Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Solitary confinement

Solitary confinement:
What are its motivational and emotional processes and impacts?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

Overview

Figure 1. Officer standing in a solitary confinement cell Scenario You have been arrested supposedly in connection with a terrible crime. You are placed into custody in a dark room measuring 2m x 3m by yourself with only a small hole for light in the door. The space is bare, containing only a small bed and a sink, and smelling stagnant and musty. You are not sure how long you will be kept in this room that has no contact with the outside world. Time starts to blur as you sit alone in silence, trapped in a seemingly endless isolation, with only your thoughts to accompany you.

Solitary confinement (solitary) in a small dark cell uses sensory deprivation and social isolation to break the will of those in it and induce learned helplessness. Solitary confinement is mainly used to punish, extract information from, torture, and/or to closely supervise a person.

This chapter examines the processes and impacts of solitary confinement for the motivation and emotion(s) of those subjected to it. It refers to research and the knowledge from key psychological theories including the self determination theory (SDT), basic needs theory (BNT), and relationship motivation theory (RMT), as well as Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

To enhance the ease and engagement of learning, the chapter uses case studies, links to YouTube videos and some quick quizzes. The chapter does not include the processes or impacts of physical abuse which is sometimes also used in conjunction with solitary confinement.

Focus questions: What psychological processes are involved in solitary confinement? What are its impacts on motivation? What are its impacts on emotion?

Psychological processes involved in solitary confinement

Solitary confinement acts most commonly as a positive or negative punishment. It aims to reduce the frequency of any unwanted behaviours. The specific behaviours solitary confinement aims to discourage include keeping information secret from authorities, violent crime, political activism or war with that country by threatening to take prisoners of war (Haney, 2003). The punishment itself comes from several well documented mechanisms. Firstly, solitary confinement is often used in tandem with sleep deprivation which is a form of psychological torture (Reyes, 2007). Secondly, solitary confinement creates an environment which over time, removes a person's privacy, intimacy, trust, and connection with others, as well as their sense of self and security (Physicians for Human Rights, 2005). Thirdly, the processes of solitary confinement induce compliance to authority by reducing a prisoner's sense of self-efficacy (Wortman & Brehm, 1975). Solitary confinement does this by creating a place where a person has little to no control over what happens at any time.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wrote a training manual in 1983 which has recently been declassified, entitled "Human Resource Exploitation". It says that the psychological processes of solitary confinement are the ideal conditions to debilitate a person with aversive stimuli and create dependency on an interrogator to extract information from them (CIA, 2023). Seligman wrote during his work on learned helplessness that, given the right conditions, helplessness can be induced (Hiroto & Seligman, 1975).

Solitary confinement is also used under a different name, medical housing units. Medical housing units surveil the mentally or medically unwell to make sure they remain alive in custody. This is done with the intention to deter hunger striking and suicide attempts, particularly of political activists (Cho & Naples-Mitchell, 2021). The use of this type of solitary confinement has been heavily criticised as medical housing units actually worsen the condition of the prisoner and rates of suicide are higher in them (Cassese, 1991). This is why they are known colloquially as suicide watch cells (Cassese, 1991).

In rare cases, solitary confinement is seen as a positive tool for de-escalating bad or violent situations in prisons (Laws, 2021). A systematic review found that the use of solitary confinement has increased in recent decades. It also found very high rates of psychological distress meaning the justification for positive use could not be generalised and that solitary confinement should be avoided in almost all cases (Haney, 2018).

In Eastern culture, specifically some in Buddhist circles, a certain amount of self-imposed solitary confinement is considered to be a good thing. It is believed that the processes of solitary confinement act on the mind and can bring a person closer to inner peace or "liberation". Monks who have used this practice successfully speak about how they became more forgiving and patient of others after the experience. However, this sample is potentially biased as the monks for whom confinement was not enjoyable or did not work are not heard from. Interestingly, there are programs teaching the principles of Buddhist meditation to prison inmates to counter the psychological processes of solitary confinement (McIvor, 2011).

