In our overly busy, hyper-connected, screen-centric world, the idea of “alone time” holds a powerful appeal. Solitude and silence are seen as things that create space for relaxation and self-awareness—things to be sought out and savored.

But in the years since I co-founded Solitary Watch, I’ve learned about another kind of “alone” that, when I even try to imagine it, shakes me to the core. It’s a state of being that tens of thousands of Americans experience every day—not by choice, but by force. It may last a few weeks, several years, or a lifetime. And there is nothing else like it. Because when you’re in solitary confinement, you are, really and truly, alone.

One person who wrote to us from his cell described life in solitary confinement as “a soul-crushing loneliness that never ends.” Another called it “a destroyer of humanity.” Solitary is a level of isolation so unnatural to human beings that in just a few weeks, it begins to change the structure and chemistry of the brain—and so painful that, as suicide rates in solitary confinement show, some people would rather die than continue to endure it.

Virtually everyone who has experienced solitary knows that being deprived of human contact is a form of torture, even if the scars it leaves are invisible to the eye. This fact means that the more than 100,000 people currently in solitary in prisons and jails are victims of the largest incidence of mass torture in the United States today.

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The idea of solitary as torture—a concept absent from the public mind just a decade ago—has been steadily gaining ground. This change in consciousness has been propelled by evidence-based information, investigative journalism, and firsthand accounts of life in solitary—all of which were pioneered, in large part, by Solitary Watch.

Yet, despite some meaningful reforms, solitary is still widely used in the majority of our prisons and jails—and under Trump, its use in immigration detention facilities has exploded.

I believe this unchecked power and abuse continues for two reasons: First, it takes place largely in the darkest corners of our carceral system, out of view of the public and the press. Second, it happens to people whose humanity has been devalued by an increasingly cruel and merciless society.

These are exactly the issues that our work confronts head-on, with its hard-hitting exposés and powerful first-person narratives, which are aimed at changing hearts and minds—and with them, policies, laws, and lives.

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An advocate once told me that he believes the day will come when the bulk of Americans will look back at solitary confinement the way they do slavery, and other abominations that were once legal and widespread in this country. When that happens, he said, they will ask: “How could we ever have done that to human beings?”

I also believe that day will come. But for the tens of thousands of people currently enduring lonely torture in their prison cells, it can’t come soon enough.

If you would like to do your part to bring an end to the use of solitary confinement, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Solitary Watch today. Your support alone allows us to publish the kind of groundbreaking reporting, including work by incarcerated writers, that educates and motivates the public. Our articles, fact sheets, and reports are also the go-to resource for advocates and policymakers working against the scourge of solitary.

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Right now, all one-time donations will be matched by NewsMatch, and all monthly donations will be matched 12 times. Donations at every level are deeply appreciated and valued—as is your concern for those among us who are buried, silenced, and all too often forgotten.

With gratitude,

Jean Casella, Director & Co-Founder