Being sentenced
to prison is a terrifying proposition. And what's worse than being locked inside
with thousands of other inmates? Being locked in a room with yourself,
just yourself. So today,
we're exploring some true stories from people in solitary confinement. But before we get started, be sure
to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. After that, leave a comment
and let us know what other cruel and unusual punishments
you would like to hear about. And now, to paraphrase Anthony Kiedis. Confined in solitary,
you won't be the wiser. Believe it or not, some prisoners believe the death penalty is actually preferable
to a life of solitary confinement. Too extreme to be true. Well, it's the opinion of many
who have had to endure this punishment. So you might want to take their word
for it. For instance, William Blake,
not the 18th century poet, but a 20th century prisoner
convicted in 1987 of shooting two police officers, killing
one who wrote an essay in 2013 about serving 25 years of a 77 year
sentence in solitary confinement. He said that his banishment to solitary
was “a punishment that I am convinced beyond all doubt is far worse than any
death sentence could possibly have been.” In addition to his 23 hour a day
confinement to a cell, Blake explains that his recreation time is spent
in the concrete yard by himself. While in his cell, He's allowed ten books or magazines
total, 20 pictures of the people you love writing supplies, a bar of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste,
one deodorant stick, but no shampoo. And that's about it. Many inmates who experience solitary
spend their days writing, creating art or reading the same books
they've read hundreds of times before, maintaining a grip on sanity
is the goal for prisoners who experience extended stays and what prison
guards colloquially call “the hole.” Now, a little private R&R doesn't sound that bad,
but long stretches of extreme isolation can have a deep impact on humans
who are social animals. People can experience depression, weight loss and lethargy
if unable to interact with others. And time spent in extreme isolation
can stay with them long afterward. Brian Nelson was 17 when he was convicted
of armed robbery and murder and sentenced to 26 years in the clink.
After bouncing around several prisons, including an escape
from Stateville Correctional Center, He was transferred to Illinois state's
Tamms Correctional Center, a supermax facility where Nelson
spent 12 years in solitary confinement. Nelson was released in 2010 and said that his time in solitary
confinement was always with him. In a 2012 interview, he told the ACLU,
“I'm still in that box.” In 2016,
he told the Illinois House Committee during a review of the use of solitary
confinement in the state's penal system. “Those four walls beat me down so bad.” Nelson passed away in 2021. Cesar Francisco Villa was incarcerated in Pelican Bay
State Prison Security Housing Unit for murder and attempted robbery
for the benefit of a street gang. Pelican Bay is the only supermax
state prison in California. He was gang validated,
which means prison administration was worried about his safety
and the safety of others around him. So Villa was not allowed to leave the SHU
until he turned over helpful information. But Villa claimed
he has no actual gang affiliation, so he remained in solitary confinement.
During his time in SHU, Villa
developed arthritis in the spine, hepatitis, high blood pressure,
and a thyroid condition. In March 2013, Vila wrote an essay
for California Prison Focus, outlining his difficult experience
in solitary confinement. He admits that he went in determined
and believed he could beat it. Since his confinement, Villa’s attitude
shifted dramatically, saying, “My sense of normalcy began to wane
after just three years of confinement. Now I was asking myself, Can I do this? Though I didn’t realize it at the time, looking back
now, the unraveling must have begun then. My psyche had changed. I would never be the same. The ability to hold a single good
thought left me as easily as if it was a simple shift of wind
sifting over tiring, battered bones. Vila is now incarcerated at California
State Prison Solano Of his 26 years in prison, He has spent over 22 years
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to get started for free. And now back to the video. Solitary confinement is typically reserved
for high risk individuals. But even in those cases,
it can make a bad situation worse. In 2013, Army intelligence analyst Chelsea
Manning was convicted by court martial for,
among other things, violating the Espionage Act
by leaking 750,000 classified or sensitive military
and diplomatic documents. Three years into her sentence, she was convicted for possession
of prohibited material and for disrupting the orderly running
of the prison by attempting suicide. She served seven days in solitary
confinement for the infractions. Mental health experts questioned the decision to isolate
Manning, citing studies that indicate solitary confinement can exacerbate
depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. During her confinement, Manning again
attempted to take her own life, citing psychological torment
that allegedly occurred on the ward, which authorities denied. Manning's representative maintained
that Manning has endured demoralizing and destabilizing assaults on her health
and her humanity. Manning's 35 year sentence was commuted
by President Barack Obama after seven years. She is now a speaker and DJ. In addition to the obvious toll extreme
isolation can take on a person, there are other consequences to solitary
confinement that many did not anticipate. Robert Hillary King had bounced
in and out of prison before winding up at the Louisiana State Penitentiary,
commonly referred to as Angola in 1972. He was serving
time for robbery, a conviction on appeal, as he asserted that key testimony against
him had been coerced via torture by the police. In 1973, he was convicted
for murdering another prisoner, but maintained his innocence and his
conviction for murder was overturned in 2001. Of his incarceration, he spent over a quarter century
in solitary confinement. According to King,
he was initially placed in SEG for trying to play lawyer for an inmate. Over
his decades in isolation, King says he got to a point
where his eyesight was all but gone. He told the ACLU
“it was in 1983, and I couldn't see really six feet in front of me. What had happened was my eyes had become
acclimated to smaller distances. The thought dawned on me
that being in a small cell like that, you could be impacted.” The psychological impact of solitary
confinement takes the forefront of the conversation around the long term
impacts of the punishment. However, enduring extended amounts of time
alone in a small cell also may have physical implications
based on a lack of sunlight, fresh air and,
of course, adequate room to move around. According to researcher Peter Scharff
Smith in a 2015 interview with Live Science, the sedentary lifestyle
that can result from being in solitary
can lead to chronic headaches, heart palpitations, oversensitivity
to light and noise stimuli, muscle pain, weight loss, digestive problems,
dizziness and loss of appetite. In 1970, comparative psychologist Harry Harlow
conducted the monkey love experiments. In some of these experiments, a baby
monkey was locked inside a small cage, which Harlow christened the pit of despair to reveal the impact
that confinement can have on the mind. Harlow observed that initially the monkeys
would be active within the cage. However,
after an extended time in confinement, the monkeys appeared to abandon hope
and become virtually immobile. Harlow even went so far as to declare
that the monkeys had gotten to the point where they viewed their situation
as utterly hopeless. This mental state is often
referred to as learned helplessness. The observations from this experiment
have been used to advocate for greater prison ethics. Psychologist Dr. Lisa Weiz-Lipton was sentenced
to 52 months in prison for conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud. These charges came in the first year
of her doctoral education, later writing that “I feared losing my mind
not in a bout of madness, but rather losing the ability to use my mind to freely exert choices
over my behaviors and circumstance. Situation after situation
confirmed that we were helpless to effectuate change in our lives and needed to fully subjugate ourselves
to those who held the power.” Americans have debated
the use of capital punishment for decades, but it may surprise you to learn that
many death row inmates are immediately put into solitary confinement
as they await their fate. Anthony Charles Graves
was wrongly convicted in 1992 of murdering a Texas family of six
and spent 12 years as a death row inmate sitting in isolation
from his mother and his children. In one paper written for the ACLU. Graves explained the terrible consequences
he suffered as a result of his internment. “I did not know it would mean 12 years
of having my meals slid through a small slot in a steel door
like an animal. I did not know it would mean 12 years
alone in a cage the size of a parking spot,
sleeping on a concrete and steel bunk and alone for 22 to 24 hours a day. All for a crime I did not commit. The injustice.” In the same paper, Graves
pointed to reports that 93% of states isolate death row inmates, locking them in a small room
for more than 22 hours a day. Robert Earl Carter, who testified
against Graves in the original court case, eventually confessed to the crime
and was executed in 2000. Graves was eventually exonerated in 2006,
though he wasn't released until four years later. He was also awarded $1.4 million
for his prison time and his prosecuting attorney
was disbarred. Disbarred? It seems like maybe that lawyer
deserves a decade in the hole. So what do you think? Should solitary confinement
still be legal? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these
other videos from our weird history.
