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Do not fill this in! ==By country or region== ===Europe=== While solitary confinement is less commonplace in Europe than in other parts of the world including the United States, it is still widely used in many European countries today.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shalev |first1=Sharon |title=Solitary confinement: the view from Europe |journal=Canadian Journal of Human Rights |date=2015 |volume=4 |issue=1 |url=https://cjhr.ca/articles/vol-4-no-1-2015/ |access-date=24 March 2022 |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526200458/https://cjhr.ca/articles/vol-4-no-1-2015/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[European Court of Human Rights]] distinguishes between complete sensory isolation, total social isolation and relative social isolation<ref name="Verdictp3">{{cite report |title=Krav om fastsettelsesdom for brudd på EMK art. 3 og 8 |trans-title=Request for declaratory judgement for breach of the ECHR art. 3 & 8 |others=[[Anders Behring Breivik]] v. The State, with [[Ministry of Justice and Public Security]] |author=Oslo District Court |language=nb |docket=15-107496rVt-OTrR/02 |via=Dagbladet |url=http://www.dagbladet.no/f/domisakenomsoningsforhold15107496tviotirabbstaten.pdf |date=20 April 2016 |access-date=25 April 2016 |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429020641/http://www.dagbladet.no/f/domisakenomsoningsforhold15107496tviotirabbstaten.pdf |archive-date=29 April 2016}}, citing ''Ramirez Sanchez v. France'' (ECHR 59450/00) sec. 136.</ref> and notes that "complete sensory isolation, coupled with total social isolation can destroy the personality and constitutes a form of inhuman treatment which cannot be justified by the requirements of security or any other reason. On the other hand, the prohibition of contacts with other prisoners for security, disciplinary or protective reasons does not in itself amount to inhuman treatment or punishment."<ref>{{Cite report |author=Grand Chamber |title=Case of Ramirez Sanchez v. France |type=Judgment |date=4 July 2006 |publisher=[[European Court of Human Rights]] |docket=59450/00 |at=sec. 123, 136 |url=https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-76169 |access-date=2022-08-20 |archive-date=20 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820142951/https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-76169 |url-status=live }}, citing [http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#%7B%22appno%22:%5B%2225498%2F94%22%5D%7D ''Messina v. Italy''] (no. 2) (dec.) (ECHR 25498/94) sec. "The Law" ss. 1.</ref> The European [[Committee for the Prevention of Torture]], or CPT, defines solitary confinement as "whenever a prisoner is ordered to be held separately from other prisoners, for example, as a result of court decision, as a disciplinary sanction imposed within the prison system, as a preventive administrative measure or for the protection of the prisoner concerned."<ref>{{Cite report |chapter-url=https://rm.coe.int/16806cccc6 |chapter=Solitary confinement of prisoners |title=21st General Report of the CPT |publisher=[[European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]], [[Council of Europe]] |date=10 November 2011 |ref={{harvid|CPT Report 2011}} |postscript=, |access-date=3 September 2020 |archive-date=6 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606170816/https://rm.coe.int/16806cccc6 |url-status=live }}<!--chapter-id=CPT/Inf(2011)28-part2 --><!--Full 21st CPT Report: http://rm.coe.int/doc/0900001680696a88--> sec. 54; CPT Standards (2015) sec. 29.</ref> The CPT "considers that solitary confinement should only be imposed in exceptional circumstances, as a last resort and for the shortest possible time."<ref>{{harvnb|CPT Report 2011|loc=sec. 56b, 64}}.</ref> ==== Iceland ==== {{See also|Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case}} [[Iceland]] has faced criticism for decades over its extensive use of pre-trial solitary confinement.<ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/isl/1994-08-inf-eng.pdf |title=Report to the Icelandic Government on the visit to Iceland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) |date=28 June 1994 |issue=CPT/Inf (94) 8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501050249/www.cpt.coe.int/documents/isl/1994-08-inf-eng.pdf |archive-date=1 May 2006 |url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news |last=Cox |first=Simon |date=15 May 2014 |title=The Reykjavik Confessions |website=[[BBC News]] |publisher=BBC |format=interactive feature |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_7617/index.html |url-status=live |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617091829/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_7617/index.html |archive-date=17 June 2018}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=31 January 2023 |title=Iceland's abusive use of solitary confinement must end immediately |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/01/iceland-abusive-use-of-solitary-confinement-must-end-immediately/ |website=Amnesty International}}</ref> A 2023 report by [[Amnesty International]] documented that 61 percent of pre-trial detainees had spent time in solitary confinement in 2021; of those detained that year, 57 percent were [[Foreign national|foreign nationals]], a percentage far higher than the percentage of foreign nationals in Iceland (around 14 percent of the population in 2021).<ref>{{Cite journal |date=31 January 2023 |title=Iceland: "Waking up to nothing" - Harmful and unjustified use of pre-trial solitary confinement |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur28/6373/2023/en/ |journal=[[Amnesty International]] |series=EUR 28/6373/2023 |pages=17–18}}</ref> ==== Italy ==== Italian prisoners subject to special surveillance ("''41-bis'' regime") may be in de facto solitary confinement.<ref name="CPT2020">{{cite report |title=Report to the Italian Government on the visit to Italy carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 12 to 22 March 2019 |date=21 January 2020 |publisher=CPT |docket=CPT/Inf (2020) 2 |url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/-/council-of-europe-anti-torture-committee-publishes-report-on-italy-focusing-on-prison-establishments |access-date=2022-08-20 |pages=28–38 |archive-date=20 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520120148/https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/-/council-of-europe-anti-torture-committee-publishes-report-on-italy-focusing-on-prison-establishments |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Life imprisonment in Italy|A person sentenced to multiple life sentences in Italy]] may be required by the Minister of Justice to serve a period of between 6 months to years in the "''41-bis'' regime" of solitary confinement, subject to extension and review.<ref name="CPT2020"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Marini |first=Fernando |title=Report Decries Use of Solitary Confinement in Italian Prisons |website=Civil Liberties Union for Europe |date=4 March 2019 |url=https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/italy-41bisreport-nationalguarantor/16785 |access-date=2022-08-20 |postscript=, |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326023748/https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/italy-41bisreport-nationalguarantor/16785 |url-status=live }} citing {{cite report |last=Palma |first=Mauro |title=Thematic report on the special prison regime pursuant to Article 41-bis of the Penitentiary Act (2016–2018) |publisher=Italian Parliament reports |via=Garante nazionale dei diritti delle personeprivate della libertà personale |date=7 January 2019 |url=https://www.garantenazionaleprivatiliberta.it/gnpl/resources/cms/documents/a5db4acf7c430ee2221c5453720730c2.pdf |access-date=2022-08-20 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326023748/https://www.garantenazionaleprivatiliberta.it/gnpl/resources/cms/documents/a5db4acf7c430ee2221c5453720730c2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ==== United Kingdom ==== [[File:High Royds solitary confinement - geograph.org.uk - 1047059.jpg|thumb|Solitary confinement cells at [[High Royds Hospital]], [[Menston]], West Yorkshire]] In 2015, segregation (solitary confinement) was used 7,889 times.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shalev |first1=Sharon |last2=Edgar |first2=Kimmett |title=Deep Custody: Segregation units and close supervision centres in England and Wales |date=2015 |publisher=Prison Reform Trust |location=London |isbn=978-1-908504-97-5 |url=https://www.solitaryconfinement.org/uk-solitary-confinement |access-date=24 March 2022 |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325114836/https://www.solitaryconfinement.org/uk-solitary-confinement |url-status=live }}</ref> 54 out of 85,509 prisoners held in [[England and Wales]] in 2015 were placed in solitary confinement cells in [[Close Supervision Centres]] (Shalev & Edgar, 2015:149), England and Wales' version of the US 'Supermax'.<ref name="tapley10">{{cite magazine |last=Tapley |first=Lance |title=The Worst of the Worst: Supermax Torture in America |date=1 November 2010 |url=http://www.bostonreview.net/tapley-supermax-torture-in-america.php |magazine=[[Boston Review]] |access-date=18 December 2010 |archive-date=6 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506163602/http://www.bostonreview.net/tapley-supermax-torture-in-america.php |url-status=live }}</ref> The use of solitary confinement on juveniles and children, as elsewhere, has been a subject of contention. Critics argue that, in the United Kingdom, the state has a duty to "set the highest standards of care" when it limits the liberties of children.<ref name=alex2>{{cite journal |last=Crook |first=Frances |title=Where Is Child Protection in Penal Custody? |date=September 2006 |journal=Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=137–141 |doi=10.1002/cbm.627 |pmid=16838387 }}</ref> Frances Crook is one of many to believe that incarceration and solitary confinement are the harshest forms of possible punishments and "should only be taken as a last resort".<ref name=alex2 /> Because children are still mentally developing, Crook writes, incarceration should not encourage them to commit more violent crimes.<ref name= alex2 /> The [[penal system]] has been cited as failing to protect juveniles in custody.<ref name=alex2 /> In the United Kingdom, 29 children died in penal custody between 1990 and 2006: "Some 41% of the children in custody were officially designated as being vulnerable".<ref name=alex2 /> That is attributed to the fact that isolation and physical restraint are used as the first response to punish them for simple rule infractions.<ref name=alex2 /> Moreover, Frances Crook argues that these punitive policies not only violate their basic rights but also leave the children mentally unstable and left with illnesses that are often ignored.<ref name=alex2 /> Overall, the solitary confinement of youth is considered to be counterproductive because the "restrictive environment... and intense regulation of children" aggravates them, instead of addressing the issue of rehabilitation.