Prisoners, Solitude, and Time

Abstract

Abstract Prisoners, Solitude, and Time is an examination of two overlapping aspects of the prison experience that, despite their central importance, have not attracted the scholarly interest they deserve. The first of these is the degree to which prisoners can withstand the rigours of solitude. While the deleterious effects of penal isolation are well known, little systematic attention has been given to the factors associated with surviving, and even triumphing over, prolonged exposure to solitary confinement. The second is how prisoners experience the temporal dimension of their lives, in particular the 'survival stratagems' they deploy to reduce the potentially overwhelming prospect of a long, or even indefinite, period behind bars. The book focuses on an aspect of the prison experience—time, its meanderings, measures and meanings—that is seldom considered by academic commentators. It pays particular attention to the use of administrative segregation in what have become known as supermax prisons. The argument advanced in the book is built upon a wide range of prisoner narratives which are analysed in conjunction with academic critiques, official publications, personal communications, field visits, newspaper articles, administrative statistics, the reports of campaigning bodies, and other data. The book concludes with a series of reflections on hope, the search for meaning, post-traumatic growth, and the art of living.

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