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Hell Is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement
“An unforgettable look at the peculiar horrors and humiliations involved in solitary confinement” from the prisoners who have survived it ( New York Review of Books ).
On any given day, the United States holds more than eighty-thousand people in solitary confinement, a punishment that―beyond fifteen days―has been denounced as a form of cruel and degrading treatment by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Now, in a book that will add a startling new dimension to the debates around human rights and prison reform, former and current prisoners describe the devastating effects of isolation on their minds and bodies, the solidarity expressed between individuals who live side by side for years without ever meeting one another face to face, the ever-present specters of madness and suicide, and the struggle to maintain hope and humanity. As Chelsea Manning wrote from her own solitary confinement cell, “The personal accounts by prisoners are some of the most disturbing that I have ever read.”
These firsthand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of solitary confinement.
“Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for twenty-three hours a day, for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger.” ―President Barack Obama
“Elegant but harrowing.” ― San Francisco Chronicle
“A potent cry of anguish from men and women buried way down in the hole.” ― Kirkus Reviews
On any given day, the United States holds more than eighty-thousand people in solitary confinement, a punishment that―beyond fifteen days―has been denounced as a form of cruel and degrading treatment by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Now, in a book that will add a startling new dimension to the debates around human rights and prison reform, former and current prisoners describe the devastating effects of isolation on their minds and bodies, the solidarity expressed between individuals who live side by side for years without ever meeting one another face to face, the ever-present specters of madness and suicide, and the struggle to maintain hope and humanity. As Chelsea Manning wrote from her own solitary confinement cell, “The personal accounts by prisoners are some of the most disturbing that I have ever read.”
These firsthand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of solitary confinement.
“Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for twenty-three hours a day, for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger.” ―President Barack Obama
“Elegant but harrowing.” ― San Francisco Chronicle
“A potent cry of anguish from men and women buried way down in the hole.” ― Kirkus Reviews
240 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
78 people are currently reading
1633 people want to read
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April 14, 2017
In Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray there are no consequences to Dorian Gray's actions, no matter what they are. He has abdicated his conscience and until the rather horrible end, cares nothing for anyone but himself. A very pyschopathic life.
And so it is with the men in solitary confinement. Most of them are either on death row or in prison for life without parole. Between 10% and 25% of violent criminals are measurably psychopathic (both on the Hare Checklist and on brain scans)>. The worst that can happen to them is solitary confinement and that's what this book is about.
Psychopaths are very manipulative and the editors of this book have been manipulated into putting forward the prisoners' view that all prison officers are out to get them for even breathing. It's quite persuasive writing too. Quite a lot of the prisoners who write the essays in this book are talented writers, it's a shame that they weren't discovered as small children and it is only when there is nothing better to do than study and write, their academic rather than violent side comes out.
It is quite something to talk about smearing faeces in their cells as a protest, mention their crime, usually murder, often more than one, and the recent violence that landed them in solitary as if somehow we are supposed to think really they are very nice men and it is these terrible prison officers who suppress their natures with brutality.
All in all a very good read, but one-sided. That doesn't take anything from the book but only a conspiracy theorist would actually believe these men are really good people and the prison officers are the evil ones.
____________
Notes on reading This is very powerful. It is the stories of people who were/are locked up in solitary confinement in US prisons for years and years. It is necessary to put aside the thought they might well deserve harsh punishment for the crimes they committed as that is not part of the justice system. People are sent to prison as a punishment, not imprisoned so they can be punished. But that is what is happening.
And so it is with the men in solitary confinement. Most of them are either on death row or in prison for life without parole. Between 10% and 25% of violent criminals are measurably psychopathic (both on the Hare Checklist and on brain scans)>. The worst that can happen to them is solitary confinement and that's what this book is about.
Psychopaths are very manipulative and the editors of this book have been manipulated into putting forward the prisoners' view that all prison officers are out to get them for even breathing. It's quite persuasive writing too. Quite a lot of the prisoners who write the essays in this book are talented writers, it's a shame that they weren't discovered as small children and it is only when there is nothing better to do than study and write, their academic rather than violent side comes out.
It is quite something to talk about smearing faeces in their cells as a protest, mention their crime, usually murder, often more than one, and the recent violence that landed them in solitary as if somehow we are supposed to think really they are very nice men and it is these terrible prison officers who suppress their natures with brutality.
All in all a very good read, but one-sided. That doesn't take anything from the book but only a conspiracy theorist would actually believe these men are really good people and the prison officers are the evil ones.
____________
Notes on reading This is very powerful. It is the stories of people who were/are locked up in solitary confinement in US prisons for years and years. It is necessary to put aside the thought they might well deserve harsh punishment for the crimes they committed as that is not part of the justice system. People are sent to prison as a punishment, not imprisoned so they can be punished. But that is what is happening.
February 8, 2016
Perhaps the most radical accomplishment of this collection of essays is that it seeks to humanize those we have deemed inhuman. I hesitate to write much about this book because my words should not get in the way of the words of those who've not only gone through this hell, but chose to write about it. All I can add is that I believe it is the civic duty of every American to read this book.
February 14, 2016
Your world has shrunk to a small airless room, 4 1/2 X 9 feet--narrow enough that you can't stretch your arms side to side without hitting the wall, long enough to lie down, with an extra foot to spare beyond the bed. You share your room with a bed, a combination toilet/sink, and a small box which holds everything you own. You are alone. Profoundly, totally alone. No one talks to you. No one listens to you. No one hears you. As hours stretch to days, weeks, months, years, and decades alone, you slowly lose your mind.
