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21<br />
A thousand poets s<strong>in</strong>g of solitude—“let me live, unseen, unknown,” yearned Alexander Pope—but far<br />
more people curse it. <strong>The</strong> difference between bliss and distress generally seems to be whe<strong>the</strong>r solitude is<br />
chosen or <strong>in</strong>voluntary. Forced isolation is one of <strong>the</strong> oldest known punishments. Banishment was widely<br />
used dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Roman Empire (<strong>the</strong> poet Ovid was exiled from Rome <strong>in</strong> A.D. 8, possibly for writ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
obscene verse), and for centuries a severe penalty on <strong>the</strong> high seas was maroon<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong> which an offend<strong>in</strong>g<br />
sailor was deposited on an un<strong>in</strong>habited island, sometimes with a Bible and a bottle of rum. Most such men<br />
were never heard from aga<strong>in</strong>. Even now, when a Jehovah’s Witness is disfellowshipped for break<strong>in</strong>g church<br />
doctr<strong>in</strong>e, every member of <strong>the</strong> religion is forbidden from speak<strong>in</strong>g to <strong>the</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ner.<br />
<strong>The</strong> worst nonlethal punishment <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> United States penal system is solitary conf<strong>in</strong>ement. It’s a “hell all<br />
to yourself,” said Robert Stark, who has spent years <strong>in</strong> solitary at <strong>the</strong> Louisiana State Penitentiary, serv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
time for murder. Thomas Silverste<strong>in</strong> killed a prison guard <strong>in</strong> 1983 and s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong>n (except for one week<br />
dur<strong>in</strong>g a prison riot) has been locked alone <strong>in</strong> a concrete and steel box, dur<strong>in</strong>g which he has never once felt<br />
an affectionate touch. It feels as if he’s been “buried alive,” Silverste<strong>in</strong> wrote, “for an entire lifetime.”<br />
Todd Ashker, who was isolated <strong>in</strong> a w<strong>in</strong>dowless supermax cell for about twenty-five years, described his<br />
situation as “a cont<strong>in</strong>uous silent scream<strong>in</strong>g.” John Catanzarite spent nearly fourteen years <strong>in</strong> solitary <strong>in</strong> a<br />
California prison and said that when he started to lose his sanity he was glad, because it might release him<br />
from <strong>the</strong> horror of reality.<br />
After ten days <strong>in</strong> solitary conf<strong>in</strong>ement, many prisoners display clear signs of mental harm, and one study<br />
showed that about a third will eventually develop active psychosis. <strong>The</strong>re are at least eighty thousand such<br />
<strong>in</strong>mates <strong>in</strong> America. <strong>The</strong> United Nations has determ<strong>in</strong>ed that hold<strong>in</strong>g a person <strong>in</strong> isolation for more than<br />
fifteen days is cruel and <strong>in</strong>human punishment.<br />
“It’s an awful th<strong>in</strong>g, solitary,” wrote John McCa<strong>in</strong>, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war <strong>in</strong><br />
Vietnam, two of <strong>the</strong>m alone, before he became a U.S. senator. “It crushes your spirit,” McCa<strong>in</strong> added.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> onset of despair is immediate.” A large majority of men, and twenty-five percent of women, a<br />
University of Virg<strong>in</strong>ia study found, would ra<strong>the</strong>r subject <strong>the</strong>mselves to mild electric shocks than do noth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
but sit quietly with <strong>the</strong>ir thoughts for fifteen m<strong>in</strong>utes. Unless you are a tra<strong>in</strong>ed meditator, <strong>the</strong> study’s authors<br />
concluded, <strong>the</strong> “m<strong>in</strong>d does not like to be alone with itself.” Terry Anderson, kidnapped <strong>in</strong> Lebanon <strong>in</strong> 1985<br />
and held mostly alone for more than six years, said, “I would ra<strong>the</strong>r have had <strong>the</strong> worst companion than no<br />
companion at all.”<br />
Many evolutionary biologists believe that early humans thrived, despite be<strong>in</strong>g weaker and slower than