

That would depend on who you are, if you're someone who gets along with yourself, it's actually not a bad place to be at least for a Time.

That being said however with that kind of deprivation there's an eventual breakdown.

People who know themselves and can amuse themselves in a multitude of ways will handle solitary confinement the best.

But it isn't an easy way to pass time!

It can be harder and more detrimental on some than others. Depending on your makeup.

Lawrence Brown

You can find out yourself. Confine yourself in a room just for one day.

Inside the room there should be no mobile, internet, newspaper, music player, just nothing.

The room should have no windows to see outside.

Neither talk nor try to contact anybody for the during the period.

Based on how you will feel in such circumstances, you can guess how it will feel when you are in solitary confinement for long duration.

Bhagat Singh

Yes I have, on a few different occasions in fact.

Most people who think about “solitary” today mistakenly think of some place they've seen in the movies.

In fact, what they consider “solitary” today is what is actually better known as administrative segregation. It's just another unit in most prisons.

There’s not a lot of movement but there is enough that you can still stay somewhat connected to others and family.

But. The “solitary” I was in is called Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (“the SHU”). I did a year and change in there. There is very little movement in that place. Generally, you are in a very small unit with 7 other guys.

Unfortunately, the Mexicans or Whites don't talk to the Blacks so it was a long 18 months. I was in that pod by myself, as far as Blacks go, so I didn't talk to anyone for a very long time.

There's 8 cells in each pod, bottom and top tier, just 4 cells on each tier; a very small shower at the end of each tier; and at the other end a “yard” that we are each allowed into every other day or so for an hour, an hour and a half. The “yard,” for lack of a better term, is a solid concrete enclosure with four concrete walls that are about 25 feet high.

It's an approximately 10′ X 20′ enclosure with heavy mesh wire fencing and a video camera on one side at the top, and on the other side it's open in case you wanna feel the rain on your face or something.

They took away my television when I got there so all I had was books and my paperwork. That got me focused, and I think it may have been a turning point for me.

When most people think of solitary this is what they think it is. It is a scary place because of the corrupt guards but it was a truly cleansing moment for me. I appreciate that now in hindsight, but I certainly didn't like living through it at the time.

Mac Tatum

For me it was very difficult to be in solitary confinement at first.

Solitary confinement in the county jail is much more difficult than it is in prison.

Depending on which county jail you were in there are usually extremely punitive and harsh conditions.

L.A. County Jail had a few horrendous solitary confinement (or administrative segregation) units.

I was in one place where the conditions were EXTREMELY filthy, dark, and overrun with mice and roaches.

Contact with other prisoners was minimal.

I was in another tiny ass cell somewhere in a place called Wayside that was completely black inside.

And about 10–15 others that were pretty rough. But they only put guys in there for 10 days at a time.

Prison solitary is a lot less difficult because you can have some property and sometimes even a television or radio.

Mac Tatum

You just adapt. You'd be surprised at what you can get used to.

The longest I did in solitary at one time was 360 days.

I ordered about 10 different magazine subscriptions, and 2 different news papers, so that I had a lot of reading material steadily coming my way.

They also had a little library in the segregation unit with maybe 500 or so books in it.

You were allowed to request 2 books a week.

I probably read about 10–12 hours a day. I like to read, so it wasn't too bad.

You get into a routine and the days steadily go by.

Before you know it your time is up and you're back in general population.

Loud. Crazy. Violent. Stupid, general population.

Ant

I personally believe the answer is yes! I spent 25 days in solitary confinement one time and I was stripped from all of my possessions except for a bar of soap , toothbrush, toothpaste , shampoo and my bible. I almost read the whole thing .

I made it to revelations anyway. I made dice out of toilet paper that I would wet and mush into a square and use a pencil to make the dots.

Pacing the length of what a small bathroom would be, I would stare out of my window but my only view was a brick wall and blue sky.

The prison was in Atlanta and there were a lot of airplanes that would fly by and all day long i would count them .

I heard “big ol jet airliner” by Steve Miller and “ I’m just sitting right here watching airplanes “ by Gary Allan play in my head over and over and over again. It would have been more tolerable if I at least had my personal items like my photos , books, radio, etc.

but to not have anything that is yours, nothing to bring you peace other than the Bible of course , but things like letters from your loved ones or even your own shorts and T-shirt’s.

I felt as if I were losing my mind and I considered myself to be a sane individual. I literally understand why Tom Hanks got so upset when he lost Wilson at sea. You crave human contact and any sense of belonging and freedom.

Acknowledgement is something we take for granted . When I finally got out of there I remember looking in the mirror at this pale, pasty stranger who needed her eyebrows plucked something serious and a wild look in my eye I’d never seen before.

