The effects of solitary confinement It has been convincingly documented on numerous occasions that solitary confinement may cause serious psychological and sometimes physiological ill effects (3). Research suggests that between one third and as many as 90 per cent of prisoners experience adverse symptoms in solitary confinement. A long list of symptoms ranging from insomnia and confusion to hallucinations and psychosis has been documented. Negative health effects can occur after only a few days in solitary confinement, and the health risks rise with each additional day spent in such conditions. Individuals may react to solitary confinement differently. Still, a significant number of individuals will experience serious health problems regardless of the specific conditions, regardless of time and place, and regardless of pre-existing personal factors. The central harmful feature of solitary confinement is that it reduces meaningful social contact to a level of social and psychological stimulus that many will experience as insufficient to sustain health and well being. The use of solitary confinement in remand prisons carries with it another harmful dimension since the detrimental effects will often create a de facto situation of psychological pressure which can influence the pre-trial detainees to plead guilty. When the element of psychological pressure is used on purpose as part of isolation regimes such practices become coercive and can amount to torture. Finally solitary confinement places individuals very far out of sight of justice. This can cause problems even in societies traditionally based on the rule of law. The history of solitary confinement is rich in examples of abusive practices evolving in such settings. Safeguarding prisoner rights therefore becomes especially challenging and extraordinarily important where solitary confinement regimes exist. Human rights and solitary confinement The use of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is absolutely prohibited under international law (Article 7 of the UN convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN convention against Torture (CAT), for example). The UN Human Rights Committee has stipulated that use of prolonged solitary confinement may amount to a breach of Article 7 of the ICCPR (General comment 20/44, 3. April 1992). The UN Committee against Torture has made similar statements, with particular reference to the use of solitary confinement during pre-trial detention. The UN committee on the Rights of the Child has furthermore recommended that solitary confinement should not be used against children (4). Principle 7 of the UN Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners states that ‘Efforts addressed to the abolition of solitary confinement as a punishment, or to the restriction of its use, should be undertaken and encouraged’. Jurisprudence of the UN Human Rights Committee has previously found a specific isolation regime to violate both article 7 and article 10 of the ICCPR (Campos v. Peru 9. January 1998). Sourcebook on solitary confinement: Appendix 2 79