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AFAIK, that's how the US got in this mess to begin with: because people thought that solitary confinement would lead to reflection, prayer, and self-improvement

AFAIK, that's how the US got in this mess to begin with: because people thought that solitary confinement would lead to reflection, prayer, and self-improvement. Suffice to say, this approach has not been very successful. I think that arguing for meditation to make your stay in jail tolerable is similar to throwing people into the sea and arguing they should learn how to swim - it's focusing on the wrong part of the problem. Extended isolation is torture. Arguing in favor of "making the torture less awful" (the "when life gives you lemons" approach) diverts resources from the actual problem, namely, let's stop torturing people.

vekker 7y ago
> this approach has not been very successful. Obviously, because they indeed torture them by making the conditions so horrible, as described in the article. Nor do they provide guidance in how to actually cope with isolation and put this time into good use to train the mind. > Extended isolation is torture. That's entirely subjective and dependent on the conditions.
- krageon 7y ago
  > That's entirely subjective and dependent on the conditions. In good faith, we can assume we're talking about the context of this article. Let's step beyond the literal and discuss the entire conversation. If we do this, yes it is torture. Even if we don't consider the entire conversation, just within the cultural context of the article we can assume that it would be for most people. Continuing to focus on changing the victims instead of the perpetrators is the wrong initial avenue of approach. By all means, campaign for teaching people your preferred form of meditation. Just do it in a context where everyone is already free.