This is solitary confinement. The US is the world leader in the use of solitary. On any given day, our prisons, jails and detention center's hold approximately (no one actually counts) 100,000 people in these profoundly dehumanizing cages. Under international standards, keeping someone in solitary for more than 15 days is considered torture, as it causes permanent damage to people's minds. Yet the US routinely keeps people in solitary not for 15 days, or even 15 weeks, but for 15 years, and much longer.
Hell Is a Very Small Place is the best book I have read (and I have read many) in describing the impact solitary has on the human beings who endure this torture. From the opening sentence written by Sarah Shourd (one of the book's editors), describing her own descent into madness (thankfully temporary) while being held in solitary in Iran, to the afterward by Juan Mendez, who was kidnapped and tortured by the Argentinian government for his work as a lawyer defending victims of human rights violations--and went on to be the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, this book is equal parts heart wrenching and infuriating.
Dostoyevsky famously wrote that the degree of civilization of a society is best measured by the way it treats its prisoners. We have failed this test miserably.
This is solitary confinement. The US is the world leader in the use of solitary. On any given day, our prisons, jails and detention center's hold approximately (no one actually counts) 100,000 people in these profoundly dehumanizing cages. Under international standards, keeping someone in solitary for more than 15 days is considered torture, as it causes permanent damage to people's minds. Yet the US routinely keeps people in solitary not for 15 days, or even 15 weeks, but for 15 years, and much longer.
Hell Is a Very Small Place is the best book I have read (and I have read many) in describing the impact solitary has on the human beings who endure this torture. From the opening sentence written by Sarah Shourd (one of the book's editors), describing her own descent into madness (thankfully temporary) while being held in solitary in Iran, to the afterward by Juan Mendez, who was kidnapped and tortured by the Argentinian government for his work as a lawyer defending victims of human rights violations--and went on to be the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, this book is equal parts heart wrenching and infuriating.
Dostoyevsky famously wrote that the degree of civilization of a society is best measured by the way it treats its prisoners. We have failed this test miserably.
May 26, 2025
Hell is a Very Small Place is partially a collection of essays of people who are or were in solitary confinement telling stories about their experiences. It is also composed of essays from lawyers, professors, psychologists, and journalists about why solitary confinement is unethical and illogical.
The essays telling the stories of peoples experiences are diverse in demographics and eerily similar as far as the abuses and torture suffered in each place. All of the essays tell stories of the descent into madness that occurs when one is deprived of human contact (physically, verbally, and otherwise,) natural light, medical care, food, and other basic necessities. Solitary confinement always causes lasting damage- especially when prisoners are held in it for extended periods of time. The essays by a trans woman and a gay cis man show how being LGBTQ and/or gender nonconforming is a punishable offense in prisons while being couched in the idea of "safety" and "protection" for LGBTQ people in prison. The essays also show how prisons lie to insist there is a need for solitary confinement based on ill-defined parameters such as gang affiliation, mild infarctions such as talking back to guards, or to quell any organized resistance such as hunger striking to improve the conditions in prisons. Once one is placed in solitary, a cyclic nature of getting stuck there for these reasons created by the oppressive institutions that are prisons begins.
I have had prison pen pals who have spent time in solitary, including one for extended amount of time due to an accusation of gang affiliation and the other for perceived homosexual activity (which would also garner you a sex offense and placement on a registry for something like two women consensually hugging.) I can say that the stories in this book are not unique. My friend in solitary for the longer time slowly lost his mind in permanent ways and has had a very difficult time readjusting to general population despite wanting to be out of solitary.
Even if one is heartless enough not to care about prisoners and their torture in solitary, it makes no sense as a punitive or rehabilitative measure. When people leave solitary, they are always worse off whether they are in the prison population or back out in the world. They struggle with relationships, open space, authority, and other things far worse than those never placed in solitary confinement.
The essays in the latter part of the book range from descriptions of the researched psychological effects of solitary by outside clinicians and/or researchers, the laws in place to keep solitary confinement going, or stories of those held there as they are perceived by someone on the outside. These essays are mostly good, but I found one topic to be lacking and that was the discussion of LGBTQ prisoners in solitary confinement. Given that multiple stories told by these people existed in the first part of the book, I would have liked to see at least one essay in the latter part focused on homophobia and transphobia in prisons and why such large percentages of LGBTQ people in prisons end up in solitary without even disobeying any written rules. LGBTQ prisoners are some of the most ill treated in prisons, especially when their identities intersect with other oppression such as racism and misogyny. That is why this book gets 4 stars instead of 5.
Overall this book does a good job showing how solitary confinement is literal torture that some prisoners describe as a sentence worse than death and one essay describes as "a living death sentence." It is an important read for anyone interested in prisons and could be handed to any person who is ignorant of how prisons are hellish places that do not rehabilitate or stop future crime.
Another review here claims the book is full of sociopathic murderers trying to influence the reader as to their innocence and the nonexistent abuse by guards. This reviewer did not read this book, or if they did, they did not read more than one essay. The review is irresponsible and is more about the reviewers personal feelings than it is about the book or the reality of prisons and solitary confinement.
