Dickens' account of his tour of this place (and he was all for the "progress" solitary confinement represented then) makes it seem like the worst kind of tortur

Dickens' account of his tour of this place (and he was all for the "progress" solitary confinement represented then) makes it seem like the worst kind of torture. However, it stuck out to me that, at that time, solitary prisoners were _provided with hand work of their choice_. So today's version is more barbaric.