Dr Sophie Gallop, Senior Lecturer NLS, https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/law/sophie-gallop
Solitary confinement, referred to as ‘removal from association’ or ‘segregation’ in England and Wales, is a common practice in prisons across the World. It is used both as a safety measure and as a form of punishment for those who break prison rules. However, the practice has become increasingly controversial in recent decades as more is understood about the long-term harm for those who are subject to this practice.
Solitary Confinement
The United Nations, in its Nelson Mandela Rules, has defined solitary confinement as the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. These rules, adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, reflect the minimum prison conditions expected in the 21st century.
Under the Nelson Mandela Rules, the United Nations has made it clear that indefinite solitary confinement and prolonged solitary confinement, that is solitary confinement in excess of 15 consecutive days, should be prohibited (Rule 43). The rules also go on to stress that solitary confinement should only be utilised in exceptional cases, as a last resort, for as short a time as possible, and should be subject to independent review (Rule 45).
The stringent United Nations rules around the lengths of solitary confinement reflects a more nuanced modern understanding of the impact that solitary confinement can have on prisoners and others subject to segregation. A study of nearly 230,000 prisoners in the USA recently found that those prisoners who had been subject to solitary confinement were 24% more likely to die in the first year of release compared to prisoners who had not been subject to segregation. As part of this analysis, researchers found that prisoners subject to solitary confinement were 78% more likely to die from suicide than those who had not been subject to such confinement and were 127% more likely to die of a drugs overdose in the first few weeks of release. Other studies demonstrate that solitary confinement is associated with increased mental and, perhaps more surprisingly, physical health problems. In fact, social isolation has been described by Metzner and Fellner, in their article in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, as being ‘as clinically distressing as torture’ because it is so damaging to the human psyche. In addition, there is significant research to suggest that solitary confinement is associated with greater recidivism rates.
Nonetheless, the use of solitary confinement in prisons remains commonplace. This is particularly true in the USA where is has been estimated that 50,000 prisoners were subject to ‘restrictive housing’ in 2021, with 75% of those being subject to solitary confinement for between 15 days and one year (notably in contravention of the Nelson Mandela rules). The remaining 25% of prisoners were isolated for more than one year, with 924 prisoners who had been subject to solitary confinement for over a decade.
Solitary Confinement in England and Wales
Statistics on the percentage or number of prisoners subject to solitary confinement in England and Wales does not appear to be publicly available. In a 2018 report the Children’s Commissioner raised concerns about the lack of similar data in the context of Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) and Secure Training Centres (STCs), noting that ‘information about the length and circumstances of segregation in the secure estate is not centrally collected or published’. As a result, it is difficult to know with any certainty how commonplace the practice of segregation is in UK prisons (or indeed in YOIs and STCs).
There are certainly some famous examples of prisoners who have been subject to segregation or solitary confinement in England and Wales. Charles Bronson, a now 70-year-old prisoner, has spent most of his 50 years imprisonment in solitary confinement after numerous attacks on prison staff and other prisoners. Currently, during his 18-month prison sentence for Contempt of Court, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (who goes by the name Tommy Robinson), is reportedly being held in segregation for his own safety due to threats from other prisoners. Both of these famous examples of solitary confinement fall clearly within the Prison Rules regulations on segregation.
Under s45(1) of the Prison Rules, removal from association can be arranged where it appears ‘desirable’ for the purposes of maintaining good order, maintaining discipline, or if it is in the interests of the prisoner that they should not associate with other prisoners, either generally or for particular purposes. A Prison Governor can arrange a prisoner’s removal from association under s45(1) for a period of up to 72 hours. If the Prison Governor wishes to remove a prisoner from association for more than 72 hours, or 3 days, then they can authorise in writing the removal of a prisoner for up to 14 days. This will then be reviewed by the Segregation Review Board under Prison Service Order (PSO) 1700. PSO 1700 was updated following a review in 2006/7 which noted that 59 suicides were initiated between 2001-2006 in segregation settings. Accordingly, when authorising continued ‘removal from association’ the Board should consider the reason for segregation; the behaviour and attitude of the prisoner; any concerns about how the prisoner might cope with segregation; what the prisoner must demonstrate to be considered for a return amongst other factors.
Prison Governors can seek to extend the segregation of a prisoner for renewed periods of up to 14 days, which will again be reviewed by the Segregation Review Board. However, if the Prison Governor wishes to remove a prisoner from association for more than 42 days, they must obtain the leave of the Secretary of State in writing (this can also be renewed for subsequent periods of up to 42 days by the Secretary of State).
Despite clear rules about the use of segregation in prisons in England and Wales, with oversight of the use of ‘removal of association’ there have nevertheless been concerns raised about the use of solitary confinement in recent years. In HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales’s Annual Report in 2022-23 disquiet was raised about the limitations of the regime for those in solitary confinement. The report noted that for most segregated prisoners their day ‘consisted of a shower, 30 minutes of exercise, and a telephone call’. A year later the Annual Report noted that ‘men in segregation experienced extremely limited regimes, with most unlocked for 30 minutes a day’.
The Annual Report of the Chief Inspector also raised significant concerns about the use of solitary confinement in a YOI, Cookham Wood, noting ‘(t)he use of segregation at Cookham Wood was enormously concerning, with two boys [who needed protection from their peers] held in what we described as solitary confinement for more than 100 days’. The report went on to conclude that in Cookham Wood the use of solitary confinement of children was ‘normalised’, with over 25% of the population completely segregated.
Conclusion
Whilst the problem of solitary confinement appears to be far greater in various other countries around the World, it nevertheless appears that there are some notable issues with the use of segregation in prisons and YOIs in England and Wales. The Prison Rules (and the equivalent Youth Offender Institution Rules) provide clear limitations on the reasons why segregation may be ordered, and concrete regulations on the length of time that a person may be subject to solitary confinement for. Nevertheless, the extremely limited restrictions on those subject to segregation, and the normalisation of the use of segregation in some prisons and YOIs in England and Wales should give us pause for thought about whether the current rules are sufficient in an already overstretched penal system; particularly given the significant negative impact of prolonged solitary confinement on a person’s mental health, physical health, and morbidity.
Further Reading:
Ed Pilkington ‘Nearly 50,000 people held in solitary confinement in US, report says’ (The Guardian 24 August 2022)
HMO Belmarsh: The high-security prison where Tommy Robinson is jailed (The Independent, 29 October 2024)
Haroon Siddique ‘Prisoner Charles Bronson tells parole hearing ‘I just want to go out and do my art’’ (The Guardian 6 Mar 2023)
Natasha A Frost and Carlos E Monteiro ‘Administrative Segregation in U.S. Prisons: Executive Summary’ (National Institute of Justice March 2016)
Ryan M Labrecque ‘The Effect of Solitary Confinement on Institutional Misconduct: A Longitudinal Evaluation’ PhD Thesis (US Department of Justice 2015)
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