Inspiration Haven

scripttorture:

While I haven’t been directly asked for a Masterpost on
Solitary Confinement the sheer volume of asks on the subject prompted me to put
this together.

Let’s start with some
definitions–

Most sources
define solitary confinement as 23 hours a day or less without human contact.
This can be in or outside of a prison context.

Most sources agree that anything
over a week is prolonged solitary
confinement and most victims would begin to show symptoms within a week or sooner.

All of the research on solitary confinement that I am familiar with was conducted in a
prison context. Most of it was done in the USA. Some of the results and
conclusions will be affected by that context and we do know that environment
effects how well victims cope with isolation.

Symptoms of solitary
confinement affect both physical and mental health

Physical symptoms
include–

Headaches

Eye problems

Joint pain

Lethargy

Insomnia

Feelings of physical weakness

Psychological symptoms
include–

Worsening of all pre-existing mental health problems

Depression

Anxiety

Feelings of helplessness

Self harm

Suicidal ideation

Aggression

Severe mood swings

Irrational impulses

Hallucinations

Psychosis

Difficulty interacting with people

Difficulty learning new skills

Memory problems

There is some data on the prevalence rates of different
symptoms but it’s not very clear cut. The fact that pre-existing mental health
conditions are more common in prison populations may skew the data.

Speaking in general
terms: physical symptoms of some kind are extremely common, depression or
suicidal inclination is extremely common, anxiety is extremely common.
Hallucinations and psychosis are less
common but some estimates put their occurrence rate as high as 30%.

Factors that make
Solitary Even Worse

• Age is a major risk factor. Research on children specifically is lacking and the research that there is isn’t always clear about the age of the children involved. However in teenagers solitary confinement has greater and longer lasting negative effects. The current research suggests that younger children would suffer even more.

• Pre-existing mental health conditions are all worsened significantly by solitary confinement.

• When solitary is combined with poor living conditions the effects on individuals can be devastating. Particularly harmful are lack of space, lack of stimulation, lack of light, lack of sound and any combination of the factors mentioned in this list.

 

• Having no known release date or time has been shown
      experimentally to drastically reduce the amount of time people will feel
      comfortable in solitary confinement. This holds true over days. Characters who are confined indefinitely or with no known release date should show worse symptoms then characters who know when they’ll be let out.

• Any additional stress, trauma or torture. Threats, lack of medical care and anything that is likely to cause additional suffering will make solitary worse.

Protective Factors

• Some people are really resistant to the effects of isolation and we don’t know why. Individuals such as astronauts, lone sailors and
      people conducting polar research are often specially selected in part for
      their ability to withstand isolation. The important thing to remember is
      that while they exist these people are not common and they are not the norm.

• Having a cause seems to have a hugely protective effect. Political prisoners in solitary confinement do better than other types of prisoners but they do still show symptoms and suffer from confinement.

How long is too long?

A lot of the asks I get on solitary assume it is much less
damaging than it is, so I’m going to end with a couple of points on timings
that will hopefully help people judge what’s an appropriate time frame for
their story.

Remember that torture
is cumulative and any additional factors/traumas will make symptoms significantly worse.

Less than a week–
the character probably won’t show any lasting effects, though they will
probably have started to show some symptoms while confined.

One week to one month–
the character will have multiple symptoms, some of which will persist after
they get out of solitary and start interacting with people again. They will
struggle with mental health problems and may find it difficult to interact with
people in a socially acceptable way. However with a strong support network and
time they may still make a full recovery.

One month to one year–
it is extremely likely that the character has self harmed and/or attempted
suicide at least once. They will have multiple severe symptoms. The risk of
hallucinations, psychosis and catatonia is increased. Multiple severe symptoms
will persist when the character is released and they will probably have to deal
with the resulting mental health problems for the rest of their life. Social
isolation after release is extremely common and makes symptoms worse. Socially
unacceptable symptoms are more likely and likely to persist after release.

Several years– the
risk of death by suicide is incredibly high. Self mutilation (ie amputation,
scarring the face etc) starts to become an issue. Symptoms can be so severe
that the character may not have a firm grasp of reality. Chance of recovery is
minimal and many victims find that on release they can no longer interact with
others in socially acceptable ways. They are often isolated and severely
mentally ill. The risk of suicide after release remains high.

So to summarise–

Solitary confinement is an extremely damaging torture which
has long term repercussions effecting victims for the rest of their lives.

It’s rarely portrayed accurately in fiction, but you can
help me change that.

If you’d like to use solitary confinement in your writing
think about the symptoms your character will show and the time frame they’re
confined for.

Consider how those symptoms impact on your character and
your story. If possible pick symptoms that fit well with your story and
character. Use both physical and psychological symptoms.

Above all don’t be tempted to play down the symptoms and
effects of solitary.

I know it’s a long and intimidating list of symptoms. That,
I suppose, is part of the point. Writing torture victims well means accepting
that characters won’t survive without symptoms and trying to capture how they’d
deal with these changes and challenges.

It isn’t easy. It shouldn’t be. It’s also far from
impossible.

And as always I am here to help.

[Sources:

Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement by S Shalev A good general overview
of the subject.

Solitary Confinement by P S Smith A summary of scholarly
debate.

Deep Custody:
Segreation Units and Close Supervision Centres in England and Wales by S Shalev and K Edgar This source
is particularly about UK prisons but talks in more depth about the process of
prisoners being put into solitary confinement and the conditions in UK jails.

American Civil
Liberties Union, a source of first hand accounts.

Solitary
Watch, another good source of first hand accounts, focused on US prisoners
primarily but with some other cases around the world.]

Disclaimer