Solitary Confinement

Most prisoners are part of the “general population” of the prison, members of which are generally able to socialize with each other in common areas of the prison. A control unit or segregation unit (also called a “block” or “isolation cell”) is a highly secure area of the prison, where inmates are placed in solitary confinement to isolate them from the general population. Other prisoners that are often segregated from the general population include those who are in protective custody, or who are on suicide watch, and those whose behavior presents a threat to other prisoners.

A prison, also known as a correctional facility, jail, penitentiary, detention center or remand center is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state. Prisons are most commonly used within a criminal justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until they are brought to trial; those pleading or being found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment. Besides their use for punishing crimes, jails and prisons are frequently used by authoritarian regimes against perceived opponents.

In American English, prison and jail are often treated as having separate definitions. The term prison or penitentiary tends to describe institutions that incarcerate people for longer periods of time and are operated by the state or federal governments. The term jail tends to describe institutions for confining people for shorter periods of time and is usually operated by local governments.

Prisons can be used as a tool of political repression to punish what are deemed political crimes, often without trial or other legal due process; this use is illegal under most forms of international law governing fair administration of justice.

In times of war, prisoners of war or detainees may be detained in military prisons or prisoner of war camps, and large groups of civilians might be imprisoned in internment camps.

With all that said, it sounds like ‘solidarity confinement’ is punishment, but I do not agree. Like most other adjustments to life, being by yourself with only your thoughts can be a fascinating adventure. After getting all those things that clog your mind with worries, the silence becomes hypnotic.

With all of life’s distraction put aside and no one to tell you what to do or when, your mind is free to wander to places normally reserved for dreams. Life is your movie so you have time to write the script.

These are the times when artist create their art; alone with their thoughts. 

To some this maybe punishment but it is freeing time to listen to the rain and birds sing, read a book you had forgotten about, dust off an instrument and find a melody, dig in the dirt. There is no thought of washing clothes or vacuuming or ironing. Some will practice yoga or some other spiritual awakening while others will do a pub tour and wake up in the gutter, but it is your time to do what you want when you want.

What may have been thought of, as confining is actually it is a freedom that most don’t take advantage of. If this ‘free’ time is being laid up or laid off, it is your time on your hands to be aware of your meaning.

So I don’t mind being in the “the pokey”, “the slammer”, “the clink”, “the joint”, “the calaboose”, “the hoosegow”, “the big house”, or “up the river” and try to appreciate the world I’m surrounded about that is my life.