(Someone recently liked this review and my star rating I think must have been an accident so I bumped it back up. There's nothing new in this review if this shows up in your feed.)
The essays telling the stories of peoples experiences are diverse in demographics and eerily similar as far as the abuses and torture suffered in each place. All of the essays tell stories of the descent into madness that occurs when one is deprived of human contact (physically, verbally, and otherwise,) natural light, medical care, food, and other basic necessities. Solitary confinement always causes lasting damage- especially when prisoners are held in it for extended periods of time. The essays by a trans woman and a gay cis man show how being LGBTQ and/or gender nonconforming is a punishable offense in prisons while being couched in the idea of "safety" and "protection" for LGBTQ people in prison. The essays also show how prisons lie to insist there is a need for solitary confinement based on ill-defined parameters such as gang affiliation, mild infarctions such as talking back to guards, or to quell any organized resistance such as hunger striking to improve the conditions in prisons. Once one is placed in solitary, a cyclic nature of getting stuck there for these reasons created by the oppressive institutions that are prisons begins.
I have had prison pen pals who have spent time in solitary, including one for extended amount of time due to an accusation of gang affiliation and the other for perceived homosexual activity (which would also garner you a sex offense and placement on a registry for something like two women consensually hugging.) I can say that the stories in this book are not unique. My friend in solitary for the longer time slowly lost his mind in permanent ways and has had a very difficult time readjusting to general population despite wanting to be out of solitary.
Even if one is heartless enough not to care about prisoners and their torture in solitary, it makes no sense as a punitive or rehabilitative measure. When people leave solitary, they are always worse off whether they are in the prison population or back out in the world. They struggle with relationships, open space, authority, and other things far worse than those never placed in solitary confinement.
The essays in the latter part of the book range from descriptions of the researched psychological effects of solitary by outside clinicians and/or researchers, the laws in place to keep solitary confinement going, or stories of those held there as they are perceived by someone on the outside. These essays are mostly good, but I found one topic to be lacking and that was the discussion of LGBTQ prisoners in solitary confinement. Given that multiple stories told by these people existed in the first part of the book, I would have liked to see at least one essay in the latter part focused on homophobia and transphobia in prisons and why such large percentages of LGBTQ people in prisons end up in solitary without even disobeying any written rules. LGBTQ prisoners are some of the most ill treated in prisons, especially when their identities intersect with other oppression such as racism and misogyny. That is why this book gets 4 stars instead of 5.
Overall this book does a good job showing how solitary confinement is literal torture that some prisoners describe as a sentence worse than death and one essay describes as "a living death sentence." It is an important read for anyone interested in prisons and could be handed to any person who is ignorant of how prisons are hellish places that do not rehabilitate or stop future crime.
Another review here claims the book is full of sociopathic murderers trying to influence the reader as to their innocence and the nonexistent abuse by guards. This reviewer did not read this book, or if they did, they did not read more than one essay. The review is irresponsible and is more about the reviewers personal feelings than it is about the book or the reality of prisons and solitary confinement.
(Someone recently liked this review and my star rating I think must have been an accident so I bumped it back up. There's nothing new in this review if this shows up in your feed.)
January 7, 2017
It's really easy to dismiss solitary confinement as an unimportant problem because it only affects people who have done something 'terrible' and are being punished for it under the laws by which we all must abide. However, as a society we've agreed to not inflict "cruel and unusual punishments" on prisoners, and this book convinced me that solitary confinement should be considered cruel and unusual and that its use should end.
I'd definitely recommend reading it (it's quite short!) because it gives a voice to people who would otherwise remain silent, and because it illustrates the severity of a punishment that our current prison system deems standard.
I'd definitely recommend reading it (it's quite short!) because it gives a voice to people who would otherwise remain silent, and because it illustrates the severity of a punishment that our current prison system deems standard.
January 8, 2016
I knew it would be important to read accounts of people in solitary confinement -- I didn't know that the writing would be so breathtaking. These essays are simply incredible; well-crafted, unexpected, fully-felt, extremely diverse in content and tone, and surprisingly gripping. A book that feels like an "ought to" read is actually un-put-downable.
March 28, 2016
The strength of this book lies in the first hand accounts of the realities of solitary confinement. The powerful and horrifying essays told from prisoners, some of whom are still imprisoned in solitary confinement, are as strong an argument against this practice as I can imagine. The accompanying academic essays can get repetitive and are more of a footnote. I'll admit to skimming some of the legalese, but was completely absorbed by the stories of the prisoners. I think it's almost impossible to truly grasp what it would be like to be in solitary and these stories reveal the true horror of the situation.
If you have any interest in the United States prison system and/or judicial system, this is definitely worth reading.
If you have any interest in the United States prison system and/or judicial system, this is definitely worth reading.
March 24, 2017
Devastating. This book collects together testimony from current and former detainees being held under conditions of solitary confinement. Part of this book's function is informative on a factual level, and other parts lay open the imaginative space. It boggles the mind. Essential reading.
