Solitary confinement is broadly used throughout federal, state and county prisons and jails as a means of punishment, isolation, and segregation from the prison population. On any given day in the USA, there are 100,000 individuals in SHU (Special Housing Units).

 

It is typical to spend 23 hours of every day in a cell that is often no larger than a small bathroom. That remaining hour outside the cell remains within a confined and isolated area of the prison compound. Too often, it might be several days before those in solitary have any direct contact with others, including prison personnel.

 

Considered torture, it has been condemned as such by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture. And yet this practice persists and is on the increase. ISOLATE, made of 100,000 hand-embroidered stitches on a vintage canvas cot cover, defines the life-size silhouette of an individual in a fetal position.

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