Section two Focus on detention issues Isolation and solitary confinement From 2014–15, members of the NPM focused attention on isolation and solitary confinement in detention settings, using human rights-based criteria to identify current practices across the detention settings that they monitor. This thematic approach responds directly to suggestions from the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture that the UK NPM takes measures to strengthen the consistency of its work. Background Across detention settings, prisoners and detainees may be separated, secluded or isolated from others. This might arise for one of a range of intended or unintended reasons, including: • as a disciplinary sanction, arising from offences or disruption caused within the place of detention; • as an administrative measure, to deal with disruptive or dangerous behaviour; • as a preventive measure against future harm or risk; • as a measure to protect a prisoner from others; • as a result of a regime and/or physical environment that restricts contact with others. Human rights standards deem acceptable the practice of separating prisoners based on the likelihood of their exercising ‘a bad influence’,48 but any restrictions imposed on persons already deprived of their liberty must be the minimum necessary and proportionate to the legitimate objective for which they are imposed.49 While some restrictions may be legitimate, the justification for such measures and their severity need to be examined carefully by monitoring bodies. The imperative for NPM members to do this is that where out of sight, detainees’ rights can be overlooked or undermined. The psychological and physiological impact of isolation also justifies increased scrutiny of the practices. At their most severe, isolation practices can amount to solitary confinement, which is defined as follows: 'Solitary confinement is the physical isolation of individuals who are confined to their cells for 22 or more hours a day. Where this lasts for a period in excess of 15 consecutive days it is known as prolonged solitary confinement. In many jurisdictions prisoners are allowed out of their cells for one hour of solitary exercise. Meaningful contact with other people is typically reduced to a minimum. The reduction in stimuli is not only quantitative but also qualitative. The available stimuli and the occasional social contacts are seldom freely chosen, are generally monotonous, and are often not empathetic.'50 48 United Nations, Standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners (1955), 67(a). United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (2015), op. cit., 93(1)(a). 49 Council of Europe, Recommendation on the European Prison Rules (CM/Rec(2006)2), 3. 50 Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement (9 December 2007); United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (2015), op. cit., Rule 44. 21