In the early 19th century at the dawn of prison reform convicts in New England were given a choice of punishments for major infractions flogging or solitary confinement.
Most chose flogging.
We would too.
That is not to say that we are opposed to solitary confinement.
Indeed we believe it even the threat of it can be a very effective tool in managing inmates, getting them to behave in a maximum security prison.
But given the choice of being whipped and being stuck in cell with no human contact for an unknown but lengthy period of time we would take the whipping.
We did sensory depravation once. It was part of an army course. We scored above average and even thinking about it now gives us the heebie jeebies.
It is said that there is no such thing as one human being.
The human brain is wired to be social.
Deprive it of contact it will cease to function normally.
Loneliness breeds insanity.
James Ofeldt by his record alone was a hard case and probably deserved every single moment of punishment he received.
But by the same token after more than a year in solitary he was probably nuts.
Heck we were drooling after a little more than 24 hours and we were above average.
We would imagine that Ofeldt’s psyche was wound up like a jack-in-the-box when he got out of solitary.
That he exploded into a killing rage should surprise no one.
Especially those that did the winding.