A/63/175 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. c 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 have 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 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, for example). The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stipulated that use of prolonged solitary confinement may amount to a breach of article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (general comment No. 20 (1992)). The United Nations Committee against Torture has made similar statements, with particular reference to the use of solitary confinement during pre-trial detention. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has furthermore recommended that solitary confinement should not be used against children. d Principle 7 of the Basic Principles for the __________________ c d 08-44075 For studies on the health effects of solitary confinement, see Peter Scharff Smith, “The Effects of Solitary Confinement on Prison Inmates. A Brief History and Review of the Literature”, in Crime and Justice, vol. 34, 2006; Craig Haney, “Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and ‘Supermax’ Confinement” in Crime and Delinquency 49(1), 2003; Stuart Grassian, “Psychopathological Effects of Solitary Confinement” in American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 140, 1983. Concluding observations on the third periodic report of Denmark (CRC/C/DNK/CO/3), para. 59 (a). 23