Case study: Julian Assange

Figure 2. Activist in London carries a sign declaring "I stand with Julian", 2023 Julian Assange, the founder and editor of WikiLeaks, faced a variety of criminal charges in 2012 and went into political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy until 2019 when that was revoked. Having already been confined to the embassy or having faced arrest since 2012, from April 2019 until June of 2024 he was placed into solitary and other highly restrictive forms of jail in Belmarsh prison whilst awaiting extradition to the United States(see Figure 2). The United Nations sent a special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment to visit Assange in prison. The special rapporteur, wrote a report on Assange’s mental and physical state. The report concluded that Assange displayed all the symptoms of a victim of psychological torture including paranoia, chronic anxiety, and intense psychological trauma. He struck a plea deal with the U.S. for his part in leaking the classified documents and was released in June 2024. On the first of October 2024, Assange gave a statement to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe where he spoke about the impacts of his imprisonment in solitary confinement. Please see the video of that.

Quiz 1

1 Is solitary confinement always a punishment?

	Yes
	No

2 The UN special rapporteur did not support Assange's confinement:

	True
	False

Psychological perspectives

This section examines psychological perspectives and theories that can help understand how solitary confinement. The theories will act as a reference point allowing us to determine how solitary confinement's processes stop people from meeting their physiological and psychological needs.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Figure 3. Maslow's hierarchy of needs model

Maslow's hierarchy of needs (see Figure 3) classifies needs into a pyramid. The basic needs and psychological needs are described as deficiency needs in that when they are not met an individual becomes increasingly more motivated to meet them. Once they have been met the self-fulfilment needs can be met. There is criticism of the model, mostly about order of the needs.

Using the model, it is clear how the processes of solitary confinement stop people from meeting their deficiency and growth needs. Self-esteem and belonging require there to be positive interactions with others and something to work towards. Thus, there is little to no possibility for a person who is locked up alone and not in control of their environment to meet their psychological needs. Physiologically, in solitary confinement (depending on how extreme it is) at least some of the basic needs like water, food, and shelter are met. However, the same cannot be said for safety, security, rest, or warmth. This is because solitary is designed to prevent the majority of psychological and physiological needs from being met as a punitive measure.

Self-determination theory and mini-theories

Figure 4. Self-determination theory

The Self-determination theory (SDT) has three basic needs, all of which relate to and have implications for solitary confinement (see Figure 4). They are innate needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000). As distinct from Maslow's pyramid, SDT needs are strictly psychological and could occur anywhere given the right conditions. Fulfilling these needs is necessary in order to create and maintain motivation (Ryan & Deci). In solitary confinement, however, the conditions making it possible to fulfil these needs are purposefully removed.

The basic needs theory (BNT) is a mini-theory of the SDT. It says that meeting the three basic needs of the SDT is important for several factors relating to motivation (Reeve, 2012). The factors are intrinsic motivation, effective functioning, high quality engagement, and psychological well-being. Therefore not being able to meet these needs due to solitary confinement would create issues according to the BNT.

Finally, the relationship motivation theory (RMT) mini-theory says that the third need of the SDT, relatedness, is the most important. This is because high quality relationships can meet all three basic needs described in BNT and SDT (Deci & Ryan 2014). In solitary confinement there is a distinct lack of any quality relationships. Thus, despite what the RMT suggests about relationships being able to provide support for autonomy and competence when they cannot be met once again, this is not possible.

Overall, all three theories, Maslow's hierarchy, and the SDT, BNT and RMT theories, explain elements of why the processes of solitary confinement inhibit the satisfying of physiological and psychological needs. The SDT and mini-theories have more empirical evidence to support them than Maslow's hierarchy as even in extreme situations such as solitary confinement people are still motivated to seek the three basic needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) according to BNT (Visser, 2020).

