This is so important for us to experience this. People don't realize what prisoners have to deal with.
~ Francesca, 69 years old, participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
I don't know what I was expecting when I entered the solitary confinement room. Quiet, I guess. A plain room. I wasn't prepared for the flickering lights, the sounds of humans screaming or constant thumping. I never realized how long two minutes could possibly be...Two minutes should've passed quickly. But instead, the room grew smaller, my heart started pounding. Two minutes. I had never truly realized how inhumane solitary confinement was until today. I cannot imagine spending days, weeks, months in that sort of place. It is not an environment conducive to rehabilitation and reflection. Rather, it is a method of torture, pure and simple.
~ Anneka V., 23 years old, New York, participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
Solitary confinement is the farthest thing from peaceful. I prepped myself mentally before going inside to say a prayer and to sing a song to help pass the time quicker. I found I could not even finish ONE Hail Mary prayer without cringing and jumping. The noise was nonstop. Screaming, banging, howling, louder and louder and LOUDER. A moment of silence is out of question. No person should ever have to endure such punishment, no matter what crime. It is inhumane.
~ Cristina, 23 years old, Arkansas, participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
My Reflection on Solitary Confinement
I cannot express enough my amazement and pure confusion as to why solitary confinement is even an acceptable form of punishment for anyone. Although I only spent 5 minutes within the solitary confinement chamber, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, that it is impossible to form coherent thoughts, understand your surroundings or even have a moment of silence. Additionally, I would like to note, that there is not one human on this Earth, on God's Earth, that I would feel needed to be subjected to solitary confinement. Rehabilitation and growth cannot come from something that torturous and unimaginable.
~ 20 years old, Nebraska, participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
Solitary confinement is torture. The noise is 24/7, as is the glaring light. Not one of God's children should ever have to endure solitary confinement.
~ Maggie M., participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
Reflections on Solitary...
It felt like what I used to imagine Hell would be like.
The monochrome walls, the monotony of time, the perpetual sound of other tortured souls.
Sleep would be the only escape. I long for sleep but sleep will be impossible.
Death would be the ultimate escape, but it will not come either.
Solitary is a fate worse than death.
God help us for creating a society that thinks this is okay, that thinks this is justice.
I spent 5 minutes and I will never be the same.
If I spent 5 days, I don't think I would still be human.
To be solitary in a cell
Where no one will hear you yell
Is something one cannot describe
And surely information not to hide
What is the vibrations off the wall
Cutting through my soul like a saw
While this is disgustingly used to "protect"
I wonder if we can even fathom the true effect
My voice screams to talk
My legs are to take walk
People are built for community
Therefore I implore, solidarity immunity
For the soul of humanity
Let us not continue and contribute to
further insanity.
~ Ellen B., 5 minutes is even too long. Participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
The noise was difficult to take. I would definitely break down after awhile. Peace on those who must endure this. I pray we change our system.
~ Brian M., participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
This is maybe the scariest thing I have had to do in my life. My head is pounding, my heart is pumping, the noise is terrible. It is only one minute and already I want to scream and shout. I am trying to calm down. I would die within one day of this. What am I trying to concentrate on? The noise outside. The farthest sound. People speaking outside. People I can hear. There is a life; there is a life outside. I can wait to see it. The act of writing is saving me and keeping me going. I dare not look up and look at the four walls that are confining me. I can only look at this page I have and keep writing.
When is day? When is night? When is time? Does it really exist? Are we really human? Am I human? How do I know that I am human?
And what of the people who have done this to me? Do they know that I am here? What are they? How can I reach them? Do I exist for them?
The voices outside have drowned out. I can only hear this incessant banging.
What is time? Is it five minutes? Is it ten? There is no handle. I can only survive if I keep writing; writing blocks everything out. What if I had no pen?
What is freedom then? Will it come? Does it exist?
I was only in for ten minutes and see what it did to me.
~ Jasmine Huggins, Church World Service, Washington DC
Participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
We are sentient creatures, dependent upon human interaction and stimulation from light and sound. Our beautiful minds were made to process, analyze, emote, and draw patterns from madness. Solitary confinement robs that from us. With no inspiration of thought, it is no wonder that humans can descend into animals.
What happens to the heart and mind when one is forced to live alone with nothing but screeching howls and a psychotic fluorescent light? If one is disturbed and capable of harming others to begin with, living this way can surely do nothing but make that worse, and those who weren't originally so bad will be profoundly damaged humans upon exiting this concrete box. No sense of time. Shrinking sense of space. Certainly killing one's precious, priceless sense of humanity, dignity, and identity.
We strip people of so much of their humanity and then expect them to be a functioning part of society when they get out of prison. It's illogical, counterproductive, and must be stopped. We are responsible for our brothers and sisters, and we are failing drastically.
~ Anonymous participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
After just a few minutes in solitary, I began looking at the brick wall, wondering how solid it was, how those lines fit together. I heard the sounds of banging and cries, and couldn't decide whether to wish it would stop, or whether complete silence would be more terrifying. No blanket. Not a single soft thing, other than my own body. Turning harder by the moment.
How would I live if this were my whole world for days? Weeks? Months? Years?
Rev. Lee S., participant at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, April 17-20, 2015
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Torture in U.S. Prisons 