A secured unit, where prisoners are kept in windowless cells, at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California. (Photo: Jim Wilson / The New York Times)
After years of relentless pressure by activists and writers — both inside and outside of prison — solitary confinement is solidly on the national political radar. Thanks in no small measure to the hunger strikes organized by prisoners in California, most notably in 2011 and 2013, momentum around the issue has been building steadily, and even making its way into mainstream politics. In January, President Obama issued an executive order banning solitary for juveniles, and urging limits on the use of solitary for adults.
There’s still a long way to go: Between 80,000 and 100,000 people remain in solitary confinement, and in order to shrink — and hopefully someday eliminate — that tally, sustained public education and advocacy will be required. That’s why last month’s release of Hell Is a Very Small Place: Voices From Solitary Confinement could not be timelier. This collection of essays by survivors of solitary, as well as activists and family members on the outside, is a deep dive into the pain and lasting trauma wrought by isolation. After taking in the words of survivors — including well-known resisters like Herman Wallace, Shaka Senghor and Todd Lewis Ashker, as well as voices not heard publicly before this volume — readers will be left with no doubt that solitary confinement is, indeed, torture.
The book is also a call to action. The grimness of its stories is overlaid…