“Certainly, solitary confinement constitutes abject cruelty for killer whales (or chimps, or elephants, or any wild animals), and might well drive them to erratic or destructive behavior. But it’s rare to hear such expressions of sympathy or absolution for the tens of thousands of human beings who live in solitary confinement in the United States. Like Tilikum, many of these human prisoners did not kill until they were incarcerated; many more have not killed at all, and are held in isolation for disciplinary infractions, because they are mentally ill, or because they need ‘protective’ custody. They can remain there for years or even decades. And the devastating psychological effects of long-term lockdown — which is deemed to be torture by virtually everyone who has experienced it — are well documented.” (03/16/10)