Solitary Confinement

According to Dr. Stuart Grassian, a Board Certified Psychiatrist who was on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School for over 25 years, solitary confinement can cause severe psychiatric harm. Severe restriction of environmental and social stimulation has a profoundly deleterious effect on mental functioning.

History: The U.S. was actually the world leader in introducing prolonged incarceration, and solitary confinement, as a means of dealing with criminal behavior. The penitentiary system began in the U.S., first in Philadelphia, and involved almost exclusive reliance on solitary confinement, becoming known as the Philadelphia System.

The results were catastrophic. "The incidence of mental disturbances and the severity of such disturbances was so great that the system was ultimately abandoned."

Of course this country being what it is, the lessons of the 19th century experience with solitary confinement are largely being ignored today.

"It's a standard psychiatric concept, if you put people in isolation, they will go insane." Sandra Schank, staff psychiatrist, Mule Creek State Prison, California.

"We make loners here, not better people."  Prison Psychologist

In 2005, 70% of the prisoners in the California prison system who committed suicide were in solitary confinement.

In 1993, Pelican Bay State Prison was the subject of a law suit filed on behalf of 3,600 prisoners alleging violations of rights and abuse.

Psychological assessments of Pelican Bay's solitary confined prisoners indicate high rates of anxiety, nervousness, obsessive ruminations, anger, violent fantasies, nightmares, trouble sleeping, as well as dizziness, perspiring hands and heart palpitations.

Wait a minute.

I feel that way every day.

Maybe solitary confinement could be a cure for me.

I hunger for solitary confinement.

My dream is to cloister myself in my home and make a living as a writer. Alone. No human interaction.

I am much happier around zero humans than when forced to deal with this thing we call social interaction.

It would be social interaction if the playing field were level, but phobias, neuroses and psychoses plague even the most mild mannered and seemingly well adjusted human.

Every person you deal with is Sybil.

That ain't social interaction. It is crowd psychosis.

I am happiest when alone but my version of solitary confinement is soft around the edges. Gotta have the computer. The cats. Yogurt. Music. A tangy sandwich and a cold beer at lunch. Screened in porch for meditating. Amazon.com for 1 penny used books.

Still I think there is merit in my theory that solitary confinement would actually cure me of anxiety and sweaty palms.

"Go to the segregation units and you will find the sickest people locked down, unattended to, and it's the way a malfunctioning prison system operates to hide their mentally ill." Fred Cohen LL.M, LL.B (whatever the hell that stands for).

I am a sick person, certifiable mentally ill, and I would love to be hidden.

Hide me.

Lock me up in my home.

Just so long as I can walk and stretch and dial up Mumford & Sons and kiss my cats on the head.

Gentle solitary confinement. No human interaction, all the amenities of modern living.

I invented the concept, I like it and I shall pursue it.

Ciao, baby.