How This Prison Torture Can Shrink Your Brain

mural
Via Name of Source
Tremain Prioleau II
August 21, 2024

In 1972, former Black Panther Albert Woodfox was convicted of the murder of a corrections officer. Despite maintaining his innocence, he spent 44 years in solitary confinement, enduring the worst of prison inside his tiny 6-by-9-foot cell. Prison is terrible, but being isolated in solitary is even worse.

Living in solitary confinement can be devastating to the brain. Research has shown that the brain and the neurons inside of it will physically shrink by as much as 20%. However, the damaging effects of solitary don’t stop there.

As the brain shrinks, solitary victims experience “social pain”: feelings of distress caused by social deprivation. Social pain can affect the brain in the same manner as physical pain, potentially causing even more suffering as the brain re-experiences this pain for months and years.

The risk of suicide is greater for people in solitary as they make up half of those who die by suicide in prison. In many ways, solitary confinement is a constant attack on the mind making it torture, plain and simple.

No one should suffer years in solitary as Albert Woodfox did. He eventually made it out before he passed, but many don’t. Solitary confinement is nothing more than a cruel and unusual punishment disguised as safety. It must end.

We have a quick favor to ask:

PushBlack is a nonprofit dedicated to raising up Black voices. We are a small team but we have an outsized impact:

  • We reach tens of millions of people with our BLACK NEWS & HISTORY STORIES every year.
  • We fight for CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM to protect our community.
  • We run VOTING CAMPAIGNS that reach over 10 million African-Americans across the country.

And as a nonprofit, we rely on small donations from subscribers like you.

With as little as $5 a month, you can help PushBlack raise up Black voices. It only takes a minute, so will you please ?

Share This Article: