Solitary confinement

===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>