August 1, 2021
obviously being in jail is worse than being free.And being in America is freer than the hell of North Korea. But are there ways in which we are heading towards a solitary confinement as such? Books like 1984 or Manufacturing Consent show us how important it is to keep us isolated so as to control thought and behavior. The wholesale destruction of our environment has led to very bizarre notions of what nature is and what it means to be immersed in it. Wendell Berry has some great quotes on nature and David Abrams excellent book, The Spell of the Sensous, goes deep into our relationship to the natural world. At any rate it has become almost entirely marginalized. In solitary confinement, inmates often don't even see the sky or the ground or plants. The best they can hope for is a mouse or cockroach that gets into their 6X9 cage. And yet we watch a flower on a screen or watch the nature constructed from a video game. Are those that create these solitary hells that at least 80,000 people live in in this country alone, providing a window to our future? What does it mean to live free as so many are in cages? These are thoughts that came up for me in reading this book. The obvious review is the horror of living in these places and how some cope and most do not and what a screwed up judicial system we have but I figured you already surmised that.
May 21, 2017
Will review more fully later, but this collection of essays is devastating from beginning to end.
July 9, 2022
From the outside, you may think, “Why in the hell would you want to read something like that?” Ever since reading Just Mercy & The Sun Does Shine, I’ve been fascinated by the workings of the US prison system & the effects of its corruption.
These are the words written by death row prisoners, yes - murderers & the worst of the worst. But that’s not the point. They are also the words of human beings. The mere existence of “SED” (aka solitary confinement) is what’s being questioned here, as well as the arguably minor offenses that land you there in the first place.
What I did not know before reading this book is not just the large population currently “living” in SEDs, but the horrifying fact that so many of them have been there for YEARS. It’s absolutely disgusting. I wish there was incentive for someone smart & rich & compassionate to clean up our prison system.
These are the words written by death row prisoners, yes - murderers & the worst of the worst. But that’s not the point. They are also the words of human beings. The mere existence of “SED” (aka solitary confinement) is what’s being questioned here, as well as the arguably minor offenses that land you there in the first place.
What I did not know before reading this book is not just the large population currently “living” in SEDs, but the horrifying fact that so many of them have been there for YEARS. It’s absolutely disgusting. I wish there was incentive for someone smart & rich & compassionate to clean up our prison system.
November 7, 2025
3.5 I thought the essays would be more brutal and macabre (probably using that wrong) but then again this isn’t a horror story. Just has horror elements. It is truly heartbreaking that so many people get wrongly accused or taken by ICE etc and get locked up in solitary confinement. For a good majority of this book, I do agree that S.C is not beneficial at all, and in fact degrades a person not just physically but mentally to the point of feeling no emotion or to much emotion at the given time of release. I hope one day we can be more progressive with how we manage our prisons as this is just not okay.
July 8, 2023
I have read a handful of disturbing things but the narratives in this are gut wrenching. Prison in the U.S is sinister through and through. Allowing voices of the criminalized, disenfranchised and marginalized to speak is the most important thing you can do imo, and this collection does exactly that.
Part 3 was a little bit redundant but it didn't take away from the quality overall. The book was organized well and I liked how it was all put together, re: perspectives from victims and then the academia side
Part 3 was a little bit redundant but it didn't take away from the quality overall. The book was organized well and I liked how it was all put together, re: perspectives from victims and then the academia side
July 21, 2017
Take your worst imagination of torture, violence, and dehumanisation. Now make it thousand times worst. Those are not the story of people detained by an irregular army or horrific regime. Those are humans forced to decades of solitary confinement by democracy exporter and world leader, USA.
Shocking and devastating, but essential to read.
Shocking and devastating, but essential to read.
January 23, 2022
Incredibly hard to read but worth the enlightenment of tortuous effects of solitary confinement. Essays by prisoners and advocates of eliminating solitary expose what’s going on behind bars, and it is horrifying.
January 7, 2019
Repetitive but important to understand.
October 1, 2025
"what my brain did to my brain is not right" a must read
December 4, 2023
Perhaps one of the most important books I’ve ever read.
“Until quite recently, solitary confinement was the most pressing domestic human rights crisis that most Americans had never heard of”
“Until quite recently, solitary confinement was the most pressing domestic human rights crisis that most Americans had never heard of”
July 16, 2023
“Like the worst injustices in U.S. history— from slavery to the stripping of Native American land to segregation to Japanese internment— solitary confinement is horribly legal.”
February 17, 2018
O sea como que te da una idea de cómo el sistema penitenciario ha fracasado realmente en reformar internos (lo cual fue su propósito de creación) y se ha dedicado a tratar de contener a los monstruos que ha creado.
Recomiendo.
Recomiendo.
January 16, 2017
“Hell Is a Very Small Place” is a collection of essays about solitary confinement, primarily written by prisoners... Read More
April 25, 2019
1. A book written in North America: Hell is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement edited by Jean Casella, James Ridgeway and Sarah Shourd
List Progress: 9/30
Trigger warning: Torture, mass incarceration.
It felt important to me to read a book like this for the North American category this year: one that gave me a look into my own culture similarly to how international books let me look into other cultures. I wanted to read about a widely unspoken or unexamined trait of American culture, the culture I have been born and raised in. And what is more American that widespread institutional violence and torture of vulnerable populations?
Hell is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement is a non-fiction collection of first-hand accounts and academic studies concerning the widespread practice of solitary confinement as a method of torture in American prisons. This book is not a light read. It is the heaviest read I have engaged with in a long time. But it is also achingly beautiful in its writing and essential in its message. If you have the stomach for it, I highly recommend this book.