Case study: Nelson Mandela

Figure 5. Nelson Mandela voting for the first time 1994 Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist. He was jailed for a total of 27 years, much of that time in Robben Island prison. There, he was placed in solitary confinement many times and had his privileges revoked on many occasions. His eyesight and back were permanently affected as a result. Mandela went on to become the first president of South Africa elected by all of its' peoples in 1994 (see Figure 5). He stated that his lengthy time in prison led him to be more understanding of the challenges facing all South Africans. In response to how he and other activists were treated the UN introduced the Nelson Mandela Rules in 2015.

Quiz 2

1 Does solitary confinement inhibit the components of the SDT?

	Yes
	No

2 The Nelson Mandela Rules limit the amount of days a prisoner can be placed in solitary confinement consecutively:

	True
	False

Impacts of solitary confinement

The processes of and psychological theories relating to need fulfilment in solitary confinement have been covered. Futhermore, the potential issues coming from solitary have been made clear. Thus, the impacts are now examined and discussed. The impacts of solitary confinement are split between motivation and emotion.

Motivation

Humans have a combination of basic and complex physical and psychological needs. When in solitary confinement these needs can only be met partially if at all. This has a destabilising and de-energising effect on motivation. According to the late U.S. senator John McCain, being in solitary takes away your will to live (Gawande, 2009). Research conducted on 229,000 released prisoners over a 15 year period found that those who had been in solitary for any amount of time during their incarceration were 78% more likely to die from suicide and 54% more from murder within 1 year of release than other prisoners (Brinkley-Rubinstein et al., 2019). The same research also showed a 127% greater likelihood of opioid overdose within the first two weeks of release.

These findings could be partially explained by the modified cognitive functioning seen in rats after solitary confinement. In the experiments, the rats had their brain activity measured before and after they were placed in solitary confinement. As a result of being in solitary confinement for 24 hours their brain activity changed, provoking social avoidance (Blanco-Suarez, 2017; Matthews et al., 2016). These same effects on personality have been observed in humans after solitary confinement. They are described as continuing patterns of social intolerance and incapability (Grassian, 2006). The impact of sensory deprivation combined with unmet psychological needs causes an effect called personality disintegration (Physicians for Human Rights, 2005; Reyes, 2007).

There is a bidirectional relationship between the brain and the social environment. This is because both social connection and brain function play a key part of healthy brain function (Coppola, 2019). This means that solitary confinement also impacts cognitive function, making it more difficult to find the motivation to return to a normal life (Scientific American, 2013). Even with less than one month of solitary confinement inmates have impairments to their impulse control, social cue recognition, memory, and concentration (Hresko, 2006). These changes can alter the brain's structure permanently (Supreme Court of the United States, 2016).

Emotion

Being unable to meet psychological and physiological needs due to solitary can be emotionally de-regulating and provoke negative emotions. The emotions include, fear and anxiety (Hresko, 2006). The de-regulation can cause panic attacks, perceptual hallucinations and violent fantasies (Hresko). There is some disagreement as to the characterisation of those upon whom solitary confinement has the most emotionally destabilising effect. In the CIA training manual from 1983, it was suggested that the better adjusted someone is (meaning how normally functioning they are) the more they will be affected (CIA, 2023). More recently, however, evidence shows that those who are already at risk of or currently suffering from depression or mood disorders are the most emotionally affected (Haney, 2003).

Current and former solitary confinement inmates are commonly diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which causes fear and stress responses with or without conscious awareness (Witte, 2007). Specifically in PTSD related to solitary confinement, there is a disruption in the normal response of the neurotransmitter system to an aroused state. The system produces and releases higher levels of norepinephrine for a longer time (Costanzo & Gerrity, 2009).

