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Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

“We’re dying in here, miss, we’re dying!”: Horrors I saw in solitary confinement

Author:     Mary E. Buser
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     Sunday, Oct 18, 2015 02:58 AM PDT
 Link: “We’re dying in here, miss, we’re dying!”: Horrors I saw in solitary confinement
Stephan:   I have written several essays on the American Gulag, and commented on it numerous times on SR. From this research I have come to believe that not only does the United States have the largest prison system in the world, but that about 80,000 of those inmates are being held in circumstances that constitute torture. Your tax money, and mine are supporting an institutionally sanctioned torture system. Here's why I say that.
In this Aug. 31, 2015 photo, Josue Torres-Rubio, of Wapato, Wash., who is serving time on charges for robbery, residential burglary and possession of a stolen car, poses for a photo inside his solitary confinement cell at the Washington Corrections Center, in Shelton, Wash. Credit: AP /Ted S. Warren

In this Aug. 31, 2015 photo, Josue Torres-Rubio, of Wapato, Wash., who is serving time on charges for robbery, residential burglary and possession of a stolen car, poses for a photo inside his solitary confinement cell at the Washington Corrections Center, in Shelton, Wash. Credit: AP /Ted S. Warren

Excerpted from “LOCKDOWN ON RIKERS” by Mary E. Buser. Published by St. Martins Press. Copyright © Mary E. Buser, 2015.

At the end of a long cinder-block corridor, a correction officer in an elevated booth passes the time with a paperback book. Across from the booth, a barred gate cordons off a dim passageway. Along the passageway wall are the words: central punitive segregation unit.

The officer looks up as I approach, and nods. As acting chief of the […]

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1 Comment

  1. Anne B. on Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 6:01 am

    I remember learning in my Psychology class at the University, that solitary confinement is cruel. It should be abolished. The whole criminal justice system needs to be overhauled and changed.