No School, No Fresh Air and Isolated

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office declined to define “solitary confinement” for Rebecca Cadenhead, who covers youth life and justice in Memphis, Tennessee, for MLK50. However, dozens of sources allege that the county’s Youth Justice and Education Center has isolated some children for “23 hours or more at a time, for periods of weeks or months” as they await the resolution of their court cases. Here, Cadenhead weaves expert testimonials on the impacts of isolation with the story of David, a teenager who spent three months “in an area less than half the size of a parking space for up to 71 hours at a time.”

Looking back, it is difficult for David to recall exactly how he spent most of his time in that cell. How does one describe a period characterized by absence? 

It is simpler to catalog what he lacked. In E-pod, there were books to read inside his cell; in H-pod, there were none. There were no games to play, no time outside. He would sometimes speak to another child through the walls — usually, they’d talk about what they’d do when they were free — but their conversations always petered off. “There’s only so much you can talk about,” he said. 

He took to staring out of his window. He could see a sliver of the gravel road outside the detention center, and monitored it for hours at a time. He’d track the movements of other people: the sheriff’s deputies who came in and out each day, youth who had been arrested, youth who had been discharged. When he recognized one of the kids leaving, he’d tap on the glass of the window, wave and try not to wonder when he’d take their place.