Solitary confinement - Definition and Overview

Solitary confinement is a punishment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding guards.

In most American states, prisoners are entitled to an hour per day of exercise time. During the other 23, prisoners have no contact with anyone else, usually locked in a small room with meager windows, if any at all. The effects of this isolation are severe, and the deprivation often causes effects similar to those with grave mental illness.

Solitary confinement is considered by some to be cruel and unusual punishment, because of its severe effects on a prisoner's mental state. Defenders of the practice consider it necessary for prisoners who are considered dangerous to other people.

Solitary confinement is depicted in Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption as well as Mumia Abu-Jamal's Live from Death Row.