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Imagine living with no significant human contact for years, even decades, in a cell the size of a small bathroom. This is the reality for those in long-term solitary confinement, a form of imprisonment regularly imposed in US prisons. In this eye-opening talk, civil rights lawyer Laura Rovner takes us to ADX, the US federal government’s only supermax prison, and describes the dehumanizing effects of long-term solitude on the mind, personality and sense of self. What emerges is an urgent case for abolishing solitary confinement — and evidence for how our tax dollars, public safety and values are implicated in it. “Prisons are administered in our name and on our behalf,” she says. “We have an obligation to bear witness.”
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Jeffrey Marley
December 1, 2019 at 5:14 am
Very good points but it always dilutes the point if you have to use a stronger term of which the definition doesn’t include the subject. I haven’t been in Solitary confinement but it would be horrible.
12345 678910
December 1, 2019 at 7:39 am
Have you permission to visit indian prisons?
Richard Miller
December 1, 2019 at 9:50 am
If your daughter is raped and murdered you may feel differently
Happy Helper
December 1, 2019 at 11:05 am
This dunce should be thrown into ISO just for bringing this up, so should all the butt plug collectors at PED
Matt Roszak
December 1, 2019 at 12:38 pm
A lot of Americans have beliefs that make me think they’d be more at home in an earlier century.
Invox
December 1, 2019 at 1:00 pm
At least put windows on the cells. That scenary alone could heal some…things?
MeMyPCandI
December 1, 2019 at 1:22 pm
Canada puts their mentally ill into cages and ignore them.. and they are not convicted by a judge or a jury of their peers..
BUY BITCOIN
December 1, 2019 at 1:33 pm
There are numerous similarities shared with the mind of an autistic school-aged child and the mind of a man who has been subject to repetitive solitary confinement.
D Caspar
December 1, 2019 at 3:05 pm
Solitary confinement need to be abolish
konanoobiemaster
December 1, 2019 at 6:07 pm
i tried caring but failed miserably
Matthew DeFluri
December 1, 2019 at 7:17 pm
I was in solitary confinement for three months back in 2006 for possession of hashish….it destroys you mentally
Dandylion
December 1, 2019 at 8:49 pm
To everyone who says they feel no sympathy for criminals: I am terrified of you & your stunning lack of human morality.
RunAMuckGirl2
December 1, 2019 at 10:33 pm
Write to them. Get a pen pal. It’s a life line.
Michael Spoto
December 2, 2019 at 12:17 am
I did two years in solitary. I was sent to a max state penitentiary where everyone was locked down. Finally they sent me to a new prison where I was in general population.
aliciabrillante
December 2, 2019 at 1:39 am
She has a lot of Christ like empathy. We need to stop the rapes in prison.
Yb Not
December 2, 2019 at 1:44 am
So if a prisoner killed your lover and did something destroyed your whole lives how do you think? Would you still respect their human rights?
GS E
December 2, 2019 at 2:36 am
you scream better conditions for them until they rape and brutally murder your underage daughter. These people didn’t give it a second thought when they committed crimes which were far worse so neither should we.
Alex Dolgushev
December 2, 2019 at 7:44 am
Out of the 4 years I did in prison I did 44 days in solitary confinement. 10 Days when I first got in because of administrative segregation because I was a “high profile case”. My first 10 days in jail I sat in a cell by myself with no pen or paper. With no books, or anything to keep my mind occupied besides looking over my charges. After a year I was sent to seg again because someone told the C.O.s that I was extorting them for their food. Which was false, I never did extort anyone. I went to maximum security floor because of a. false accusations. I got moved again to a lower level after a few months because of good behavior. When I was in a dorm somebody stole my food so I had to fight to get it back. I lost the fight and got 8 stitches in my head, and all the deputies cared about was “Do you want to press charges on the person that did this?” No! I don’t want to punish another person even more then they are already punished. They stitched me up, and put me in seg, for 15 days. When the day came to take me out they said they didn’t have enough room in population for me so I had to sit another 2 days in there until there was room. At least it was better than my first time because I had food and coffee. They messed with my mind so much that cold coffee and Cheetos actually brought me happiness on my 21st birthday. I was actually happy for the little things I had because I knew how much worse it could be. After that I got moved to prison and send to seg in there for a investigation. I was walking with someone that I knew and he got jumped by some inmates. He told the sergeant that I set him up, which I didn’t. I sat in seg for another 17 days while they “investigated” this situation.” They charged me with a 104 which is gang aggravated assault. 100 is murder. I didn’t do anything at all…… I sat there for 17 days not knowing wether I would get found guilty or not. The anxiety sticks with me till this day that now I have a mental illness because of this. I am very grateful that someone is actually using their platform to speak for the people who are silenced. This was very powerful!! Thank you for exposing the torture that goes on every day in this country to kids who aren’t even old enough to drink.
Emma
December 2, 2019 at 8:19 am
Do the crime, do the time. When you threaten the public, your safety and rights come last. Protect the public first. It’s prison, not a vacation. If someone hurts my loved ones, their “rights” are the last thing on my mind.
Pale Zombie
December 2, 2019 at 8:57 am
Would she be singing a different tune if her “loved one” was raped and murdered?
Bird Big
December 2, 2019 at 10:19 am
In my opinion, they should have the right of either living in solitary confinement or kill themselves by medication. Torture is wrong.
Kay P
December 2, 2019 at 11:17 am
As a corrections employee, I see the benefit of short term solitary confinement for major institutional offenses. I think no inmate should have to spend more than 30 consecutive days in solitary confinement. I also think it should be used as a tool of last resort. Furthermore, I believe that persons in solitary should have human contact with staff and therapists daily.
Ohms Ragudo
December 2, 2019 at 12:44 pm
In 2020, we placed the prisoners in cryogenic chambers and let them sleep, no wasting of too much taxpayers money, and after the prison term, release them into the society where everybody is under surveillance and monitored. By that time, either the citizens has progressed in a futuristic environment or we lived in a mad max world. “Demolition Man” starring Sylvester Stallone.
Alain Koch
December 2, 2019 at 2:42 pm
We are in some way same like what we are made of… cells.
Separate a cell from a body and it probably dies. And if not, it will become what we call a cancer cell..
either way… separating is never a good thing.
Alain Koch
December 2, 2019 at 3:02 pm
If I understand that right, she complains that there is a location in the US, where the same things can happen to US citizens like what they (excluding non–taxpayers that don’t vote) are supporting their Gouvernement to do in other countries.
what goes around comes around.. no matter where you are from or how much you try to ignore what your tax money is used for.