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        Amid renewed debate over solitary confinement, revisit this visceral portrait of life for people being held in isolation at one maximum-security prison. (Aired 2014)

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On any given day, it’s been estimated that tens of thousands of people are being held in solitary confinement across the United States — some in the criminal justice system and others in immigration detention. Amid renewed debate over this controversial practice, revisit FRONTLINE’s 2014 documentary “Solitary Nation,” which examined what life can be like for people held in isolation in prisons.

“It’s like being buried alive,” Todd Fickett, who was convicted of arson and was serving his sentence at the Maine State Prison, said in the 2014 documentary. 

Filmed at the maximum-security prison across six months, “Solitary Nation” documented the realities of solitary confinement through the experiences of inmates living in isolation, officers working in the solitary or “segregation” unit, and a warden who was trying to scale back on solitary.

For someone “who doesn’t work in a facility like this, they’re thinking if you punish them, you’ll make them better,” the warden, Rodney Bouffard, said in the documentary. “The reality is the exact opposite happens.”

“Solitary Nation” is a FRONTLINE production with Mongoose Pictures in association with the BBC. The director is Dan Edge. It is produced by Dan Edge and Elizabeth C. Jones. It is co-produced by Lauren Mucciolo. The executive producer of FRONTLINE was David Fanning. 

Explore additional reporting on “Solitary Nation” on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/solitary-nation/

#Documentary #SolitaryConfinement #Prison #Detention

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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS.

The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation, and The Fialkow Family Foundation, as part of the Plum Bush Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and Corey David Sauer, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Prologue
01:23 - Life for People Held in Isolation in Maine’s Maximum-Security Prison
17:06 - The History of Solitary Confinement in the U.S.
22:51 - The Mental Health Impacts of Solitary Confinement 
35:13 - Inside a Violence Reduction Program for People in Solitary Confinement 
43:44 - The End of Six Months in a Solitary Confinement Unit
52:40 - Credits

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        Inside a Maximum Security Prison’s Isolation Unit | Solitary Nation (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

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Inside a Maximum Security Prison’s Isolation Unit | Solitary Nation (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

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