Solitary Confinement: Why Being Alone is the Ultimate Punishment

The worst punishment? Being all alone, trapped with yourself, away from real relationships

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay.

A record 44 million Americans — 17 percent of adults — report having no friends. They can find themselves in solitary confinement.

The 17 percent of friendless Americans represents a significant increase from the 12 percent who reported being friendless in 2021 and 3 percent in 1990.

“There’s nothing worse than being alone,” an elderly relative (who lives far away in an isolated rural area that empties every fall) told me last night.

Isolation especially hurts seniors with mobility/health challenges and young people who have grown used to meeting people via technology (but not in person).

The New Normal Shows Why Solitary Confinement is the Worst Punishment

Solitary confinement (spending more than 22 hours per day in isolation) is now called “inhumane” if it lasts more than 15 days.

No one wants to be a prisoner, but it took me years to see why “solitary confinement” was the gravest punishment.