Some 81,000 people are held in isolation 23 hours-a-day in the United States, according to a 2015 report from Johns Hopkins University. Solitary confinement is considered torture by experts and organizations specializing in constitutional law, international law, and psychiatry, among other fields. Yet it is an incredibly commonplace practice in American prisons. In a new documentary, HBO uses unprecedented access to one solitary-happy prison to examine the critical toll a life in near-complete isolation can take on prisoners.
A new trailer for the film takes us inside Virginia's supermax Red Onion State Prison, which was built on an Appalachian mountaintop 300 miles from civilization. The sights and sounds of barren desolation alone are enough to set your skin crawling and your brain working in uncomfortable ways:
The documentary also explores the lives of the prison's guards, who in some ways are struggling alongside the prisoners in their charge. The key difference, of course, is that the guards can leave—perhaps to stroll through the woods, accompanied by a breeze, like the camera does at the beginning of the clip. At the very least, these guards can talk to people. Surely even criminals deserve that once in a while?
Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison premieres 6 February on HBO.
