You get sent to solitary confinement you have to wile your days away alone. Or so you’d think. The reality is much worse, wrote Christie Thompson and Joe Shapiro:

• 80% of federal prisoners in solitary confinement have a cell-mate.
• This is largely because of prison over-crowding requiring wardens to get creative.
• This sounds great – human contact – but in reality the cells built for solitary can really only fit one person. In many if two people are in the cell then only one person has room to stand.
• Since you’re in solitary you also then spend every minute of every day in the presence of this person whose every breath you can hear.
• As the cells were desined for individual prisoners there’s no way to tell a prison guard if your cell-mate is attacking you.
• And that happens surprisingly often. If you’re in solitary confinement, then your moral compass is already probably a little off. And if you’re tired of your roommate you can get rid of them by killing them.
• Given the number of prisoners serving out life sentences it’s not like there’s too much of a consequence – beyond being deemed mentally unfit and getting your own cell.

Read the stories of prisoners who were killed by their “solitary” cellmates, the effects it had on their families, and see photos here.

Source: The Marshall Project

Via: Marginal Revolution