Most countries around the world limit the time that a prisoner can spend in solitary to 15 days. The United States doesn’t. There are scores of prisoners across the U.S. who have been in solitary for years and, in some cases, for decades. It should be clear to everybody—the courts, the states, and the federal Bureau of Prisons—that solitary only worsens already bad situations. It shouldn’t be in use. There is a growing body of research that shows that solitary confinement as it is used today can cause a variety of severe psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, paranoia, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts. These problems can be so severe that they can lead to long-term disability or even death. The longer a person is held in solitary, the worse his mental state becomes. The younger a person is when he begins a sentence in solitary, the worse his mental state becomes. And the situation is usually hopeless when a person who is already mentally ill is placed in solitary, whatever his age. It’s no wonder that the United Nations has declared the U.S. practice of solitary confinement to be a form of torture. In 2016, Kalief Browder killed himself after spending three years in solitary confinement at Rikers Island jail in New York City. Browder was 16 years old when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. He was never convicted of a crime, but he was held in solitary while he awaited trial. Note: The above article was written by whistleblower John Kiriakou. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on prison system corruption. - Covert Action