FIES ( Ficheros de Internos de Especial Seguimiento , meaning "Files of Inmates under Special Monitoring") is a restrictive Spanish prison regime which involves 22 hours of solitary confinement every day. After first being imposed on those convicted of terrorism or membership of armed groups such as ETA , it was extended to particularly violent prisoners and major drug traffickers. FIES has been criticised for being applied to prisoners who have not committed offences covered by the regime.
75-476: The FIES regime ( Ficheros de Internos de Especial Seguimiento , meaning "Files of Inmates under Special Monitoring") places prisoners into a restrictive system which involves 22 hours of solitary confinement every day, monitoring of all communications without judicial oversight and frequent changes of both cell and prison. FIES was first mentioned in 1989 in a circular which advised placing prisoners who were convicted of terrorism or membership of armed groups into
150-408: A witness to a crime, or have been convicted of crimes such as child molestation or abuse . This latter form of isolation is known as protective custody , and can be either voluntary or involuntary. Though proponents of solitary have often expressed the belief that solitary confinement promotes safety in correctional facilities, there is substantial evidence that points to the contrary. In 2002,
225-427: A 1983 journal article, Stuart Grassian described SHU Syndrome as a "major, clinically distinguishable psychiatric syndrome." Grassian notes solitary confinement can cause extremely vivid hallucinations in multiple sensory modalities including visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory. Some other effects include dissociative features including amnesia, motor excitement with aimless violence and delusions. For those who enter
300-660: A 2012 study showing that the rate of violence in California prisons is 20 percent higher than it was in 1989, when California's first supermax prison opened. Gordon also cites the Northern District of California court in Toussaint v. McCarthy , which found that solitary confinement "increase[d] rather than decrease[d] antisocial tendencies among inmates" at Folsom and San Quentin State Prisons in California. Solitary confinement
375-512: A complete ban for juveniles and individuals with mental disabilities. "Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation," Méndez told the General Assembly's Third Committee , which deals with social, humanitarian, and cultural affairs. He continued: "Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when used as
450-589: A day of isolation. In the United States penal system today, more than 20 percent of individuals in state and federal prisons and 18 percent of individuals in local jails are placed in solitary confinement or another form of restrictive housing at some point during their incarceration. According to a 2023 report from Solitary Watch and Unlock the Box, it is estimated that more than 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement in state and federal prisons and local jails in
525-484: A duty to "set the highest standards of care" when it limits the liberties of children. Frances Crook is one of many to believe that incarceration and solitary confinement are the harshest forms of possible punishments and "should only be taken as a last resort". Because children are still mentally developing, Crook writes, incarceration should not encourage them to commit more violent crimes. The penal system has been cited as failing to protect juveniles in custody. In
600-459: A form of inhuman treatment which cannot be justified by the requirements of security or any other reason. On the other hand, the prohibition of contacts with other prisoners for security, disciplinary or protective reasons does not in itself amount to inhuman treatment or punishment." The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture , or CPT, defines solitary confinement as "whenever a prisoner
675-664: A percentage far higher than the percentage of foreign nationals in Iceland (around 14 percent of the population in 2021). Italian prisoners subject to special surveillance (" 41-bis regime") may be in de facto solitary confinement. A person sentenced to multiple life sentences in Italy may be required by the Minister of Justice to serve a period of between 6 months to years in the " 41-bis regime" of solitary confinement, subject to extension and review. In 2015, segregation (solitary confinement)
750-540: A punishment, during pre-trial detention, indefinitely or for a prolonged period, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles." The United Nations Committee Against Torture cited use of solitary confinement in the United States as excessive and a violation of the Convention Against Torture in 2014. The United Nations' "Mandela Rules" , which were adopted in 2015 and establish minimum standards for