The physiological brain changes occurring as a result of solitary confinement were first studied at scale in 1992. 57 prisoners of war with a mean age of 32 years were released after being held in solitary confinement for an average of 6 months. They underwent brain scans which showed their brains were dull, similar to people who had sustained a traumatic brain injury from a from a car crash (Vrca, et al., 1996). The changes to brain structures from solitary confinement which effect emotion are the hippocampus and the amygdala. They are the regions associated with learning and memory and threat response, respectively. The hippocampus loses neuroplasticity, shrinks and begins to fail however, the amygdala shows increased activation and size (Blanco-Suarez, 2019). As a result, there is impairment to learning and memory formation and a loss of emotional and stress control (Lobel & Akil, 2018). With in some cases, permanent changes in mood like depression (Lobel & Akil).

The impacts of solitary confinement emotionally are long lasting and difficult or impossible to recover from (Physicians for Human Rights, 2005). This is because solitary forces individuals to cope by using maladaptive behaviours (Coppola, 2019). Craig Haney says that those who have adapted to solitary confinement are more frequently released than those who have not. However, these people are maladapted and no longer capable of emotional readjustment (Gawande, 2009).

Case study: Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Manning, a former US army intelligence officer passed some 250,000 classified US documents onto Julian Assange. The documents contained information detailing how the U.S. had acted improperly towards civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning was charged under several serious national security provisions including the Espionage Act. Demonstrating concerning self-harming behaviour, she was placed under prevention of injury status (POI). All of this meant that Manning was held in solitary confinement with no visits and no outside contact between July 2010 and April 2011. She has been open about how solitary confinement has negatively impacted her life and wellbeing including, several suicide attempts, frequent panic attacks, and an inability to function socially well past being pardoned by President Barack Obama in 2017. Watch this interview→ clip ← which went viral worldwide showing how Manning has become accustomed to her own silence. The silence in the clip lasts only seconds, but according to the interviewer the unedited silence lasted for more than 10 minutes.

Quiz 3

1 It is not possible to recover from the impacts of solitary confinement.

	True
	False

2 Has Manning readjusted back to normal life?

	Yes
	No

Conclusion

The psychological processes which make solitary confinement such a powerful punishment come from the environment that it creates. The social isolation and lack of control of the environment cause people to lose their connection with others and ultimately their own sense of self. Compliance and learned helplessness generally occur as a result. However, there are also ways in which self-imposed solitary confinement is used to benefit a person, such as by Buddhist monks seeking liberation.

Psychological theories which can be used to help understand the effects of solitary confinement include Maslow's hierarchy of needs, SDT, BNT, and relationship motivation theory. These theories emphasise psychological processes which inhibit physiological and psychological needs from being met, as demonstrated by the Assange and Mandela case studies.

The impacts of solitary confinement arising from both physiological and psychological needs not being met on motivation include an increased rate of suicide after release, social avoidance and/or lack of social skills, memory and attention decline, and personality disintegration. These all stem from the modified cognitive functioning which occurs as a result of the human brain trying to adapt to solitary confinement's environment.

Emotionally, solitary confinement causes increased arousal and fear responses through physiological structural changes in the brain, specifically shrinking of the hippocampus and growth of the amygdala. Therefore, the emotional impacts of solitary confinement are commonly permanent and inclusive of both PTSD and a de-regulated production of neurotransmitters, mostly norepinephrine. The effect of the processes and impact of solitary confinement on motivation and emotion on a person are captured in Manning's interview from her case study.

See also

• Chelsea Manning (Wikipedia)
• Julian Assange (Wikipedia)
• Nelson Mandela (Wikipedia)
• Motivation and emotion/Book/2023/Torture interrogation, motivation, and emotion (Book chapter, 2023)
• Motivation and emotion/Book/2021/Torture motivation (Book chapter, 2021)
• Solitary confinement as torture (Wikipedia)
• TED Talk on solitary confinement (YouTube)

References

Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., Sivaraman, J., Rosen, D. L., Cloud, D. H., Junker, G., Proescholdbell, S., Shanahan, M. E., & Ranapurwala, S. I. (2019). Association of restrictive housing during incarceration with mortality after release. JAMA Network Open, 2(10). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12516

Cho, E., & Naples-Mitchell, J. (2021). Solitary confinement and segregation without medical justification. In Behind Closed Doors Abuse and Retaliation Against Hunger Strikers in U.S. Immigration Detention (1st ed., pp. 40–44). essay, American Civil Liberties Union And Physicians for Human Rights.