<ref name=alex2 /> Solitary confinement is colloquially referred to in [[British English]] as "the block", "The Segregation Unit" or "the cooler".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5559761/Army-captain-was-real-life-Cooler-King-from-The-Great-Escape.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620133245/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5559761/Army-captain-was-real-life-Cooler-King-from-The-Great-Escape.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 June 2009 |title=Army captain was real life 'Cooler King' from The Great Escape |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |author=<!--no by-line--> |date=17 June 2009 |access-date=16 April 2010 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/3517476.stm |title=Cooler King recalls Great Escape |work=[[BBC News]] |author=<!--no by-line--> |date=16 March 2004 |access-date=16 April 2010 |archive-date=23 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823122213/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/3517476.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> === United States === {{main|Solitary confinement in the United States}} Solitary confinement first arose in the United States in the late 1700s among religious groups like the [[Quakers]], who thought isolation would promote [[repentance]] and [[Rehabilitation (penology)|rehabilitation]].<ref name = history /> Though the practice fell out of use in the early 1900s, it experienced a resurgence during the [[Law and order (politics)|tough on crime]] era in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name = history>{{Cite web|last=Wykstra|first=Stephanie|date=17 April 2019|title=The case against solitary confinement|url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/17/18305109/solitary-confinement-prison-criminal-justice-reform|website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=12 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212153857/https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/17/18305109/solitary-confinement-prison-criminal-justice-reform|url-status=live}}</ref> This period also saw the construction of [[supermax prison|supermax]] prisons, which typically house individuals in indefinite solitary confinement consisting of upwards of 22 hours a day of isolation.<ref name="KurkiMorris">{{Cite journal |last1=Kurki |first1=Leena |last2=Morris |first2=Norval |author-link2=Norval Morris |date=2001 |title=The Purposes, Practices, and Problems of Supermax Prisons |url= |journal=[[Crime and Justice]] |volume=28 |pages=385–424 |doi=10.1086/652214 |issn=0192-3234 |jstor=1147678|s2cid=147129265}}</ref> In the [[Incarceration in the United States|United States penal system]] today, more than 20 percent of individuals in state and federal prisons and 18 percent of individuals in local jails are placed in solitary confinement or another form of restrictive housing at some point during their incarceration.<ref>{{Cite web|date=23 October 2015|title=Nearly 20 Percent of Prison and Jail Inmates Spent Time in Segregation or Solitary Confinement in 2011–12|url=https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/urhuspj1112pr.cfm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019102536/https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/urhuspj1112pr.cfm|archive-date=19 October 2020|website=[[Bureau of Justice Statistics]]|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]]}}</ref> According to a 2023 report from [[Solitary Watch]] and Unlock the Box, it is estimated that more than 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement in state and federal prisons and local jails in the United States on any given day.<ref>{{cite web |title=Calculating Torture: Analysis of Federal, State, and Local Data Showing More Than 122,000 People in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons and Jails |url=https://solitarywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Calculating-Torture-Report-May-2023-R2.pdf |publisher=Solitary Watch and Unlock the Box |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=June 2023}}</ref> A report from the Liman Center at [[Yale Law School]] found that between 41,000 and 48,000 individuals were held daily in solitary confinement in state and federal prisons for 15 days or more in 2021, with over 6,000 individuals found to have been held in solitary for over a year.<ref>The Guardian, 24 Aug. 2022 [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/24/us-solitary-confinement-prisons?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other "Nearly 50,000 People Held in Solitary Confinement in US, Report Says"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126182146/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/24/us-solitary-confinement-prisons?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other |date=26 November 2022 }}</ref> Since 2009, there have been [[Solitary confinement in the United States#Legislation_and_reform|legislative efforts in numerous states]] to ban the use of solitary confinement for vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, and [[LGBT|LGBTQ+]] people, as well as to end the use of long-term solitary confinement.