825-893: A room with few if any furnishings. While on suicide watch, individuals are typically denied clothing and bedding (to prevent them from hanging themselves using bedsheets), as well as denied programming and contact visits. Though these conditions are intended to prevent individuals from committing suicide, they often exacerbate trauma and other pre-existing mental health conditions. Despite controls in place, individuals in suicide watch cells have still found ways to harm themselves. Solitary confinement has been reported to cause hypertension , headaches , profuse sweating, dizziness , and heart palpitations . Many individuals in solitary experience extreme weight loss due to digestion complications and abdominal pain. They can also develop neck and back pain and muscle stiffness due to long periods of little to no physical activity. These symptoms have been linked to
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#1732852761272900-469: A total of €99,041. Among these purchases he spent in one day were €3,547 in alcoholic beverages and €1,000 in shoes, along with 16 cash withdrawals of more than €1,000, most of them during the last months of his presidential term. After a hearing 17 October 2014, the Spanish High Court judge Fernando Andreu assigned civil responsibility for the credit card abuse to Rodrigo Rato and Miguel Blesa . Rato
975-435: A unique social environment that do not allow individuals to create strong social ties inside or outside of the facility. The social isolation that incarcerated individuals experience is especially acute in solitary confinement, where they may be denied access to phone calls, mail, and visits from loved ones. The psychological effects of isolation continue long after individuals are released from solitary, affecting society as
1050-423: A whole. Upon their reentry into society, many individuals who have spent long periods of time in solitary report having difficulty adjusting back to life outside the prison walls. They are often startled easily, and avoid crowds and public spaces. They seek out small, confined spaces because public areas overwhelm their sensory stimulation. Anthony Graves , who spent more than 18 years in solitary confinement on
1125-492: Is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to discipline or separate incarcerated individuals who are considered to be security risks to other incarcerated individuals or prison staff, as well as those who violate facility rules or are deemed disruptive. However, it can also be used as protective custody for incarcerated individuals whose safety
1200-539: Is a necessary tool for maintaining the safety and security of prisons and jails, numerous medical, mental health, and legal professional organizations have criticized the practice and hold the view that it should be sharply curtailed. Nelson Mandela , the South African anti-apartheid activist , described solitary confinement as "the most forbidding aspect of prison life." Human rights experts have stated that prolonged solitary confinement may amount to torture , and
1275-818: Is also commonly used as punishment for those who have violated prison rules or committed other disciplinary infractions. The practice is the norm in super-maximum security (supermax) prisons , where individuals who are deemed dangerous or high risk are held. Critics allege solitary confinement has been used to punish and suppress organizing, activism, and other political activities in prisons. In immigration detention centers , reports have surfaced that immigrant detainees are being placed in solitary to keep those knowledgeable about their rights away from other detainees. Individuals who go on hunger strike to protest poor conditions in immigration facilities are also frequently placed in solitary. Although immigration officials have claimed that their policy of isolating hunger strikers
1350-453: Is far below the basic minimum standards for treatment of prisoners under international law and has caused an international human rights concern: "U.S. solitary confinement practices contravene international treaty law, violate established international norms, and do not represent sound foreign policy." Critics of solitary confinement regard the practice as a form of psychological torture with measurable physiological effects, particularly when
1425-621: Is for the protection of the detained person, medical and legal experts have pointed out that there is no medical basis behind the policy, and that, in the United States, it constitutes a violation of the detainee's First Amendment rights. Solitary confinement is similarly used as retaliation in prisons and jails, including against whistleblowers who raise awareness of inhumane conditions and jailhouse lawyers who assist others in litigating their rights. There have been further reports of people being placed in solitary based on their race, religion, or sexual orientation. While solitary confinement
1500-466: Is less commonplace in Europe than in other parts of the world including the United States, it is still widely used in many European countries today. The European Court of Human Rights distinguishes between complete sensory isolation, total social isolation and relative social isolation and notes that "complete sensory isolation, coupled with total social isolation can destroy the personality and constitutes
