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Out of Control: A Fifteen Year Battle against Control Unit Prisons by Nancy Kurshan (San Francisco: The Freedom Archives), 2013; pp 229, $20.
Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling by Sabrina Jones and Marc Mauer (New York: The New Press), 2013; pp 111, $17.95.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colourblindness, revised edition by Michelle Alexander (New York: The New Press), 2012; pp 312, $19.95.
Bindu Desai ([email protected]) is a semi-retired neurologist who divides her time between the US and India.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted - VIIIth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States 1791.
"Time is very long within these four walls". A prisoner in solitary confinement at the Eastern Penitentiary, Philadelphia to Charles Dickens "American Notes" 1842.
Zubayda's 'hard time' began when he was locked into the 'tiny coffin' for hours on end, which he described as excruciatingly painful. It was too small for him to stand or stretch out, so small he said he had to double up his limbs in a foetal position.He described the box as black both inside and out...While locked in the dark interior, he had no way of knowing when, if ever, he would be let out....(Mayer 2008: 165).
The modern use of solitary confinement in the US began in 1829 at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. The word "penitentiary", derived from "penitence", was based on the Quaker belief that isolation with only a Bible for solace in a cold stone cell would lead prisoners to repent, pray and reform. These hopes were belied as prisoners committed suicide, lost their minds and were later never able to function normally. By the end of the 19th century the US Supreme Court condemned the use of solitary confinement (US Supreme Court 1890). In 1971, the Eastern State Penitentiary was closed down. But the practice of solitary confinement, never totally abandoned, got a massive rebirth in the "control units" that were first instituted in the Marion Federal Prison in Marion, Il in 1983 and have since mushroomed all over the US prison system at state and federal levels. Presently the "new and improved" versions of control units lock 80,000 individuals some for...