It is called different things depending on where you’re doing time in the United States. I’ve heard it called “solitary confinement,” “security modified housing,” “segregated housing,” “the SHU (segregated housing unit),” and “the hole.” No matter what you call it, the meaning is the same. It means spending days, weeks, months, even years inside a little cement cubicle that usually takes the form of an 8×12 cell. I have done almost all my time in max security (which in Wyoming State Penitentiary means The Hole) and in a closed/GP (which is general population with limits to when the dayroom is open).
My cell has a metal toilet/sink combination, a window that is thinner than my body, a metal bunk, a metal desk, a metal television stand (no television), and a metal mirror and hygiene stand with “anti-hang-yourself hooks” designed for hanging your jumpsuit. The hooks almost never work like they are supposed to unless you alter them to stay put. The mirror will be completely useless in almost every cell because some mentally incompetent psychopath, something state prison never seems to have a shortage of, decided he didn’t like the way his reflection was looking at him and scratched it out with the metal end of a flex-pen. But they sell small, acrylic mirrors on commissary for around a dollar, so I make do. Everything else in my cell besides the steel door is concrete or cinder blocks.
Other than spending 23 hours a day by yourself in one of the smallest spaces you’ve ever lived in, you are in chains whenever you leave your cell, guards are a lot “mouthier” from behind your door because they know you can’t do anything to them (however, they will still mace you if you talk shit back to them and claim you were “trying to hurt yourself”) and you have lots and lots of neighbors who are not pleased to be there.
Thankfully, the segregation pod I’m in has only two tiers. I’ve been in prisons with three and four tiers. Needless to say, seg is one of the loudest places you’ll do time. Hopefully, you don’t have a neighbor who thinks he’s some kind of a white-trash version of a rapper and beats a metal desk as he tries to write beats or just talks shit to you all day from behind the door. The first thing you need to do is procure a good set of earplugs, a few if you can. That’s at least a start to winning the mental health battle that is the Hole. People, both guards and inmates, are 100% “ballsier” from behind the door in seg than they are anywhere else in the system because they can get away with it, for the time being.
Just so you realize, not everyone can do seg time. Believe it or not, seg is enough of a mental health war that by the time they are finally released not everyone is as mentally stable as they were before. For example, there is one guy in here who was once somewhat mentally coherent, but now refuses to talk, refuses to take showers, and refuses to clean his cell. He is in such a mental state now that I believe he has extensive inpatient therapy in his future.
This is a real thing. Man was not meant to be alone. Below I have some ways for you to “beat segregation.”
- Get yourself some earplugs and use them!
- Collect whatever reading material you can to keep your mind working. Many times, Mental Health will have a list of places where you can write to obtain free books in the mail.
- Learn some kind of paper art such as writing, drawing, or even origami.
- Stay in contact with the outside world. You have no idea how much you can accomplish in your life with just snail mail.
- Keep a regular exercise routine.
- Get creative and then make a routine out of it.
I hope this has been eye-opening to someone out there. This is not good for one’s mental stability. The easiest time in the system is not always the easiest time. Get a routine; stick to it. If you have a family member or friend who is doing extensive Hole time, continue encouraging contact with them, send them commissary funds, pictures of the outside world, and books. Make sure they are also being treated fairly by staff. Make sure of this! Staff members are the worst kind of habitual liars when it comes to these kinds of issues. They don’t want contact with the public about how the facility is run and how they treat their inmates 9 times out of 10. They get sued less that way. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Keep an eye on your loved one’s mental health. A mind is a terrible thing to lose.
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