Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement

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17d ago 59:58

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Host Davey D sits down with psychiatrist and author Dr. Terry A. Kupers to dig into the realities—and rising urgency—of ending solitary confinement in 2025. Kupers defines solitary plainly: 22+ hours a day locked alone in a cell, meals through a slot, minimal caged “yard” time, and almost no human contact—“like being locked in your bathroom 24 hours a day.” He traces the practice from early Quaker experiments in “penitence” to its modern resurgence amid overcrowding, longer sentences, and punitive “supermax” design meant to break people rather than rehabilitate them.

Kupers challenges the “worst of the worst” narrative. Research shows heavy reliance on solitary correlates with more violence and rule violations inside prisons, not less. By contrast, places that reduce isolation and invest in programming—citing Norwegian models and reforms tried in North Dakota—see violence drop, especially when formerly isolated people mentor others. He highlights the 2015 Ashker settlement at Pelican Bay, which ended California’s practice of indefinite solitary based solely on alleged gang affiliation, as a blueprint for change.

The human toll is severe: extreme anxiety, paranoia, cognitive decline, depression, and a disproportionate share of suicides (roughly 60% of prison suicides occur in units that hold about 5% of the population). Women who report sexual abuse are often placed in solitary “for their protection,” contrary to professional standards. ICE detention, Kupers adds, uses isolation heavily while also deploying mass crowding—two faces of the same harm. Racial disparities and the targeting of politically conscious prisoners persist, echoing a lineage from slavery and convict leasing to Angola’s notorious history; he cites the Angola 3 and Albert Woodfox’s 44 years in isolation.

Kupers’ new co-authored volume, Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement, centers incarcerated writers like Quanetta Harris and launches alongside a “Journey to Justice” national bus tour. He closes with a call for wraparound reentry supports and a broader public reckoning: solitary is torture, and ending it is a democratic imperative.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

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