FRONTLINE

SOLITARY NATION

TUESDAY, JUNE 16 @ 11:00PM

The United States is alone among Western nations in its widespread use of solitary confinement in prison — what mental-health experts define as keeping an inmate locked down for 22 hours a day or more in a cell, with limited contact with others.

Most corrections officials don’t call it solitary. They refer instead to punitive segregation, which typically has a time limit, usually 30 days or less, for violating prison rules — and administrative segregation, also known as restricted housing or special housing units.

 

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