A/66/268 social isolation, minimal environmental stimulation and “minimal opportunity for social interaction”. 44 Research further shows that solitary confinement appears to cause “psychotic disturbances,” a syndrome that has been described as “prison psychoses”. 45 Symptoms can include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, paranoia and psychosis and self-harm (see annex for a comprehensive list of symptoms). 63. Some individuals experience discrete symptoms while others experience a “severe exacerbation of a previously existing mental condition or the appearance of a mental illness where none had been observed before”. 46 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. I. Latent effects of solitary confinement 64. There is a lack of research into the latent effects of solitary confinement. While the acute effects of solitary confinement generally recede after the period of solitary confinement ends, some of the negative health effects are long term. The minimal stimulation experienced during solitary confinement can lead to a decline in brain activity in individuals after seven days. One study found that “up to seven days, the [brain activity] decline is reversible, but if deprived over a long period this may not be the case”. 47 65. Studies have found continued sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety, phobias, emotional dependence, confusion, impaired memory and concentration long after the release from isolation. Additionally, lasting personality changes often leave individuals formerly held in solitary confinement socially impoverished and withdrawn, subtly angry and fearful when forced into social interaction. 48 Intolerance of social interaction after a period of solitary confinement is a handicap that often prevents individuals from successfully readjusting to life within the broader prison population and severely impairs their capacity to reintegrate into society when released from imprisonment. 49 J. Vulnerable individuals 1. Juveniles 66. United Nations treaty bodies consistently recommend that juvenile offenders, children or minors should not be subjected to solitary confinement (CAT/C/MAC/CO/4, para. 8; CAT/OP/PRY/1, para. 185; CRC/C/15/Add.151, para. 41; and CRC/C/15/Add.232, para. 36 (a)). Juveniles are often held in solitary confinement either as a disciplinary measure, or to separate them from the adult inmate population, as international human rights law prohibits the intermingling of __________________ 44 45 46 47 48 49 18 Stuart Grassian, “Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement” (1993), p. 1. Ibid., p. 8. Ibid., p. 2. Ibid., p. 20. Shalev, op. cit., pp. 13 and 22. Stuart Grassian, “Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement”, pp. 332 and 333. 11-44570