Edited and compiled by activist and editor Jean Casella, journalist James Ridgeway and journalist and writer Sarah Shourd, Hell is a Very Small Place is divided into two main sections: the larger Part 1: Voice from Solitary Confinement is made up of testimonies and interviews from people who have been or currently are incarcerated in solitary confinement. (Shourd herself writes the preface about her own solitary confinement as a political prisoner in Iran.) A small biographical paragraph tells the broad strokes of each person’s story and circumstances, but each chapter is left to the prisoner’s voice and discretion. They write about their stark and extremely limited surroundings, their declining physical health, their degrading mental health, and the chaos of being surrounded by, but separated from, so many others going through the same thing as them. The prison system claims that keeping these people, overwhelmingly men of color, in isolation is vital for security and safety within prisons, which is demonstrably untrue. No matter the crimes that may (or may not) have landed these people in prison, the losses of basic human dignity and rights that they are subjected to are stunning and revolting for one human being to do to another.
The shorter but no less powerful Part 2: Perspectives on Solitary Confinement is made up of academic writers putting the numbers and history behind solitary confinement and its use in America. They paint a vivid and comprehensive picture of how ineffective, unnecessary, expensive and cruel the practice is, and how our legal system got this way. Published in 2016, this book is both incredibly recent and heartbreakingly behind the times, considering the explosion in mass incarceration of immigrants in the last few years. But it will be a very long time before any of the writing here is no longer relevant.
If you have the capacity to, I would recommend reading this book and learning about the issues included here. I have only a fleeting contact with the issues of prison reform, but I have been a free world penpal with Black and Pink since 2015, which I would also highly recommend. This book is not easy, but it is not supposed to be. What this book is is important.
Would I Recommend It: Yes.
List Progress: 9/30
Trigger warning: Torture, mass incarceration.
It felt important to me to read a book like this for the North American category this year: one that gave me a look into my own culture similarly to how international books let me look into other cultures. I wanted to read about a widely unspoken or unexamined trait of American culture, the culture I have been born and raised in. And what is more American that widespread institutional violence and torture of vulnerable populations?
Hell is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement is a non-fiction collection of first-hand accounts and academic studies concerning the widespread practice of solitary confinement as a method of torture in American prisons. This book is not a light read. It is the heaviest read I have engaged with in a long time. But it is also achingly beautiful in its writing and essential in its message. If you have the stomach for it, I highly recommend this book.
Edited and compiled by activist and editor Jean Casella, journalist James Ridgeway and journalist and writer Sarah Shourd, Hell is a Very Small Place is divided into two main sections: the larger Part 1: Voice from Solitary Confinement is made up of testimonies and interviews from people who have been or currently are incarcerated in solitary confinement. (Shourd herself writes the preface about her own solitary confinement as a political prisoner in Iran.) A small biographical paragraph tells the broad strokes of each person’s story and circumstances, but each chapter is left to the prisoner’s voice and discretion. They write about their stark and extremely limited surroundings, their declining physical health, their degrading mental health, and the chaos of being surrounded by, but separated from, so many others going through the same thing as them. The prison system claims that keeping these people, overwhelmingly men of color, in isolation is vital for security and safety within prisons, which is demonstrably untrue. No matter the crimes that may (or may not) have landed these people in prison, the losses of basic human dignity and rights that they are subjected to are stunning and revolting for one human being to do to another.
The shorter but no less powerful Part 2: Perspectives on Solitary Confinement is made up of academic writers putting the numbers and history behind solitary confinement and its use in America. They paint a vivid and comprehensive picture of how ineffective, unnecessary, expensive and cruel the practice is, and how our legal system got this way. Published in 2016, this book is both incredibly recent and heartbreakingly behind the times, considering the explosion in mass incarceration of immigrants in the last few years. But it will be a very long time before any of the writing here is no longer relevant.
If you have the capacity to, I would recommend reading this book and learning about the issues included here. I have only a fleeting contact with the issues of prison reform, but I have been a free world penpal with Black and Pink since 2015, which I would also highly recommend. This book is not easy, but it is not supposed to be. What this book is is important.
Would I Recommend It: Yes.
October 5, 2016
I smell a rat! Below are quotes taken from this book and compared against quotes taken from “24/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary” by Keramet Reiter. The quotes are by and about Todd Ashker.
Todd: “While at new Folsom SHU, on May 25, 1987, I entered a guy’s (Dirty Dennis Murphy) cell for a prearranged fight. He’d challenged me to a fistfight to settle some fabricated beef. I had to accept; it was that or request protective custody, which I’d never do. His cellmate immediately placed a mattress over the door to block the control booth’s view, hoping to keep the guards from shooting blindly into the cell”.
He continues, “The guy swung at me with an eight-inch knife. As we fought over it, two guards fired a total of three rifle shots through the mattress. The guy ended up stabbed, and took a bullet in his shoulder. He died an hour later at the outside hospital”. (page 85)
Reiter: “As Todd mopped in front of the cell, Murphy lounged on the bottom bunk. His cellmate, Robert Tanner, was out for his shower. According to facts established at a later trial, as Tanner returned to the cell from his shower, Todd rushed in past him. (Guards did not see a weapon in Todd’s hand.) Tanner followed, pulled a mattress off the top bunk, and shoved it in front of the door, blocking guards’ view into the cell. Guards fired three shots into the cell, through the mattress. When Tanner removed the mattress, guards rushed into the cell and escorted Todd and Tanner out, neither noticeably injured. The whole altercation lasted just seconds”.
