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On any given day, there are 850 offenders (about 5.6% of the prison population) in solitary confinement in Canadian federal prisons.1 Some of these inmates have been isolated for more than four months. Many are young. Many have serious mental health problems. Is this acceptable practice or is this torture?
Solitary confinement, defined as physical isolation for 22 to 24 hours per day2 and termed "administrative segregation" in federal prisons, has substantial health effects. These effects may develop within a few days and increase the longer segregation lasts. Anxiety, depression and anger commonly occur.3 Isolated prisoners have difficulty separating reality from their own thoughts, which may lead to confused thought processes, perceptual distortions, paranoia and psychosis.3,4 In addition to the worsening of preexisting medical conditions, offenders may experience physical effects, such as lethargy, insomnia, palpitations and anorexia.3
Those in solitary confinement are at increased risk of selfharm and suicide.3,5 Over the past three years, nearly half of suicides (14/30) in federal prisons occurred in segregation cells; most of these inmates had known serious mental health conditions.6
The mental and physical health effects are thought to be a result of the profound lack of stimulation and social interaction that occurs in solitary confinement, combined...