1575-609: Is no interaction between prisoners. Such conditions have caused prisoners to become very ill, but they are denied medical treatment. Bright lights in the cells are kept on so that prisoners lose their sense of time, with the only sounds heard being from the nearby Caracas Metro trains. Those who visit the prisoners are subjected to strip searches by multiple SEBIN personnel. Allegations of torture in La Tumba, specifically white torture , are also common, with some prisoners attempting to commit suicide . Those conditions according to
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#17328527612721650-511: Is often used to induce a confession from a prisoner in pre-trial detention . This practice has been more common in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Solitary confinement is used on incarcerated individuals when they are considered a danger to themselves or others. It is also used on individuals who are at high risk of being harmed by others, for example because they are transgender , have served as
1725-712: Is ordered to be held separately from other prisoners, for example, as a result of court decision, as a disciplinary sanction imposed within the prison system, as a preventive administrative measure or for the protection of the prisoner concerned." The CPT "considers that solitary confinement should only be imposed in exceptional circumstances, as a last resort and for the shortest possible time." Iceland has faced criticism for decades over its extensive use of pre-trial solitary confinement. A 2023 report by Amnesty International documented that 61 percent of pre-trial detainees had spent time in solitary confinement in 2021; of those detained that year, 57 percent were foreign nationals ,
1800-519: Is the great-grandson of politician Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro y Díaz-Argüelles and the son of businessman Ramón Rato who was jailed in 1967 for tax evasion to Switzerland through his Banco Siero, and of Aurora Figaredo Sela. Both the Rato and the Figaredo sides of his family owned industries and nobility titles. Rato attended a Jesuit school Our Lady of Remembrance College, Madrid before studying law in
1875-413: Is threatened by other prisoners. This is employed to separate them from the general prison population and prevent injury or death. A robust body of research has shown that solitary confinement has profound negative psychological, physical, and neurological effects on those who experience it, often lasting well beyond one's time in solitary. While corrections officials have stated that solitary confinement
1950-476: The COVID-19 pandemic in response to the rising prevalence of the virus inside prisons and jails. Many correctional facilities were locked down for up to 23 hours a day, confining people in their cells with no programming, phone access, or human contact. In the United States alone, more than 300,000 incarcerated people were held in virus-related lockdowns during the early months of the pandemic. Solitary confinement
2025-633: The Complutense University . In 1971 Rato went to University of California, Berkeley , and received an MBA in 1974 from the Haas School of Business . In 1975 Rato became involved in the family business, first in Fuensanta, an Asturian mineral water company, and then in two Madrid construction firms. He also became involved in expanding the Cadena Rato chain of radio stations. In 1977 Rato joined
2100-653: The European Court of Human Rights . In another case, the non-governmental organisation Fair Trials noted that ten young people were arrested after a bar fight with two off-duty police officers in Alsasua , in the province of Navarre . Three were held for eighteen months in pre-trial detention under the FIES regime before being convicted on charges not related to terrorism. Basque National Liberation Movement prisoners have been held under FIES. After ETA ceased armed struggle in 2011,
2175-514: The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a proscribed group in Spain. Politician Rodrigo Rato was convicted on embezzlement charges and placed into the FIES regime in 2017 alongside 14 co-conspirators. Two puppeteers were detained under FIES category 3 (membership of armed groups) after a performance in 2016, before being acquitted at trial. Solitary confinement Solitary confinement
2250-644: The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules) were revised in 2015 to prohibit placements in solitary for longer than 15 days. The practice of solitary confinement in the United States traces its origins to the late 18th century, when Quakers in Pennsylvania used the method as a substitution for public punishments. Research surrounding
2325-402: The United States legal system . United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Torture Manfred Nowak and Juan Méndez have "repeatedly and unequivocally stated that prolonged solitary confinement is cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may amount to torture," though their statements are not primary sources in international law. A 2005 law journal article argued America's detention system
