Prisoners spend 23 hours each day alone in a cell.

prisoners spend 23 hours each day alone in a cell.

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=96496

<snip>
Supermax facilities--prisons in which inmates are locked down for 23 hours per day--
were at one time quite rare in the United States, but in the past two decades, they
have been instituted in 44 states, according to numerous studies by Professor Daniel P. Mears,
an associate professor at Florida State University. Mears' study Evaluating the Effectiveness
of Supermax Prisons cited statistics that claim some 20,000 inmates, or 2 percent of the total
prison population in the United States, were housed in such facilities 1998. Mears' study also
says that there is reason for skepticism about the facilities' efficacy in controlling prison populations,
as well as the so-called "human costs."

One of the most cogent points in the AFSC report was that the mentally ill, because of their illnesses,
are not able to follow prison rules as effectively as the mentally fit. They get punished for this,
further exacerbating their illnesses and setting off a downward spiral that can result in
long periods of isolation. There are an estimated 300,000 mentally ill Americans in prison, who, the
60 Minutes report points out, are often sent there because they have nowhere else to go,
as the country's behavioral-health system has crumbled.
</snip>

:cry:

We allow the mental-healthcare system in this country to go down the toilet. Then we sit and wonder why the VT killings or Columbine can occur. Another triumph of conservatism. NOT!

Sounds kinda appealling to me. As opposed to a romantically-inclined bunkmate or three.