She continues, “But Dirty Dennis Murphy did not walk out of his cell. He was lying on the floor when guards entered. He had been stabbed between seventeen and twenty-six times, according to varying reports, and shot once in the shoulder. A guard asked him: “What happened?” Murphy replied: “Fuck you, punk.” He died minutes later. Inside the cell, guards found a prison-made shank with Tood’s bloody fingerprints on it.” (kindle loc 221). [Note: This reconstruction of the events of May 1987 is drawn entirely from court documents and news reports. The facts presented here are not disputed in these documents, unless otherwise noted]
Breakdown:
Todd said: entered
Reiter said: rushed
Todd said: stabbed
Reiter said: stabbed multiple times
Todd said: dude died outside of prison
Reiter said: dude died in his cell
In conclusion: These are some serious discrepancies between what Todd said happened and what Reiter reports. And while this is just a snippet difference of facts, it speaks loudly. Straight up: tell the truth and nothing but the truth are shut the blank up.
good luck
Todd: “While at new Folsom SHU, on May 25, 1987, I entered a guy’s (Dirty Dennis Murphy) cell for a prearranged fight. He’d challenged me to a fistfight to settle some fabricated beef. I had to accept; it was that or request protective custody, which I’d never do. His cellmate immediately placed a mattress over the door to block the control booth’s view, hoping to keep the guards from shooting blindly into the cell”.
He continues, “The guy swung at me with an eight-inch knife. As we fought over it, two guards fired a total of three rifle shots through the mattress. The guy ended up stabbed, and took a bullet in his shoulder. He died an hour later at the outside hospital”. (page 85)
Reiter: “As Todd mopped in front of the cell, Murphy lounged on the bottom bunk. His cellmate, Robert Tanner, was out for his shower. According to facts established at a later trial, as Tanner returned to the cell from his shower, Todd rushed in past him. (Guards did not see a weapon in Todd’s hand.) Tanner followed, pulled a mattress off the top bunk, and shoved it in front of the door, blocking guards’ view into the cell. Guards fired three shots into the cell, through the mattress. When Tanner removed the mattress, guards rushed into the cell and escorted Todd and Tanner out, neither noticeably injured. The whole altercation lasted just seconds”.
She continues, “But Dirty Dennis Murphy did not walk out of his cell. He was lying on the floor when guards entered. He had been stabbed between seventeen and twenty-six times, according to varying reports, and shot once in the shoulder. A guard asked him: “What happened?” Murphy replied: “Fuck you, punk.” He died minutes later. Inside the cell, guards found a prison-made shank with Tood’s bloody fingerprints on it.” (kindle loc 221). [Note: This reconstruction of the events of May 1987 is drawn entirely from court documents and news reports. The facts presented here are not disputed in these documents, unless otherwise noted]
Breakdown:
Todd said: entered
Reiter said: rushed
Todd said: stabbed
Reiter said: stabbed multiple times
Todd said: dude died outside of prison
Reiter said: dude died in his cell
In conclusion: These are some serious discrepancies between what Todd said happened and what Reiter reports. And while this is just a snippet difference of facts, it speaks loudly. Straight up: tell the truth and nothing but the truth are shut the blank up.
good luck
March 23, 2016
you know, i have sympathy for inhuman conditions on death row, and believe in the Innocence Project's good work. But you don't get on death row solitary by being a Boy Scout. and it takes some kind of f**cked up to dig your poop out of the toilet, liquify it, put it into water bottles to spray on others. Read this gruesome account with a dose of skepticism, and not after eating a meal.
December 26, 2016
An important book on an under researched yet widespread phenomena. Mix of essays from people who've spent years or decades in solitary, ending with testimonials from experts and lawyers on what could be done to reduce the prevalence of solitary confinement in the American system.
February 14, 2018
As an educator I've always been interested in the criminal justice system--how so many people get into it, how they manage to survive there, and of course, how they can stay out. This book is a collection of essays about the subject of solitary confinement, otherwise known as administrative segregation (ad segs), special housing units (SHUs), and various other names depending on the state and institution responsible for their use. Regardless it's all the same--23 or 24 hours a day in a small cell alone, often with no books, communication, tv or radios, papers to write with, or any form of stimulation other than the concrete walls. It is such a mind numbing and soul crushing experience that the UN has declared it torture and countless doctors and mental health experts have denounced its use. Yet, it continues on an unprecedented level in our nation's jails and prisons.
There's a really good historical perspective on solitary confinement in the U.S. in the beginning of the book about how it was used widely in the 1800's and then abandoned due to its terrifying psychological effects. In the 1970's, the practice was picked up again, mostly due to prison overcrowding, higher levels of violence, etc. The essays in this volume are particularly powerful, all of them either from people currently in solitary who have been there for long periods of time (20 years or more) or from people who are now free individuals, living with the psychological effects of this practice. The last section is a series of articles by experts, all of which condemn the practice and offer solutions.
It is easy to dismiss this book and the issues it brings up with the Trump-era view that criminals are terrible people who belong in prison. It's even easier to say that certain people deserve punishment on top of the punishment they've already received for not following the rules. This is simply not true. Many of the people who are sent to solitary are sent there for non-violent offenses, sometimes for something as simple as "possessing too many postage stamps," "associating with known gang members" (California), or in New York state, for "using profanity." Time in SHU is usually given by prison officials and the prisoner often has no right to a defense. And the punishments can be as long as the officials deem necessary--two weeks, two months, even two years. Or, in some cases, life.