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2400-554: The supply side of economics. In October 1982 he won election as an AP member of the Congress of Deputies for Cádiz in spite of having no connection to this Andalucian town. He represented the area until 1989 and subsequently represented Madrid from 1989 to 2000. The 1982 election handed a loss to the AP, and marked the beginning of the long rule of the PSOE and Felipe González . Until 1984 Rato
2475-629: The "slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body." The Supreme Court of the United States made its first comment about the deleterious effects of solitary confinement in 1890, noting that the use of solitary led to reduced mental and physical capabilities ( In re Medley 134 U.S. 160). Records from Danish prisons between 1870 and 1920 indicate that individuals in solitary confinement there had also experienced signs of acute mental distress, including anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations. The use of solitary confinement increased greatly during
2550-566: The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America, chaired by John Joseph Gibbons and Nicholas Katzenbach , found that "the increasing use of high-security segregation is counter-productive, often causing violence inside facilities and contributing to recidivism after release." Shira E. Gordon has argued that solitary confinement "has not come close to solving the very problem it was meant to reduce: prison violence ." In support of this view, Gordon cites
2625-589: The End Solitary Confinement Act, which would prohibit solitary confinement except for up to a four-hour maximum in all federal prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers if passed. The bill would also incentivize similar legislation to be enacted at the state and local levels. Statistics indicate that members of marginalized groups are disproportionately likely to end up in solitary confinement. A 2019 Correctional Leaders Association/Yale Law School study found that Black women make up 21.5 percent of
2700-496: The FIES regime was in Badajoz and Patxi Zamoro was the first FIES inmate. Anarchist Xosé Tarrío González [ es ] wrote a book about his incarceration entitled Huye, hombre, huye: diario de un prisono FIES ( Flee, man, flee: diary of a FIES prisoner ); he died in the FIES unit at Coruna in 2005. Insurrectionary anarchist Gabriel Pombo da Silva escaped from a FIES unit in 2004 before being re-arrested and put back in
2775-531: The General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions confirmed that 40 ETA prisoners including Iñaki Bilbao Goikoetxea would remain in the FIES regime. Other inmates have included murderer Fabrizio João Silva, jihadist Younes Zayyad, and Roberto Vaquero, general secretary of the Marxist–Leninist Party (Communist Reconstruction) , who was convicted of possession of explosives and collaboration with
2850-722: The NGO Justice and Process are intended to make prisoners plead guilty to the crimes that they are accused of. Solitary confinement has been associated with significant negative effects on mental health. Research indicates that the psychological effects of solitary confinement may encompass a range of adverse symptoms including " anxiety , depression , anger, cognitive disturbances , perceptual distortions , obsessive thoughts, paranoia , and psychosis ." These symptoms are so widespread among individuals held in solitary that some psychiatrists have labeled them "SHU Syndrome," with SHU standing for Special Housing Unit or Security Housing Unit. In
2925-599: The PP won again, this time with an absolute majority. His ministries were reorganised, and he gave all his responsibilities to Cristóbal Montoro Romero who became Minister of Finance. In his second term he had to fend off various charges of incompatibility between his public office and his private business interests. Rato became the managing director of the IMF on 7 June 2004, taking over from Anne Krueger , who had been acting as temporary Managing Director after Horst Köhler , who at that time
3000-513: The Popular Party Government planned to lend about 8 billion euro to the bank to increase its solvency, as was done before throughout Europe (e.g. ING and Northern Rock crisis). Due to his political ties to the governing PP, which decided to inject the funds, Rato resigned. He had his salary cut from €2.3 million to €600,000 annually in 2011 due to new laws for rescued banks. On 4 July 2012, Rato, along with 30 other former members of
3075-579: The Spanish and Panamanian governments. On 23 February 2017, Rato was found guilty of embezzlement of about 100,000 euros (in the so-called case "black cards") and sentenced to 4½ years' imprisonment. In September 2018, the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Spain , and Rato entered prison on 25 October 2018. Rodrigo de Rato was born in Madrid , into a rich textile -owning family from Asturias . He
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3150-742: The Texas death row before being exonerated in 2010, described the lasting effects of solitary in his testimony for the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights : Solitary confinement does one thing, it breaks a man's will to live and he ends up deteriorating. He's never the same person again… I have been free for almost two years and I still cry at night, because no one out here can relate to what I have gone through. I battle with feelings of loneliness. I've tried therapy but it didn't work. The therapist
