Solitary Confinement

Juan Rodriquez, Karla Gomez, Manny Blanco, Danay Brown, Jehad Mahmoud

Professor Snyder

English 1A

30 Jan. 2012

Left Alone

Three men intentionally cut the path of an oncoming car to hold an American journalist, Terry Anderson, at gunpoint. After being forced into a foreign car, Anderson was harassed to give the names of other Americans that were visiting Beirut, Lebanon. In March of 1985, he was taken hostage as a result of refusing to provide any information. Anderson realized his freedom was no longer with him during that day.

After being blindfolded, the men tied his hands and threw him into a cell the size of a small closet. Weeks went by, only allowing him outside of his chamber to wash his empty food bowl, and he ate tiny crumbs of leftover cheese sandwiches. There were times that Anderson would not have any type of human contact for days, except for the occasional threats from the guards.

As time progressed from months to years, Anderson felt that he was falling apart as his mind was becoming blank. He was becoming possessive about the small area that he called home and became angry at the slightest disturbances. In one instance, the guards severely pummeled him because they developed an annoyance towards him and stepped on his bed constantly. Anderson lost his mind and began to continuously smash his head against a brick wall. On December 4, 1991, after seven years, Terry Anderson was released and became the longest American to be held in captivity in Lebanon.

Lockdown, the hotbox, the hole, however you say it, solitary confinement can be epidemically defined as “a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, although often with the exception of members of prison staff"(Wikipedia). Studies have proven that isolation causes severe damage to one’s brain when withstanding social isolation (Solitary Confinement Called “Inappropriate”, 2009). Meanwhile, recent studies have also seen rates significantly drop in gang...