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| The One Photo a Prisoner Wants to See |
| By .thedailybeast.com - Isabel Wilkinson |
| Published: 05/07/2013 |
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Illinois's Tamms supermax prison, built in 1998, was a scary place. Prisoners were not allowed phone calls and were barred from visits or activities. Men incarcerated there were permitted to leave their cells only to shower or exercise alone. And unlike most prisons, food was pushed through the doors of each cell rather than served in a cafeteria. Prisoners there became severely depressed: some began to compulsively mutilate themselves; others attempted suicide. The treatment at Tamms became known as the “worst of the worst” in the prison system: long-term solitary confinement, rife with human-rights violations. Amnesty International called Tamms “harsh,” “unnecessarily punitive,” and “incompatible with the USA’s obligation to provide humane treatment for all prisoners.” According to a powerful new essay on Creative Time Reports, prisoners were initially brought to Tamms from other prisons for a “‘one-year shock treatment’ intended to ‘break down’ disruptive prisoners and make them more compliant.” The only problem? The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) left them there indefinitely. Ten years later, a third of the men had been at Tamms since the beginning—and "for no apparent reason." Read More. |
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