<ref name = legislation>{{cite web |title=Banning Torture: Legislative Trends and Policy Solutions for Restricting and Ending Solitary Confinement throughout the United States |url=https://unlocktheboxcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/UTB-BanningTorture-TrendReport-January2023.pdf |publisher=Unlock the Box |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=January 2023}}</ref> In 2020, New Jersey passed the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, which bans the use of solitary beyond 20 consecutive days.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gov. Murphy Signs Isolated Confinement Restriction Act Into Law |url=https://www.aclu-nj.org/en/press-releases/gov-murphy-signs-isolated-confinement-restriction-act-law |publisher=ACLU New Jersey |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=11 July 2019}}</ref> As of June 2023, New York,<ref>{{cite web |title=Senate Passes the 'HALT' Solitary Confinement Act |url=https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-passes-halt-solitary-confinement-act |publisher=New York State Senate |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=18 March 2021}}</ref> Connecticut,<ref>{{cite web |title=Governor Lamont Signs Legislation Limiting the Use of Isolated Confinement |url=https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/05-2022/Governor-Lamont-Signs-Legislation-Limiting-the-Use-of-Isolated-Confinement |publisher=ct.gov |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=10 May 2022}}</ref> and Nevada<ref>{{cite web |title=Lombardo Signs Bill to Limit Use of Solitary Confinement in Nevada Prisons |url=https://www.aclunv.org/en/news/lombardo-signs-bill-limit-use-solitary-confinement-nevada-prisons |publisher=ACLU Nevada |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=16 June 2023}}</ref> have passed legislation banning the use of solitary beyond 15 consecutive days, bringing their use of isolation in line with the United Nations' [[Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners|Mandela Rules]]. In July 2023, United States Representative [[Cori Bush]] (D-Mo.) introduced the End Solitary Confinement Act, which would prohibit solitary confinement except for up to a four-hour maximum in all federal prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers if passed. The bill would also incentivize similar legislation to be enacted at the state and local levels.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ortiz |first1=Erik |title=Bill to ban solitary confinement in federal prisons introduced in House |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/bill-ban-solitary-confinement-federal-prisons-introduced-house-lawmake-rcna96016 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=28 July 2023 |date=27 July 2023}}</ref> ====Racial and other disparities==== Statistics indicate that members of marginalized groups are disproportionately likely to end up in solitary confinement. A 2019 Correctional Leaders Association/Yale Law School study found that Black women make up 21.5 percent of the United States female prison population, but 42.1 percent of the U.S. female prison population held in solitary.<ref>{{cite web |title=Time-in-Cell 2019: A Snapshot of Restrictive Housing |url=https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/center/liman/document/time-in-cell_2019.pdf |publisher=Association of State Correctional Administrators and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=September 2020}}</ref> Another study found that 11 percent of all Black men born in Pennsylvania between 1986 and 1989 had been held in solitary by the age of 32.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pullen-Blasnik |first1=Hannah |last2=Simes |first2=Jessica T. |last3=Western |first3=Bruce |title=The Population Prevalence of Solitary Confinement |journal=Science Advances |date=26 November 2021 |volume=7 |issue=48 |pages=eabj1928 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abj1928 |pmid=34826243 |pmc=8626064 |bibcode=2021SciA....7.1928P }}</ref> Disparities in the use of solitary have also been found to exist for [[LGBTQ|LGBTQ+]] people, Latinos, and Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Beck |first1=Allen J. |title=Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011-12 |url=https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112.pdf |publisher=Bureau of Justice Statistics |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=October 2015}}</ref><ref name = race/> The disproportionate use of solitary on marginalized groups has been attributed to [[racism]] and other forms of [[discrimination]] which are exacerbated by the correctional environment. People of color may be more likely to be perceived as threatening and consequently receive more disciplinary tickets that land them in solitary;<ref name = race>{{cite web |last1=Eskender |first1=Melat |title=Racism and Solitary Confinement |url=https://solitarywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SW-Fact-Sheet-1-Racism-v230228.pdf |publisher=Solitary Watch |access-date=10 July 2023 |date=2022}}</ref> LGBTQ+ individuals may be placed in solitary as [[protective custody]] (either voluntarily or involuntarily) to prevent them from being assaulted or otherwise victimized.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Truman |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Morgan |first2=Rachel E. |title=Violent Victimization by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 2017-2022 |url=https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvsogi1720.pdf |publisher=Bureau of Justice Statistics |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=June 2022}}</ref> Notably, some [[transgender]] individuals have stated that they would rather risk their safety in the general prison population than being held in the isolation of protective custody.