43 Years in Solitary Confinement

[Equinox Moon]

How can this be happening???!! Severe human rights violations in USA! It is an outrage!

He said he was a Black Panther activist and this is why he was treated this way.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/29/albert-woodfox-43-years-solitary-confinement-wish-i-was-back

Of all the terrifying details of Woodfox’s four decades of solitary incarceration – the absence of human touch, the panic attacks and bouts of claustrophobia, the way they chained him even during the one hour a day he was allowed outside the cell – perhaps the most chilling aspect of all is what he says now. Two months after the state of Louisiana set him free on his 69th birthday, he says he sometimes wishes he was back in that cell.

In an interview with the Guardian, Woodfox says he is finding the transition from being cooped up alone in a cell to being free more difficult than he had anticipated. “Everything is new, no matter how small or large,” he says.

The weirdest sensation is feeling profoundly uncomfortable in a crowd. “I’m not accustomed to people moving around me and it makes me nervous. Being in a cell on my own, I only had to protect myself from attack in front of the cell as I knew there was no one behind me. Now I’m in society, and I have to remind myself that the chances of being attacked are very small and would usually depend on my own actions.”

[OregonBlue]

1. Isn't the South a wonderful place.

[Equinox Moon]

2. Why/how is this allowed anywhere on the planet?

Last edited Sat Apr 30, 2016, 12:39 AM - Edit history (1)

And it is happening in the USA.

We go around the world preaching our self-righteousness that every one else has terrible human rights records. OMG! We must look in the mirror!

[undergroundpanther]

3. I spent18 months in solitary

Or near solitary in a mental hospital over drugged and alone everyday. I was 16. I still have issues from it. Trauma stuff. It was horrible being left alone in there.

[Major Nikon]

4. It's no surprise really that this kind of thing is allowed in this country

Almost the totality of the first world has decided that capital punishment and solitary confinement are barbaric human rights violations, yet both are widely accepted in this country on both the right and the left.

Even on DU where you'd expect to find the most progressive segment of the population you have people who claim solitary confinement isn't torture, doesn't remotely compare to waterboarding even though many of the lasting psychiatric injuries are exactly the same, and that those who are subjected to such treatment deserve it anyway.

[Equinox Moon]

6. Some of your words surprise me

people who claim solitary confinement isn't torture

I have noticed moderate to conservative democrats on DU, but I could not imagine anyone thinking this kind of treatment is acceptable. I am horrified to hear this. Solitary confinement is a barbaric human rights violation and should be abolished in the USA and in the world.

This poor man in the article lived this way for 43 years!!! It is horrifying to me.

[Major Nikon]

7. It's usually justified with "what about the victims" appeal to emotion

If you aren't for barbaric treatment of the convicted, you MUST not give a shit about the victims. Naturally this is just a way people rationalize their base emotions for revenge.

At some level we can't ultimately control everything people do to other people, but we can control what society does to other people. While solitary may be an effective short term solution to keep people from hurting themselves or others, other countries have figured out how to end the practice of solitary confinement as a form of punishment so there's just no argument for it nor is there any argument that it's not a form of torture.

[Equinox Moon]

8. Good points

The attitude of revenge and "what about the victims".

The USA has a lot to learn from other more mature countries - emotional and spiritual maturity.

How in the world can people rehabilitate and become functional assets to society when they have been tortured for years? It just doesn't work people.

A good example is in Michael Moore's movie: Where to Invade Next.

Have you seen it?

[Major Nikon]

10. I haven't seen it, but intend to do so

The DOJ published a pretty good paper on how harsh punishment simply exacerbates recidivism. The recidivism rate in the US is almost 80% while in Norway it's 20% with a far lower incarceration rate. So long as a person values evidence based reason over knee jerk emotional responses to problems, at some point you have to conclude the US is simply warehousing and breeding criminals and making the problem of crime far worse than it should be, at a much higher financial and social expense.

[30Draw]

12. My only concern with eliminating solitary...

Is what would you do with the most ultra violent prisoners who are a constant threat to other prisoners? Is it not just as irresponsible to allow them to have human contact when that will result in injury or death of other inmates?

[Equinox Moon]

5. You have my compassion

Your experience, I believe, was the opposite of what would have been helpful treatment.

I have heard of people with extreme experiences like yours who share their story and it helps to stop that kind of abusive therapy from happening.

[sorefeet]

9. What about the fucking warden

the person who sets policy rules. Who are these barbaric people. They know a man is in a tomb when they go home at night and have a nice supper in their nice home and sleep in a safe comfy bed like a baby. How in the fucking hell can they live with themselves. They have to be a special breed of human to allow the torture and terror to happen under their watch and don't do anything about it. Are our prisons any more humane than say North Korea or Colombia or Iran.

[Equinox Moon]

11. Warden and guards, the entire chain... up and down

Indeed, how can they do this to others. I'm with you.

The world human rights organizations try to get into US prisons to report the abuses and they are not allowed in. The veil of secrecy is huge and its because we violate human rights all the time.

It is up to the former inmates to speak out.

[sorefeet]

13. I agree that there should

be a movement of ex-convicts exposing the truths of prison and solitary. We should have a movement by the people to put an end to this crime against humanity. And we need to quit telling the world how to treat their people until every person here has been treated fair and with equal rights. Until then America is just a bunch of hypocrites.

[Equinox Moon]

14. Hear! Hear!