Prisoners of Solitude: Bringing History to Bear on Prison Health Policy

Season two of the popular prison drama Orange is the New Black opens in a small concrete cell, no larger than a parking space. The cell is windowless and sparsely furnished; it holds a toilet, a sink and a limp bed. The only distinguishing feature we see is a mural of smeared egg, made by the cell’s resident, the show’s protagonist Piper Chapman. When a correctional officer arrives at this solitary confinement cell, he wakes her, and mocks her egg fresco. ‘‘This is art,’’ she insists. ‘‘This is a yellow warbler drinking out of a daffodil.’’ Her rambling suggests the confusion and disorientation associated with inmates in solitary confinement, who often become dazed after only a few days in isolation. As the scene continues, we see Piper exhibit further symptoms associated with both shortand long-term solitary confinement—memory loss, inability to reason, mood swings, anxiety—all indicating mental deterioration and impaired mental health. In this and other episodes, we begin to see solitary confinement as the greatest villain in the show, more villainous than any character a writer could create. The new and growing trend of television prison dramas like Orange is the New Black brings the issue of solitary confinement, along with other issues related to incarceration, to a more general audience, exposing very real problems in the failing contemporary prison system, not just in America, but worldwide. The show’s success leads us to ask how history, alongside fictional dramas and contemporary case reports, can draw attention to the issue of solitary confinement. Solitary confinement harms prisoners who were not mentally ill upon entry to the prison and worsens the mental health of those who were. Both historical and contemporary evidence has demonstrated how both shortand long-term solitary confinement threatens the physical and mental health of those who endure it. So how and why has it become one of the most widely used means to control and punish inmates in the Western prison system, one involving around 80,000 people in prison currently in the US? And, how can historical perspectives inform contemporary discussions concerning the effects of solitary confinement on the mental health of inmates? The health effects of solitary confinement are currently being debated by policymakers, governments, academics,