Anyone with any serious interest in the ethical implications of the penitentiary system in the United States will, in rather short order, need to struggle with the difficult reality of the practice of solitary confinement. As a pre-doctoral clinical psychology intern with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC), I was literally confronted by that reality during the very first week of that clinical placement. On entering the 400-bed segregated housing unit – a unit that housed both administrative and disciplinary custody inmates – I was struck by the austere surroundings of spit-shined concrete floors, the dimmed lighting, the 40-odd cells which rung each “state-of-the-art” pod and the shallow echoing of voices attempting to make contact with other inmates or staff from behind heavy steel doors.

Having worked with individuals coming out of the state system for approximately five years prior to entering the clinical psychology program at Duquesne University and prior to this clinical placement, I had listened as clients described what they euphemistically called the “hole.” By the end of the first day of my clinical placement, however, it became abundantly clear that hearing about solitary confinement was not the same as experiencing these units firsthand. However, even that “reality check” paled in comparison to the reality for those individuals who were actually attempting to endure this experience.

During my very first visit to the segregation unit, I was introduced to the practice called “fishing.” Fishing is the ingenious strategy developed by individuals on these units to communicate with each other from their individual cells; a communication that would be otherwise rather difficult or impossible to achieve. Each individual would fashion from the cloth threads taken from their prison uniforms a line that would be attached to some object, normally a matchbook cover that would serve as a hook; this hook would be attached to the line by some type of adhesive, normally a wad of gum. The line would then be tossed out from the space between the cell door and concrete floor, and sent in the direction of its intended recipient. The individual on the other end of this process would follow the same procedure and attempt to hook the line and in so doing create a single connection by which to communicate.