3225-476: The United Kingdom, 29 children died in penal custody between 1990 and 2006: "Some 41% of the children in custody were officially designated as being vulnerable". That is attributed to the fact that isolation and physical restraint are used as the first response to punish them for simple rule infractions. Moreover, Frances Crook argues that these punitive policies not only violate their basic rights but also leave
3300-531: The United States female prison population, but 42.1 percent of the U.S. female prison population held in solitary. Another study found that 11 percent of all Black men born in Pennsylvania between 1986 and 1989 had been held in solitary by the age of 32. Disparities in the use of solitary have also been found to exist for LGBTQ+ people, Latinos, and Native Americans. The disproportionate use of solitary on marginalized groups has been attributed to racism and other forms of discrimination which are exacerbated by
3375-504: The United States in the late 1700s among religious groups like the Quakers , who thought isolation would promote repentance and rehabilitation . Though the practice fell out of use in the early 1900s, it experienced a resurgence during the tough on crime era in the 1980s and 1990s. This period also saw the construction of supermax prisons, which typically house individuals in indefinite solitary confinement consisting of upwards of 22 hours
3450-586: The United States on any given day. A report from the Liman Center at Yale Law School found that between 41,000 and 48,000 individuals were held daily in solitary confinement in state and federal prisons for 15 days or more in 2021, with over 6,000 individuals found to have been held in solitary for over a year. Since 2009, there have been legislative efforts in numerous states to ban the use of solitary confinement for vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, and LGBTQ+ people, as well as to end
3525-417: The board of directors of Bankia, were charged with accounting irregularities. Bloomberg Businessweek listed Rato as the worst CEO in 2012. In 2011, Bankia had announced profits of €309 million; after Rato resigned, the figure was amended to €3 billion in losses. In October 2014, it became known that between 24 October 2010 to 28 November 2011, Rato made 519 purchases with a secret corporate credit card, spending
3600-530: The children mentally unstable and left with illnesses that are often ignored. Overall, the solitary confinement of youth is considered to be counterproductive because the "restrictive environment... and intense regulation of children" aggravates them, instead of addressing the issue of rehabilitation. Solitary confinement is colloquially referred to in British English as "the block", "The Segregation Unit" or "the cooler". Solitary confinement first arose in
3675-441: The correctional environment. People of color may be more likely to be perceived as threatening and consequently receive more disciplinary tickets that land them in solitary; LGBTQ+ individuals may be placed in solitary as protective custody (either voluntarily or involuntarily) to prevent them from being assaulted or otherwise victimized. Notably, some transgender individuals have stated that they would rather risk their safety in
3750-595: The family stake in Cadena Rato for 5 billion pesetas . In June 1991 he stopped being President of Fuensanta, but remained on the board until 1993. On 6 June that year the PP lost another general election to PSOE. In the 12th National Congress in January 1996 he was confirmed as one of the three vice secretaries of the party. Then on 3 March 1996 the PP won the general election . On 4 May Aznar became Prime Minister of Spain , and on 6 May Rato became both second Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance . On 12 March 2000
3825-408: The general jail population. While 7.3 percent of jail stays included any time in solitary, 53.3 percent of acts of self-harm and 45 percent of acts of potentially fatal self harm took place among people who had spent time in solitary during their stay. Incarcerated individuals who attempt self-harm or suicide are often placed on suicide watch , an intensive form of isolation and monitoring often in
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#17328527612723900-508: The general prison population than being held in the isolation of protective custody. As Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith have written, "Solitary confinement is a place where [the] racial history [of the United States] is on full display... Not only are the majority of the staff white and the majority of the prisoners Black and brown, but the very premise of solitary confinement relies on the foundation of white supremacy on which this country
3975-401: The intense anxiety and sensory deprivation caused by isolation, and often worsen with repeated visits to solitary. Studies have shown that solitary confinement also has a marked effect on the human brain . fMRI scans have found that social isolation causes brain activity nearly identical to hunger cravings, and that it activates the same regions of the brain as physical pain. Furthermore,
