Hell Is A Very Small Place

The UN Special Report on Torture has denounced the use of solitary confinement beyond 15 days as a form of cruel and degrading treatment that often rises to the level of torture. Yet the United States holds more than 80,000 people in isolation on any given day. Now, for the first time, the founders of Solitary Watch have collected a dozen first-hand accounts of life in solitary confinement. These first-hand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical and political dimensions of solitary confinement.

Jean Casella is a co-director of Solitary Watch, a web-based watchdog project, and a Soros Justice Fellow. She is the editor of two previous anthologies and lives in Brooklyn, New York. James Ridgeway (1936-2021) was an investigative journalist for more than fifty years and was the author of seventeen previous books. He was a co-director of Solitary Watch and a Soros Justice Fellow. Sarah Shourd, a journalist and playwright, was held as a political hostage by the Iranian government, including 410 days in solitary, an experience she chronicled in A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran. She lives in Oakland, California.