Coppola, F. (2019). The brain in solitude: an (other) eighth amendment challenge to solitary confinement. Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 6(1), 184–225. https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsz014

Costanzo, M. A., & Gerrity, E. (2009). The effects and effectiveness of using torture as an interrogation device: Using research to inform the policy debate. Social Issues and Policy Review, 3(1), 179–210. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-2409.2009.01014.x

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2014). Autonomy and need satisfaction in close relationships: Relationships motivation theory. Human Motivation and Interpersonal Relationships, 1(1), 53–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8542-6_3

Gawande, A. (2009, March 23). Is long-term solitary confinement torture?. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/30/hellhole

Grassian, S. (2006). Psychiatric effects of solitary confinement. Washington University Journal of Law and Policy, 22(1), 327–380. https://doi.org/https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1362&context=law_journal_law_policy

Haney, C. (2003). Mental health issues in long-term solitary and “Supermax” confinement. Crime & Delinquency, 49(1), 124–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128702239239

Haney, C. (2018, March 9). The psychological effects of solitary confinement: a systematic critique. University of Chicago Press, 47(1):000-000 https://doi.org/10.1086/696041

Health Consequences of Psychological Torture. (2005). In Break them Down, Systematic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces (pp. 48–72). essay, Physicians for Human Rights .

Hiroto, D. S., & Seligman, M. E. (1975). Generality of learned helplessness in man. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2), 311–327. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076270

Hresko, T. (2006). In the cellars of the hollow men: use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and its implications under international laws against torture. Pace International Law Review, 18(1), 11–13. https://doi.org/10.58948/2331-3536.1071

Laws, B. (2021). Segregation seekers: an alternative perspective on the solitary confinement debate. British Journal of Criminology, 61(6). https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab032

Lobel, J., & Akil, H. (2018). Law & neuroscience: The case of solitary confinement. Daedalus, 147(4), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_00520

Matthews, G. A., Nieh, E. H., Vander Weele, C. M., Halbert, S. A., Pradhan, R. V., Yosafat, A. S., Glober, G. F., Izadmehr, E. M., Thomas, R. E., Lacy, G. D., Wildes, C. P., Ungless, M. A., & Tye, K. M. (2016). Dorsal raphe dopamine neurons represent the experience of social isolation. Cell, 164(4), 617–631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.040

McIvor, P. (2011). Outsider Buddhism : a study of Buddhism and Buddhist education in the U.S. prison system. Core.ac.uk. oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/5105

Reyes, H. (2007) ‘The worst scars are in the mind: psychological torture’, International Review of the Red Cross, 89(867), pp. 591–617. doi:10.1017/s1816383107001300.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.68

Scientific American. (2013, March). Solitary confinement is cruel and ineffective. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solitary-confinement-cruel-ineffective-unusual/

Supreme Court of the United Sates, “Brief of medical and other scientific and health-related professionals as amici curiae in support of respondents and affirmance,” 25

Vrca, A., Bozikov, V., Brzović, Z., Fuchs, R., & Malinar, M. (1996). Visual evoked potentials in relation to factors of imprisonment in detention camps. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 109(3), 114–117. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01369669

Wortman, C. B., & Brehm, J. W. (1975). Responses to uncontrollable outcomes: An integration of reactance theory and the learned helplessness model. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 8, 277–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60253-1

Witte, K. (2007). Fear as motivator, fear as inhibitor. Handbook of Communication and Emotion, 423–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012057770-5/50018-7

External links

• The CIA human resource exploitation training manual 1983 (CIA.gov)
• The effects of solitary confinement on the brain (Psychology Today)
• The Nelson Mandela Rules (UN.org)
• The neuroscience of loneliness (Psychology Today)

Case study links