-8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Solitary confinement can be broadly objective in mind, the Handbook focuses defined as the separation of a detainee is divided into four chapters. from the general prison population. The prisoner is housed alone in a cell for The first chapter lists the greater part of a day; international analyses the different types of solitary standards usually indicate 22 hours as confinement the minimum to consider a situation EU penitentiary systems and presents as solitary confinement. However, it a selection of the main critical issues is important to highlight that there is related to the use of solitary confinement, no unique definition for this practice, such as its excessive use, the excessive and that human rights bodies approach duration of individual measures, and the issue of the definition of solitary the lack of meaningful social contacts confinement in different ways. that would help to mitigate the negative measures and briefly employed in effects of solitary confinement. The objective of this Handbook is to strengthen the capacities of European The second chapter is a collection of Union international (EU) Mechanisms solitary National (NPMs) confinement. in Preventive monitoring With this solitary standards confinement regulating such as the Mandela Rules (SMR), the European