4050-450: The new managing director in succession to Rato. Rato assumed the presidency of Caja Madrid in 2010, a public savings bank based in the Community of Madrid , and after a merger with other six saving banks he assumed the presidency of the new group now called Bankia . On 7 May 2012, he resigned amid growing concerns about the solvency of the bank. Although the core capital ratio was 10,4%,
4125-464: The newly formed Popular Alliance (AP), a party containing former ministers of Franco, founded by Manuel Fraga , a close personal friend of his father. In December 1979 Rato was elected to the national executive committee, and became secretary of the AP economic commission. In February 1981 he became one of the party's five Secretaries-General, and was considered to be their economic expert. He supported tight controls on public spending, and an emphasis on
4200-495: The party. During these years he also continued his business career in Aguas de Fuensanta; having previously been the CEO of the company from 1978 to 1982, he served as chairman from 1985 to 1991. In June 1989 Fraga again became interim President after the generally acknowledged failure of the leadership of Hernández Mancha. The party became the slightly more inclusive People's Party (PP). Rato
4275-476: The period of confinement is longer than a few weeks or is continued indefinitely. In October 2011, attorney and activist Juan E. Méndez , then the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment , called on all countries to eliminate the practice except in "very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible," with
4350-532: The possible psychological and physiological effects of solitary dates back to the 1830s. When the new prison discipline of separate confinement was introduced at Eastern State Penitentiary as part of the "Pennsylvania" or separate system in 1829, commentators attributed the high rate of mental breakdown to the system of isolating prisoners in their cells. Charles Dickens , who visited the Philadelphia Penitentiary during his travels to America, described
4425-557: The prison system already diagnosed with a mental illness, solitary confinement can significantly worsen their condition. Incarcerated individuals with mental health conditions often " decompensate in isolation, requiring crisis care or psychiatric hospitalization." The lack of human contact and sensory deprivation that characterize solitary confinement have been shown to cause permanent or semi-permanent changes to brain physiology. Alterations to brain physiology can lead individuals to commit suicide or self-harm . A major issue within
4500-671: The prison system in general, and solitary confinement in particular, is the high number of incarcerated individuals who turn to self-harm . Such self-harm can include, but is not limited to, cutting, head-banging, and swallowing foreign objects. A 2014 study of New York City jail admissions published in the American Journal of Public Health found that, after controlling for length of jail stay, age, race/ethnicity, and mental illness status, individuals placed in solitary confinement were 6.9 times more likely to commit self-harm and 6.3 times more likely to commit potentially fatal self-harm than
4575-480: The regime in 2020, under the FIES-5 category. Other prisoners such as Jose Antonio Cano have killed themselves whilst incarcerated. In 2018, there were prisoners held under the FIES regime at A Lama prison [ es ] and Puerto III, the high security section of Puerto de Santa María prison [ es ] . FIES has been criticised for being applied to prisoners who have not committed offences covered by
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#17328527612724650-544: The regime. For example, Vladimir Kokorev, Yulia Maleeva and their son Igor were arrested on an Interpol notice in Panama in 2015, on suspicion of money laundering on behalf of Teodoro Obiang , President of Equatorial Guinea . They were extradited to Spain and held in pre-trial detention in a prison on the Canary Islands under the FIES regime, without any charge being made against them. In 2019, their lawyer took their case to
4725-639: The regime; two years later it was extended to include particularly violent prisoners and major drug traffickers. Under FIES, all details about the prisoner's existence and interactions are recorded. In 2002, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticised FIES and the Supreme Court of Spain modified the regime in 2009. As of 2021, it covered five categories, namely: FIES-1 CD (Direct Control); FIES-2 DO (Organized Delinquency); FIES-3 BA (Armed Groups), FIES-4 FS (Security); FIES-5 CE (Special Characteristics). The first prison to use
4800-461: The sensory deprivation of solitary has been found to cause reduced electroencephalography (EEG) frequency on brain scans. The part of the brain that plays a major role in memory has been shown to physically shrink after long periods without human interaction. One study that placed adult rats in solitary-like conditions found that, after a month in isolation, the rats' neurons had shrunk by 20 percent. Some sociologists argue that prisons create
4875-550: The treatment of prisoners, prohibit placements in solitary beyond 15 consecutive days. Rodrigo Rato Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo (born 18 March 1949) is a businessman and politician who served in the Council of Ministers of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He also served as the ninth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 to 2007 and the president of Bankia from 2010 to 2012. Rato
4950-600: The use of long-term solitary confinement. In 2020, New Jersey passed the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, which bans the use of solitary beyond 20 consecutive days. As of June 2023, New York, Connecticut, and Nevada have passed legislation banning the use of solitary beyond 15 consecutive days, bringing their use of isolation in line with the United Nations' Mandela Rules . In July 2023, United States Representative Cori Bush (D-Mo.) introduced
5025-710: Was 15 percent higher than that of their counterparts in the general prison population. The recidivism rate was even higher among people who were released directly from supermax into the community, at 69 percent. The legality of solitary confinement has been frequently challenged over the past sixty years as conceptions surrounding the practice have changed. Much of the legal discussion concerning solitary confinement has centered on whether or not it constitutes torture or cruel and unusual punishment . While international law has generally begun to discourage solitary confinement's use in penal institutions, opponents of solitary confinement have been less successful at challenging it within
5100-457: Was arrested on 16 April 2015 for alleged fraud , embezzlement and money laundering . His case was still awaiting trial a year later when his name appeared in the Panama Papers . Despite his prior assurances that he did not own companies in tax havens, apparently he used two offshore companies to avoid taxes on millions of euros kept overseas. It has been alleged that he owes taxes to both
5175-664: Was built." The headquarters for the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) in Plaza Venezuela , Caracas , have an underground detention facility that has been dubbed La Tumba (The Tomb). The facility is located at the place that the underground parking for the Metro Caracas was to be located. The cells are two by three meters that have a cement bed, white walls, security cameras, no windows, and barred doors, with cells aligned next to one another so that there
5250-439: Was crying more than me. She couldn't believe that our system was putting men through this sort of inhumane treatment. According to numerous studies, any amount of time in solitary confinement can increase the risk of recidivism after release. A 2007 matched control study of Washington State prisons found that people in the study cohort who spent time in supermax prisons had a 3-year felony recidivism rate of 53 percent, which
5325-413: Was given shared responsibility over the elections with Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Fernández, the new party Secretary General. He was a close supporter of José María Aznar , who was voted as the new PP leader on 4 September. On 29 October, the PP lost the general election, though his role in the campaign gave him national prominence. Afterwards he was appointed party spokesman. On 2 April 1990 his father sold
5400-437: Was nominated (and later elected) President of Germany , resigned the post 4 March 2004. In June 2007 Rato announced that he would resign from his post the following October, citing personal reasons. On 28 September 2007, the International Monetary Fund 's 24 executive directors elected former French Minister for Economics, Finance, and Industry , Dominique Strauss-Kahn , over former Czech Prime Minister Josef Tošovský , to be
5475-509: Was ordered to pay a bond of €3 million, and was expelled from the People's Party (PP). The case went to court in 2016. On 23 February 2017, Rato was convicted and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. In September 2018, the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Spain , and Rato entered prison on 25 October 2018. He was held in solitary confinement under the FIES regime. In 2020,
5550-586: Was the Secretary of the parliamentary group. He then became their economic affairs spokesman where he impressed the party with his attacks on the PSOE's economic policies. He was seen to be on the liberal wing of the party. When Fraga resigned from the leadership in December 1986 Rato backed Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón who lost the leadership race to Antonio Hernández Mancha , but managed to keep his positions within
5625-567: Was used 7,889 times. 54 out of 85,509 prisoners held in England and Wales in 2015 were placed in solitary confinement cells in Close Supervision Centres (Shalev & Edgar, 2015:149), England and Wales' version of the US 'Supermax'. The use of solitary confinement on juveniles and children, as elsewhere, has been a subject of contention. Critics argue that, in the United Kingdom, the state has
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