The old isolation wing at Oslo Prison, Norway.
Photo credit: Knut-Eric Ronningen ©
Solitary confinement
ABOUT
With the exception of the death penalty, solitary confinement is the most extreme sanction which may be legally imposed on prisoners.
The adverse effects of solitary confinement on the health and wellbeing of those subjected to it, particularly for prolonged periods, can be very serious.
Yet, the last two decades have seen an increase in the use of strict, and often prolonged, solitary confinement in prisons and other places of detention across the world. This is a worrying development with potentially harmful consequences, not only for the individual concerned - but also for the wider communities to which they will eventually return.
This website is dedicated to examining the practice of solitary confinement in its various forms. It is designed to accompany the Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement and expand on issues discussed therein.
The site is managed and maintained by Sharon Shalev
THE SITE
A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement
The Sourcebook on solitary confinement provides a comprehensive single point of reference on solitary confinement, its documented health effects, and professional, ethical and human rights guidelines and codes of practice relating to its use. The Sourcebook was supported by the Nuffield Foundation
Translations of the Sourcebook to Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, and French were made possible by the kind support of the International Committee of the Red Cross
Solitary Confinement in the UK
A report on the use of solitary confinement in segregation units and Close Supervision Centres in England and Wales, by Dr Sharon Shalev of the Centre for Criminology at Oxford University and Dr Kimmett Edgar of the Prison Reform Trust with funding from the Barrow Cadbury Trust.
Solitary Confinement in New Zealand
A series of reports examining the use of seclusion and restraint across different detention contexts in New Zealand. The first report, Thinking Outside the Box? was commissioned by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission with funding from the UN OPCAT, and conducted by an independent expert, Dr Sharon Shalev. The review included visits to seventeen different places of detention including prisons, health and disability units, a youth justice residence, a children's care and protection residence, and police custody suites. Two follow-up reports were published- one in 2020 and one in 2021.
Credit:
The "Nelson Mandela Rules" are a revision of the 1955 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR), adopted by the UN on 22 May 2015.
