Years in Solitary Confinement
Channel: UC Berkeley
Date: 2015-11-02

UC Berkeley student Clint Terrell served time in some of California's toughest penal institutions for residential burglaries and auto theft. His prison time included long-term solitary confinement, once for 18 months in Tehachapi State Prison's Security House Unit. A successful 2011 class-action suit on behalf of Pelican Bay inmates argued that sustained solitary confinement is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. As a result, one-third of the state's 3,000 prisoners relegated to isolation are gradually being transitioned into the general prison population.

UC Berkeley psychology professor, Dacher Keltner, served as an expert witness in the trial, explaining how humans learn nurturing, trust, compassion, and cooperation through the sense of touch. His research shows how social isolation may trigger or exacerbate mental illness, causing some to withdraw so deeply that they suffer a form of social death.

Full Story: http://news.berkeley.edu/

Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally

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