“After only a short time in solitary, I felt all of my senses begin to diminish. There was nothing to see but grey walls…..The lights were kept on for 24 hours. I often found myself wondering if an event I was recollecting had happened that morning or days before. I talked to myself.” Said Prisoner Five in 2013 interview.  For many prisoners this passage describes the descent into what they call the living death of solitary confinement.   Solitary confinement may be one of the simplest and cruelest ways to destroy a human being.

The State of Illinois routinely locks up hundreds of prisoners in small, soundproof, cement cages for 23 hours a day.  Can you imagine what it is like being locked alone in a cell with no human contact for up to 23 hours a day, without access to commissary, phone calls or exercise for weeks, months or years at a time?  It is torture and it is happening in Illinois prisons.

The findings of studies about prisoners held in solitary confinement establish the toll of isolation results in numerous health problems. The toll on a prisoner’s mental health is most disturbing.  Luis Esquivel, a prisoner who had spent 13 years in solitary confinement described his confinement in this way."I feel dead. It’s been thirteen years since I have shaken someone’s hand and I fear I’ll forget the feel of human contact.” Solitary confinement can cause a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; and diminished impulse control.  Some inmates lose the ability to be alert, while others develop crippling obsessions.  Some even bite into their own veins, hit their heads against walls, and cut off their fingers or testicles.

Illinois has approximately 2,200 prisoners in solitary confinement.

The average length of stay of a prisoner in solitary confinement is 2.8 years.

85% of prisoner are placed in solitiary in Illinois as a disciplinary action for minor infractions

According to one Harvard study, “roughly a third of solitary inmates were “actively psychotic and/or acutely suicidal.””

This is not a humane way to treat anyone.  It doesn’t help the prisoner and it doesn’t help society.  The majority of these prisoners, many still suffering from the consequences of solitary confinement, will be released back into our communities.  In 1990, the UN called for the abolition of solitary confinement.  In January 2012, the Chicago City Council adopted a resolution condemning prolonged solitary confinement in Illinois prisons characterized it as torture.

Please sign Illinois Coalition Against Torture’s (ICAT) petition urging Governor Quinn and Attorney General Madigan to immediately ban the practice of solitary confinement in Illinois prisons.