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Law |first1=Victoria |title=Maryland Solitary Confinement Reform Bill Stalls in Democratic State Legislature, Despite Rare Support From Corrections Union |url=https://solitarywatch.org/2023/05/25/maryland-solitary-confinement-reform-bill-stalls-in-democratic-state-legislature-despite-rare-support-from-corrections-union/ |publisher=Solitary Watch/The Nation |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=25 May 2023 |quote=One month after [Scheibe] was placed in segregation, staff offered her a choice. She could sign a body waiver, in which she would accept the purported risk of returning to general population, or she could remain in isolation. 'Had I not signed the body waiver, I very well might have killed myself,' Scheibe told Solitary Watch and The Nation. 'I would rather take my chances in general population than be locked in a six-foot cell.'}}</ref> As Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith have written, "Solitary confinement is a place where [the] racial history [of the United States] is on full display... Not only are the majority of the staff white and the majority of the prisoners Black and brown, but the very premise of solitary confinement relies on the foundation of [[white supremacy]] on which this country was built."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hattery |first1=Angela J. |last2=Smith |first2=Earl |title=Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy, and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement |date=2022 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |isbn=978-1978823785}}</ref> === Venezuela === {{Main|La Tumba (Caracas)}} The headquarters for the [[Bolivarian Intelligence Service]] (SEBIN) in [[Plaza Venezuela]], [[Caracas]], have an underground detention facility that has been dubbed ''[[La Tumba (Caracas)|La Tumba]]'' (The Tomb). The facility is located at the place that the underground parking for the Metro Caracas was to be located. The cells are two by three meters that have a cement bed, white walls, security cameras, no windows, and barred doors, with cells aligned next to one another so that there is no interaction between prisoners.<ref name=ABC>{{cite news|last1=Vinogradoff|first1=Ludmila|title="La tumba", siete celdas de tortura en el corazón de Caracas|url=http://www.abc.es/internacional/20150210/abci-tumba-celdas-tortura-venezuela-201502091144.html|access-date=29 July 2015|agency=[[ABC (newspaper)|ABC]]|date=10 February 2015|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309192225/https://www.abc.es/internacional/20150210/abci-tumba-celdas-tortura-venezuela-201502091144.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Such conditions have caused prisoners to become very ill, but they are denied medical treatment.<ref name=USsenate>{{cite web|title=Statement of Santiago A. Canton Executive Director, RFK Partners for Human Rights Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights |url=http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/031715_Canton_Testimony.pdf |website=[[United States Senate]] |access-date=29 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150729035041/http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/031715_Canton_Testimony.pdf |archive-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> Bright lights in the cells are kept on so that prisoners lose their sense of time, with the only sounds heard being from the nearby [[Caracas Metro]] trains.<ref name=UNIVISION1>{{cite news|title=Un calabozo macabro|url=http://huelladigital.univisionnoticias.com/venezuela-los-rostros-de-la-represion/category/la-tumba/|access-date=28 July 2015|agency=[[Univision]]|date=2015|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309183010/http://huelladigital.univisionnoticias.com/venezuela-los-rostros-de-la-represion/category/la-tumba/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ABC" /><ref name=NEWSau>{{cite news|title=Political protesters are left to rot in Venezuela's secretive underground prison|url=http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/political-protesters-are-left-to-rot-in-venezuelas-secretive-underground-prison/story-fnu2pycd-1227457672139|access-date=29 July 2015|agency=[[News.com.au]]|date=25 July 2015|archive-date=21 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021131605/http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/political-protesters-are-left-to-rot-in-venezuelas-secretive-underground-prison/story-fnu2pycd-1227457672139|url-status=dead}}</ref> Those who visit the prisoners are subjected to [[strip searches]] by multiple SEBIN personnel.<ref name="UNIVISION1" /> Allegations of torture in La Tumba, specifically [[white torture]], are also common, with some prisoners attempting to commit [[suicide]].<ref name="ABC" /><ref name=FUSION1>{{cite news|title=UNEARTHING THE TOMB: INSIDE VENEZUELA'S SECRET UNDERGROUND TORTURE CHAMBER |url=http://interactive.fusion.net/venezuela-torture-prisons/ |access-date=29 July 2015 |agency=[[Fusion (TV channel)|Fusion]] |date=2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150729034955/http://interactive.fusion.net/venezuela-torture-prisons/ |archive-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="NEWSau" /> Those conditions according to the NGO Justice and Process are intended to make prisoners plead guilty to the crimes that they are accused of.<ref name="ABC" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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