The New York legislative session ended last week without action on the HALT bill that would have barred the use of solitary confinement in ways that violate international law.  Even without this action, the debate over solitary confinement is sure to continue in New York State’s legislatures and others around the country. It is clear by studying the comparison of the reactions of humans subjected to solitary confinement to the reactions of primates who are held similarly gives important new insight into why solitary confinement must be ended.

One of us has long experience with the practice of solitary confinement in prisons and jails as a litigator, advocate and scholar.  In his work, he has seen how solitary confinement imposes psychological pain which is so great that it often leads otherwise normal human beings who are subjected to it to either become psychotic or if not psychotic to engage in behavior indicative of great mental pain.  People in solitary commit suicide at a rate far in excess of people in any other setting; they engage as well often in other self-destructive behavior including self-mutilation, feces throwing and violence. They lose the ability to concentrate and often act erratically and fearfully.  The physical and psychological damage solitary inflicts is often permanent. Witnessing firsthand the awful consequences of subjecting human beings to solitary confinement and looking into the eyes of those inmates struggling to maintain a foothold on reality and sanity is painful.