I definitely recommend this book. Despite what we think of the people in the correctional system, the fact remains that many of them will get out--someday. They will live next to us and share our social spaces. The question becomes one of whether we would prefer someone who's been truly rehabilitated with kindness or someone who's been locked in a cage like an animal for years on end. I personally prefer the former.
This is a great book. Read it!
There's a really good historical perspective on solitary confinement in the U.S. in the beginning of the book about how it was used widely in the 1800's and then abandoned due to its terrifying psychological effects. In the 1970's, the practice was picked up again, mostly due to prison overcrowding, higher levels of violence, etc. The essays in this volume are particularly powerful, all of them either from people currently in solitary who have been there for long periods of time (20 years or more) or from people who are now free individuals, living with the psychological effects of this practice. The last section is a series of articles by experts, all of which condemn the practice and offer solutions.
It is easy to dismiss this book and the issues it brings up with the Trump-era view that criminals are terrible people who belong in prison. It's even easier to say that certain people deserve punishment on top of the punishment they've already received for not following the rules. This is simply not true. Many of the people who are sent to solitary are sent there for non-violent offenses, sometimes for something as simple as "possessing too many postage stamps," "associating with known gang members" (California), or in New York state, for "using profanity." Time in SHU is usually given by prison officials and the prisoner often has no right to a defense. And the punishments can be as long as the officials deem necessary--two weeks, two months, even two years. Or, in some cases, life.
I definitely recommend this book. Despite what we think of the people in the correctional system, the fact remains that many of them will get out--someday. They will live next to us and share our social spaces. The question becomes one of whether we would prefer someone who's been truly rehabilitated with kindness or someone who's been locked in a cage like an animal for years on end. I personally prefer the former.
This is a great book. Read it!
January 20, 2018
On any given day, more than 80,000 people in the United States are kept in solitary confinement. "Hell is a Very Small Place" gives voice to some of those people, and is a damning indictment of the barbarous practice. Solitary does not reduce recidivism, it does not deter future crimes, is not compliant with human rights norms, it does not keep the country safe, and in all likelihood is in violation of the 8th Amendment. Solitary confinement is a "sentence within a sentence" (Casella and Ridgeway, Introduction).
The criminal justice system is obviously a smoldering wreck, but the public knows much less about what happens in the SHU (Special Housing Unit; you probably recall the SHU from Orange is the New Black) because there's little data available (we don't know at any given time how many people are actually kept confined, and the 80,000 number is likely an under-estimate) and various institutional factors perpetuate secrecy. A recurrent theme across the stories is the self-interested political clout wielded by correctional officer unions, who claim they face threats from the inmate populations and that more prisons need to be constructed to house a growing prisoner population. The reality is one of officers abusing their power, committing sexual and physical violence over wards, and shielded from prosecution by higher-ups. All this happens with complete opacity, leaving prisoners no recourse than to throw feces-filled bottles at officers in protest when the screws are tightened even further. For example, keeping the prison on lock-down for 20+ days on false pretense is hugely abusive, but sure means a vacation for the COs.
What's most jarring about Hell is a Very Small Place is the mismatch between crime and sentence. Authors write of relatively petty offenses incurring judicial wrath of years and years of solitary. For what end? And then there were the detainees who hadn't even been charged, and were simply stored away for extended pre-trial detention. Under expansive anti-terrorism laws, prisoners are not entitled to speedy trial. Why do this? It breaks your inmate and facilitates a guilty plea. Then it looks like the authorities got their guy and have made the country safe.
This book is gut-wrenching. Several of the prisoners are incredibly talented writers, having won awards from prestigious competitions like PEN America's Annual Prison Writing Contest.
You won't think the same way again about people who have been throw into solitary and left for rot. And hopefully, just hopefully, the book will arouse your anger and lead you to being a voice for reform, because the system at is currently stands is incredibly broken.
The criminal justice system is obviously a smoldering wreck, but the public knows much less about what happens in the SHU (Special Housing Unit; you probably recall the SHU from Orange is the New Black) because there's little data available (we don't know at any given time how many people are actually kept confined, and the 80,000 number is likely an under-estimate) and various institutional factors perpetuate secrecy. A recurrent theme across the stories is the self-interested political clout wielded by correctional officer unions, who claim they face threats from the inmate populations and that more prisons need to be constructed to house a growing prisoner population. The reality is one of officers abusing their power, committing sexual and physical violence over wards, and shielded from prosecution by higher-ups. All this happens with complete opacity, leaving prisoners no recourse than to throw feces-filled bottles at officers in protest when the screws are tightened even further. For example, keeping the prison on lock-down for 20+ days on false pretense is hugely abusive, but sure means a vacation for the COs.
What's most jarring about Hell is a Very Small Place is the mismatch between crime and sentence. Authors write of relatively petty offenses incurring judicial wrath of years and years of solitary. For what end? And then there were the detainees who hadn't even been charged, and were simply stored away for extended pre-trial detention. Under expansive anti-terrorism laws, prisoners are not entitled to speedy trial. Why do this? It breaks your inmate and facilitates a guilty plea. Then it looks like the authorities got their guy and have made the country safe.
This book is gut-wrenching. Several of the prisoners are incredibly talented writers, having won awards from prestigious competitions like PEN America's Annual Prison Writing Contest.
