Ralph Nader was the Green Party candidate for President in 1996 and 2000, and an independent Presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008.
When the news broke years ago that U.S. forces were using torture on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, many politicians and the public expressed appropriate horror. There was shock and disappointment that our country would resort to such inhumane, abusive actions against our fellow human beings, most of whom then were innocent victims of bounty hunters in Afghanistan.
With this frame of reverence in mind, it is unfortunate that many Americans do not contemplate — or are simply unaware of — blatant torture occurring in prisons every day right here in the United States. This form of physical and psychological violence is called many things: “isolation”, “administrative segregation”, “control units”, “secure housing” and by its most well-known designation, solitary confinement. This practice of imprisonment is widely used across our nation with disturbingly little oversight and restriction. The full extent of the use of solitary confinement is truly alarming — it is most certainly a human rights abuse and a blight on our national character.
Imagine yourself being locked in a small windowless room for days, weeks, or years… perhaps even for the majority of your life. You receive food and water through a small slot and have little-to-no human contact — you might go days or weeks without speaking to another person. You are allowed out for perhaps an hour a day for some exercise. This is the living reality for tens of thousands of Americans in our prison system. Self-mutilation and suicide attempts among those in solitary confinement are far too common. Not surprisingly, studies have shown that the majority of prison suicides are inmates who were being held in solitary.
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