• The NPR show “Hidden Brain” interviewed UC Irvine criminology professor Keramet Reiter about what happens to the mind in isolation. “Reiter says inmates living in isolation crave things we might take for granted, such as the touch of another person or the sight of the moon. They often find it hard to differentiate one […]
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"Isolation Devastates the Brain": The Neuroscience of Solitary Confinement
Dolores Canales can’t seem to find her way around like she used to. She has spent her whole life in Anaheim, California, yet says she gets lost even in her hometown. She feels that her 20 years in prison, and the 18 months she spent in solitary confinement, has resulted in a permanent change to […]
What Solitary Confinement Does to the Brain
A comprehensive new article by Brandon Keim in Wired Science is titled “The Horrible Psychology of Solitary Confinement.” Keim does an excellent job of summing up the research on the psychological effects of solitary. He also points to the relative lack of cutting-edge neuroscientific research on the subject, which might show the physical effects isolation has on the […]