F*** Solitary Confinement
The hole, the new term for solitary confinement. It’s the place they take you when you break one of their “rules,” or at least they say you did. It’s supposed to be a deterrent from future acts of whatever they deem [...]
solitary confinement
My Life Sentence: Writing and Retaliation in a Texas Prison
I have been in prison for 34 years, serving a life sentence for a murder I did not commit. My trial judge was the father-in-law of the murder victim in my case. My trial judge’s son was the second chair prosecutor. [...]
Why Solitary Confinement Is Torture
After spending over five years studying how prolonged periods of solitary confinement harm the brains, the only conclusion that I could come up with is that solitary confinement is torture. I’m not the only one who knows this.
Two Weeks in Solitary And You Go Mental
Self-mutilation seems to be a common coping mechanism. Cutting and bleeding. I've seen many hang themselves with a sheet.
Fighting Solitary With a Hunger Strike
On July 1, 2011, California prisoners launched a massive hunger strike to call attention to what we were all forced to endure: inhumane conditions in solitary confinement in California's Special Housing Units (SHU’s). The physical and psychological torture that the [...]
Here’s What Happens In Solitary
After spending months in isolation, you start to feel as though you have been buried alive. You have people who self-mutilate by cutting themselves. Or they swallow things like fingernail clippers and pens.
15 Years In Solitary Confinement And Look At Me Now
I stabbed a prison guard when I was at the Barrington Unit in 2014, located between Houston and Galveston, and got an additional 99 year sentence for that assault. I spent the next fifteen years in solitary
After 20 Years of Solitary in A Supermax Prison — They Send Me To THIS Place?
For the past two decades, up until April 27, 2015, I was living in solitary confinement at the only federal Supermax prison in America, ADX Florence in Colorado. I was housed and handled under the high-max custody level. No less than three [...]
I Spent 20 Years In Solitary in a SuperMax
Well, after 20 years in solitary confinement in America's toughest federal Super-max prison, still half-sleep and dazed, my mind and heart raced, baffled and excited. The guards gave me less than an hour to prepare to leave.
Another Suicide in Solitary: When is Enough Enough?
Gabriele was an upbeat cat for a prisoner with a life sentence. I remember the day that I met him. I was having a difficult day trying to navigate all of the negativity that prison has to offer when suddenly this [...]
10 Tips For Surviving Long Term Solitary Confinement
Editors Note: Mustafa Zulu spent 20 years in solitary confinement in the harshest Federal Prison in America: ADX Florence in Colorado. One day, he was told he was moving to a STATE prison in North Carolina. 1) STRESS MANAGEMENT: Stress kills. [...]
Solitary Confinement: All That’s Left To Do Is Go Crazy
Solitary confinement is now firmly embedded in this country’s prison system. Indeed, the control units that specialize in housing prisoners in solitary by the tens of thousands throughout the US have become the new normal. Slowly, people out in society [...]
Some Thoughts From Solitary
After spending 3 years in a medium security Ohio prison, a friend of mine once asked me if the time spent there had institutionalized me. At the time my idea of what it meant to be institutionalized consisted of simply forming [...]
Solitary Is Torture!
After spending over five years in solitary confinement, I have finally come to realize that solitary confinement is known torture -- and the prisoners aren’t the only ones who know this. There have been extensive studies that have shown that lengthy [...]
Solitary Confinement Will Make You A Little Crazy. Period.
Courtesy of Brad Simpson Hello. My name is Brad but everyone calls me Lou. I’m in prison for killing an inmate while doing time for another crime. The reason I tell you this is so you’ll know, upfront, [...]
I Went To Solitary For Robbing The Prison Canteen
Like thousands of other inmates across the nation, I had a job. I worked in the kitchen. In the stock room area, out of sight in the back of the kitchen, my partner Zeke and I were joined by a few [...]