After only 25 days my appearance had even changed. It didn’t take long to get back into the groove of things but it is sink or swim in the chain gang and I’m a swimmer.

Virginia Kitchens

I was in solitary confinement from December 19, 2001 to May 7, 2005.

The last 6 months I started to notice that my ability to engage in conversation with a guard or nurse was declining sharply.

The first thing I noticed upon release was that I talked to myself all day.

I never saw or heard of anyone actually going insane. Most people in solitary confinement are quite happy to be there.

But, that is in an American prison as they are today.

Take a normal person off the street and stick them in a dark room for 5 years alone and it may well break them.

It totally depends on what stresses there are like torture or silence or whatever, and what releases there are like books or a television.

Sverigielle Von Gothenburg

I spent about 8 months in a segregration cell with bars in the front and a bars on the top and steel on 3 sides and you could hear other prisoners but you couldnt see them.

I did pushups on the concrete floor and pullups from the bars above.

I would do what is called a walk up routine meaning 1 rep and stand up and the 2 reps and stand, all the way up to 30 reps and then you did the same thing back down to 1.

I would do this most of my waking hours. I also did the same routine on the pullups between sets of pushups.

Then I go into some trouble in the brig and was put into the dungeon in a straight jacket (no fun at all)

It took me about 3 days to chew myself out of the straight jacket and then I resumed my pushups on the floor, as you were in solid concrete with a metal door and no light whatso ever.

I also started to bang on the metal door with my feet constantly when I wasnt doing pushups and it took almost a month of constant banging but the concrete holding the door cracked finally and the door fell off.

I found lots of ways to fill my hours in solitary!

Tom Hayes

I did six months in solitary for something I did not do. Knowing that I was innocent made it easier in ways yet more difficult in others.

Being innocent and only there as a result of corrupt deputies and corrupt county government some how shielded me.

It's as if me being innocent formed a barrier to taking ownership of the nightmare.

I recall feeling this sureal dreamlike existence that was so wrong it could not be real.

Simultaneously crying and giving thanks for being alive.

I could sense the contempt of the guards when the looked at me. It was weird feeling their hate towards me when I couldn't really claim it.

In spite of it all, it wasn't that bad. Till I was released. Six months in solitary was nothing compared to the shock of being released.

I was so fucked up, I could not even go into a store without shaking, sweating, extreme difficulties to just do normal things.

It has not gotten much better either. The only time I don't feel alone is when I'm by myself.

Philip Dethsay

I Told my story a few times in here so I won't bore you with too much details.

I spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, the hole, the SHU, AD SEG whatever you want to call it 2 years straight and a bunch of short visits.

It's definitely different and shocks the system at first because you're not used to not having simple freedoms.

Definitely was not fun. But I think the most effect it caused came years later.

I hate small spaces, can't stand elevators, small rooms or anywhere where I can't get to the door easily, preferably I'd like the door to stay open.

I slept in my living room on the couch for at least a year after I got out because I didn't like to be in the bedroom where there was a door that could shut me in.

It fucks with your head long term more then in the moment.

I guess because your in survival mode when you're in The SHU and block it out, but later once my brain got back to civilization I noticed the effects in caused.

Thomas Ronnoc

Several reasons. The first is the sensory deprivation, we only know the full extent from severe cases of solitary but in a simple manner, without proper sensory input, the brain begins making its own. In short order, you begin to experience auditory and visual hallucinations. Some examples I’ve heard of include hearing rockets going off next to you, feeling and seeing bugs crawling around in your skin, and hearing distinct screaming, talking, shouting, etc. And hallucinations are not small things, they can cause a complete mental break with reality (psychosis) and PTSD.Another point of reference is that humans are naturally social creatures, even the most introverted of us need social interaction. A lack of it over an extended period can cause aphasia (loss of the ability to speak), depression, and even psychosis. Many records of solitary confinement also have examples of the confined engaging in self-harm or attempting suicide, even if they have no history of either behavior.Some cases of subjecting children to solitary confinement have shown ferality, a lack of the ability to acquire speech, and learning disabilities, along with PTSD and abandonment issues.In a very simple manner, solitary confinement can severely affect a person’s mental health and some places classify it as not punishment but outright torture because of how much of an affect it can have on a person.EDIT: These are all examples, mind, of actual solitary confinement, which most parts of the US don’t engage in. An actual solitary confinement cell looks very different from a single-person cell in a prison. 

Alcatraz, for instance, had a severe solitary confinement cell where inmates were locked behind an inch thick steel door and left there until their punishment was over with only wardens as contact with humans. Some of the inmates died.

Eastern State ran completely on solitary and most of the inmates there didn’t reform, in fact many ended up right back in the same prison until the solitary confinement policy ended. Most prisons like these don’t operate any more and genuine solitary confinement isn’t practiced in the US.

Tori Schettler