4 ms·

Good taste in books. I'm just surprised they allowed you to read at all. Is it common? Also, how old were you then?

by 77pt77 9y ago

tempestn 9y ago
While it is becoming widely acknowledged that long-term solitary confinement is essentially a form of torture, in theory it's not about causing suffering, but rather about protecting inmate safety. Denying books wouldn't really make sense in that context.
- mehrdadn 9y ago
  > While it is becoming widely acknowledged that long-term solitary confinement is essentially a form of torture, in theory it's not about causing suffering, but rather about protecting inmate safety. Denying books wouldn't really make sense in that context. That seems to go against what Wikipedia says? It says it's primarily about punishment rather than safety: > [Solitary confinement] is mostly employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, usually for violations of prison regulations. However, it is also used as an additional measure of protection for vulnerable inmates.
  - tempestn 9y ago
    It may be both, but certainly the stated goal is not psychological torture—so it's not surprising that some limited amount of entertainment is allowed.
con_to_dev 9y ago
It is rather common for inmates to read in prison, there is virtually nothing else to do. However, we were only allowed to have 12 books at a time, so I had to mail many home as I acquired new ones to study. I was 20-23 in solitary, and 18-28 during my sentence.
- JudasGoat 9y ago
  I didn't have the resources to purchase outside books during my 2 year incarceration but it was remarkable how outdated the "jail library" books were. I read quite a bit of cosmology and physics, mostly 30 or so years old. A personal highlight was finding a Ray Kurzweil book.
  - 77pt77 9y ago
    > I read quite a bit of cosmology and physics, mostly 30 or so years old Well, you get all the way to the standard model, so not so bad. I suppose the book quality might have been a problem though.

Good taste in books. I'm just surprised they allowed you to read at all. Is it common? Also, how old were you then?

by 77pt77 9y ago

Good taste in books. I'm just surprised they allowed you to read at all. Is it common? Also, how old were you then?

While it is becoming widely acknowledged that long-term solitary confinement is essentially a form of torture, in theory it's not about causing suffering, but rather about protecting inmate safety. Denying books wouldn't really make sense in that context.

mehrdadn 9y ago
> While it is becoming widely acknowledged that long-term solitary confinement is essentially a form of torture, in theory it's not about causing suffering, but rather about protecting inmate safety. Denying books wouldn't really make sense in that context. That seems to go against what Wikipedia says? It says it's primarily about punishment rather than safety: > [Solitary confinement] is mostly employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, usually for violations of prison regulations. However, it is also used as an additional measure of protection for vulnerable inmates.
- tempestn 9y ago
  It may be both, but certainly the stated goal is not psychological torture—so it's not surprising that some limited amount of entertainment is allowed.

con_to_dev 9y ago

It is rather common for inmates to read in prison, there is virtually nothing else to do. However, we were only allowed to have 12 books at a time, so I had to mail many home as I acquired new ones to study. I was 20-23 in solitary, and 18-28 during my sentence.

JudasGoat 9y ago
I didn't have the resources to purchase outside books during my 2 year incarceration but it was remarkable how outdated the "jail library" books were. I read quite a bit of cosmology and physics, mostly 30 or so years old. A personal highlight was finding a Ray Kurzweil book.
- 77pt77 9y ago
  > I read quite a bit of cosmology and physics, mostly 30 or so years old Well, you get all the way to the standard model, so not so bad. I suppose the book quality might have been a problem though.