I just finished reading an intriguing piece from the Guardian on Sarah Shourd and her advocacy against solitary confinement. Just so we are all on the same page, Sarah Shourd, was one of three hikers caught on the wrong side of the Iranian border in 2009. According the article, Shourd was held in solitary confinement for 13 months, almost 2 months of which she spent totally isolated.
This is one of my first posts so I'll admit that outside of massive overcrowding and disproportionate sentencing I haven't been following along with the state of the United State's prisons. The article shows data from Solitary Watch, a group concerned with these things, that reports in some states prisoners have spent over two decades in prison. Shourd herself has begun corresponding with an inmate who has spent 27 years in solitary confinement. The article doesn't say why the inmate is isolated and I don't want to make light of a situation I don't have all the facts on, but I haven't been stuck on Earth for 27 years and I'm getting antsy.
To eventually get to my point, since you could read the article and figure all of that out, as a science fiction writer I have often placed characters on their own for extended periods of time and tried to imagine what it might be like. Personally I'm a recluse, and while I have never had to undergo something as extreme as forced solitary confinement, I have spent a good amount of time alone with my thoughts. Reading the article, and thinking about my own experiences, I quickly come to the conclusion that I probably have no idea what I am talking about.
I think an element my stories may have missed was the sheer nothingness of time spent alone in a cell, even with a book or a piece of paper. What I mean is that a cramped space ship or mountain hut still require mental tasks to maintain. While it may not stave of all quirks, I think the presumption I was running on was that having something to do, check a fuel gauge, hunt for food, repair something, gave the character enough direction to stay focused.
The article quotes science that states two days in solitary confinement can cause a shift in brainwaves toward delirium or stupor. I really enjoy the idea of the unreliable narrator, and I could easily see stories in which the character has been confined somehow, trapped or locked away, and we are left to take their word for the conditions. For some reason I can't help but think about the Count of Monte Cristo, and Dantes and his friend the Mad Priest. Dumas writes a fantastical and perfect tale of revenge, but is it too perfect?
I think I'll wrap this tangent up and get back to work, but I have two final things to say. First, I'd like to thank Sarah Shourd for taking a very traumatic experience and trying to make the world a better place for it. The Dalai Lama would probably approve. Second, I am going to look into the science/UN/prison side of this solitary confinement thing. I've got a lot on my plate right now, but to me prison needs to be about rehabilitation not punishment. Considering what google and the Bureau of Justice tells me, there are 2.228 million people in the prison system, something needs to be fixed. I wanted to write this post as a reminder to myself to do some investigating. Thanks for reading everyone and good night.
P.S. Just so I don't get any angry moms. Kids, don't google Incarceration rates in the US unless you have your parents permission to read things like the Prison Rape Elimination Act. It is worth reading, apparently solitary confinement is the punishment 76% of the time for inmate offenders. As far as I can tell there is little "substantiated" data on the actual rate of sexual violence, but that it is a problem means solitary isn't working.
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