Women in Solitary presents the powerful testimony of six women who were imprisoned in solitary confinement in New York State prisons. This ebook is a forceful telling of a previously untold story and illuminates women's experiences of solitary confinement in the rest of the country.
Why is solitary confinement, known to cause a mental state akin to psychosis, widely used in contemporary prisons? Solitary's powerful psychological effects make it a unique tool for exerting social control. This history argues that CIA "brainwashing" research of the 1950s may have influenced the design of isolation units in American prisons today.