The use of solitary confinement should be absolutely prohibited in the following circumstances: • • • For death row and life-sentenced prisoners by virtue of their sentence. For mentally ill prisoners. For children under the age of 18. Furthermore, when isolation regimes are intentionally used to apply psychological pressure on prisoners, such practices become coercive and should be absolutely prohibited. As a general principle solitary confinement should only be used in very exceptional cases, for as short a time as possible and only as a last resort. Notes (1) For the purpose of this document we use the term prisoner as a broad category covering persons under any form of detention and imprisonment. (2) The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of December 2006 defines enforced disappearance as “…the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.” (3) 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 (pp. 441-528); Craig Haney “Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and ‘Supermax’ Confinement” in Crime & Delinquency 49(1), 2003 (pp. 124-56); Stuart Grassian “Psychopathological Effects of Solitary Confinement” in American Journal of Psychiatry 140, 1983 (pp. 1450-4). (4) CRC/C/15/Add.273, “Denmark”, 30 September 2005, para. 58 a. (5) Ramirez Sanchez v. France, Grand Chamber, 4. July 2006, para. 123. (6) Rod Morgan and Malcolm Evans “Combating torture in Europe”, 2001, p. 118. See also Recommendation Rec(2003)23 Committee of Ministers under the European Council, para.7, 20, and 22. (7) Committee of Ministers – Rec(2006)2E (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 11 January 2006 at the 952nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies), article 60.5. See also CPT, GR2, §56. Sourcebook on solitary confinement: Appendix 2 81