Over the course of his incarceration, Redhawk Monte has spent 12 cumulative years in solitary confinement. A coastal Salish Native of the SDUKwALBIXw (Snoqualmie) tribe in western Washington, Monte says that his writing is both a coping mechanism and a platform to center the experiences and contributions of his fellow Indigenous people. When he’s not writing, Monte enjoys craft making drums and selling beadwork on Etsy (@Iron House Natives). 

In the following poem, Monte brings attention to the ways prolonged isolation can compound upon existing traumas. Too often, individuals who survive solitary are left with severe mental health challenges, and lack support to navigate the circumstances they face with being free. Ultimately he asks readers: When recovery resources for solitary survivors are non-existent, what do we do? 

Redhawk Monte’s mailing address is 789930, WCC PO BOX 900, Shelton WA, 98584. He can also be reached through his Facebook page (@Kristel-Redhawk Monte) and his Securus ID 789930 at Washington Corrections Center. —Kilhah St Fort  

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Steel door, Steel desk, concrete bed, concrete walls and ceiling!
A narrow window that has frosted glass so nothing can be seen by 
anyone inside!

It hurts the heart being cut off from any and all contact from the outside world, 
from interacting with other human beings! It is more devastating for us Indigenous people, 
as our connection to mother earth, father sky and all things are of such importance! 

I have done many years in solitary confinement, the harm forced 
upon me by the people who run these oppressive systems! 

The first few weeks in solitary is the hardest it seems, 
knowing when yard is, showers, and book days. 
Then settling in a routine so the days pass with quickness. 
Then it’s time to find ways to deal with the “cell warriors” on the tier
so that I can have peace of mind at some point in the day! 

Many of these guys will yell out their doors for hours, or bang on
their toilets and walls…they will sing or tell jokes that make no sense
at all. Do I make homemade ear plugs? Do I sleep on their schedule?
So many things race through my mind and none of the answers are
easy to find!

About six months in I am talking to myself and holding full blown 
conversations with myself…and this goes on for most of the day.
I make arguments for why I am being held in this hell, then challenge
those reasons, I talk with family and make up things I think they might say… 
I also examine my life and explain how I came to be in such a state.

I lose all sense of who I am, why I am here and what I should be doing!
I come to feel like I am an infinite speck upon this earth and not many
know of me, and fewer care about me!
This becomes a deep ache in my chest each day, and as I drift
further away from reality and into a distant realm I become more 
detached from people, self isolated and strange to the norm…

But these are the effects of the system, this is what the torture 
does to the human brain, it is seeking ways to survive, to cope, to adapt. 
Then the paranoia starts to set in and one begins to not care about
being there or getting out of here! 
Isolation is the WORST thing that can be done to human beings,
it’s shown that it destroys them and damages them beyond repair,
but they continue to do these practices all across our land…

When is it enough? How many have to be destroyed before someone
has the courage to stop this madness?

I don’t know, but I hope you all reading this will help find out!
PUSH THE ISSUE!