You won't think the same way again about people who have been throw into solitary and left for rot. And hopefully, just hopefully, the book will arouse your anger and lead you to being a voice for reform, because the system at is currently stands is incredibly broken.
January 7, 2025
this should be required reading for like, everybody. these essays are first hand accounts of the ppl who have experienced the most extreme consequences of the late stage capitalism that has generated the for-profit industrial prison complex. incredibly moving and gut wrenching, these writers force us to contend with the moral and ethical boundaries of punishment. what are appropriate punitive measurements? how does long term solitary confinement affect one's mental state? how have we as a society normalised the concept of isolation as a rehabilitative measure instead of what it is: torture?
these writers make no excuses for the severity of their crimes and the circumstances of their incarceration. in fact, the diversity of the writers sampled here demonstrate the injustice of the system; inmates who are self-professed killers and inmates who were incarcerated to fill corporate quotas can all agree on the irreversible damage that solitary confinement causes. it is actually so fucking haunting to hear the accounts of these people who have spent almost 30 years in solitary confinement; a dark cell, 23 hours a day, for three consecutive decades, speaking to only a handful of people per year. it makes it hard to take the presence of other living people for granted.
it isn't even a matter of whether or not a person has done something horrible enough to warrant this type of torture, but more about how we, as people and as a society, believe human beings should be treated. it's about maintaining consistency in our moral and ethical values, and our belief that human rights are fundamental and unconditional. this is all not even addressing the corruption of america's industrial prison system, which disproportionately targets BIPOC and minority people to satisfy an institution which generates profit through exploitation of black and brown bodies. new jim crow, the hypocrisy of it all, etc etc etc. how can we societally condemn torture methods in guantanamo bag and then turn around and allow prison inmates to endure the same punishments because it's framed as "for their own good"? these systems are deliberately overly complicated and inaccessible to prevent inmates from speaking out about these inhuman violations of human rights, and i really believe that this is critical reading for absolutely everyone.
this essay collection is harrowing, deeply insightful, and places the narrative back into the hands of the voiceless, breathing fresh air into these stale concrete cells which have never seen the light of day.
these writers make no excuses for the severity of their crimes and the circumstances of their incarceration. in fact, the diversity of the writers sampled here demonstrate the injustice of the system; inmates who are self-professed killers and inmates who were incarcerated to fill corporate quotas can all agree on the irreversible damage that solitary confinement causes. it is actually so fucking haunting to hear the accounts of these people who have spent almost 30 years in solitary confinement; a dark cell, 23 hours a day, for three consecutive decades, speaking to only a handful of people per year. it makes it hard to take the presence of other living people for granted.
it isn't even a matter of whether or not a person has done something horrible enough to warrant this type of torture, but more about how we, as people and as a society, believe human beings should be treated. it's about maintaining consistency in our moral and ethical values, and our belief that human rights are fundamental and unconditional. this is all not even addressing the corruption of america's industrial prison system, which disproportionately targets BIPOC and minority people to satisfy an institution which generates profit through exploitation of black and brown bodies. new jim crow, the hypocrisy of it all, etc etc etc. how can we societally condemn torture methods in guantanamo bag and then turn around and allow prison inmates to endure the same punishments because it's framed as "for their own good"? these systems are deliberately overly complicated and inaccessible to prevent inmates from speaking out about these inhuman violations of human rights, and i really believe that this is critical reading for absolutely everyone.
this essay collection is harrowing, deeply insightful, and places the narrative back into the hands of the voiceless, breathing fresh air into these stale concrete cells which have never seen the light of day.
January 30, 2022
Hell is a Very Small Place by Jean Casella et al is a decent book with a eye opening account of the conditions that currently plague our prisons. There were a few interesting accounts from actual prisoners that I thought were very interesting. Many of the accounts in the book are very similar to each other because overall the conditions are the same across the board. From what I could gather about what was said in the book there isn't a lot of exposure to the inhumane treatment that some institutions employ. A lot of the book centers on solitary confinement, SHUs and their affects. What I also learned about was the history of solitary confinement and how it started in the U.S. There are so many legal obstacles for prisoners that it's hard for them to receive even the bare minimum of human rights. These are put in place to keep prisoners in prison; And as it turns out the main reason prisoners go back to prison is because solitary confinement takes such a mental, emotional and spiritual toll that most completely lose their minds, kill themselves, each other, and other prison guards; Not to forget self-mutilation and in one case, making blow darts infected with Herpes to shoot the guards with. In addition, it's not only difficult to get out of the prison system, but It's very easy to get in and stay in. Many prisoners are put into SHUs because of their race, sexual orientation, being gang validated, or for unfair minor infractions some of which can land you in a SHU indefinitely. Because most prisons in these conditions lack helpful remedial services it's hard for many to reintegrate with society afterwards. As a result of this, recidivism in the U.S. are much higher than other countries. I think that for things to change there needs to be a greater effort on all levels to make prisons better and not just for holding bodies. Judicial bodies need to stop handing over authority to wardens who don't entirely understand what it's like to actually live inside the system and instead actually take into account the experience within these institutions. On the inside, there needs to be continuous efforts by the prisoners to establish a legal foothold that the can take to the courts despite it being very difficult to start. And for the rest of us, we need to ensure that prison systems and their conditions are exposed and that we don't forget cost of keeping prisoners within them.
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