now prison populations across the world
have been severely affected by the
pandemic
the cramped and crowded conditions make
it hard to stop the spread
of coronavirus and in the u.s
authorities have turned to solitary
confinement
as a way of limiting transmission there
are an estimated sixty thousand inmates
in solitary confinement
in america although that number is now
believed to be much higher
and many of them have been held in
solitary for years
yet the united nations considers more
than 15 days in solitary confinement
to be a form of torture because of the
psychological damage that it can cause
and for some inmates the impact is
indeed devastating
this special report by our correspondent
hillary anderson
does contain some distressing details
we've all now experienced lockdown in
our homes
but try to imagine being confined to a
room the size of your bathroom
for 22 hours a day that's
solitary confinement
in new york i met candy haley candy was
held on remand at riker's island jail
here
for a crime she didn't commit then
accused of breaking prison rules
she was put in isolation if hell
had a description or a definition it
would be solitary confinement
the cell was like a elevator that you're
stuck in
for 24 hours with no indication of how
long she would be there
candy could only see one way out i
wanted to kill myself
i swallowed pills i cut my
arms a pencil a pen whatever i could
find
cut my arms up
how long can a human endure isolation
for candy it was three years
for albert woodfox it was 45.
he spent most of his life in a cell
alone
trying not to lose his mind very first
time
i experienced a claustrophobic attack i
was sleeping
and i woke up and the bunk
above me was was right there
you know about a couple of inches from
my face you know that was your
perception
yeah and i couldn't move it feel like
the atmosphere itself is
closing in on you you know you get this
feeling where you you being smothered
almost you know woodfox accused of
killing a prison guard has long
maintained his innocence
he was released in 2016. the length of
his incarceration
shocked many around the world he's
become a leading figure
in the fight against solitary
for years this man burl kane was his
jailer
kane didn't want to comment on specific
inmates
he's had years of experience with
maximum security prisoners
and believes solitary is essential to
prison safety
the united nations has defined more than
15
days in solitary as torture
do you what do you say about about that
i'm not torturing them
because i'm going to feed them good and
we're going to try every day to get them
to come out of there and live peacefully
with the others
but until he says that until he wants to
act right
i have no choice but to protect the
others leave him over here
some american states are trying to
reduce the use of solitary confinement
but in others like here in louisiana
solitary
is still widely used sometimes even for
children
that's him i met ronnie peterson
this solon his adopted 13 year old son
had lots of friends he made friends
really easy and just wanted to have a
good time with everyone
two years ago solon who had adhd
set fire to have been at school he was
taken to juvenile detention
like many young offenders he was put in
solitary for misbehavior
i could talk to him through a little
bitty four
inch window and you can tell it was kind
of breaking him down
we were told that he was going to get
out that night or at the latest
the next morning but he didn't
this is footage of solon's cell block on
his fifth night in solitary
a guard sees that solon has hanged
himself
i got a phone call at two o'clock in the
morning saying that
he was dead solon's parents gave
permission for use of this footage to
highlight the horrific consequences of
putting their 13 year old
in solitary you don't really feel a
whole lot
in the moment
you kind of go numb and you're in shock
i mean he's a normal
teenage boy and he was happy most of the
time
solon's family thinks solitary
confinement should be banned
but many americans would see that as
going soft on prisoners
so more than sixty thousand inmates
remain
in solitary today alone
with their minds hilary anderson bbc
news
you can see an extended version of
hillary special report and it's
available for you on the bbc
iplayer