“For 18 years I didn’t have a window in my room to distract myself from the intensity of my confinement. I wasn’t permitted to talk to my fellow prisoners or even to myself. I didn’t have healthy, nutritious food; I was given just enough to not die. These circumstances made me think about how I ended up in solitary confinement.” Ian Manuel in the NYT I Survived 18 Years in Solitary Confinement. His stint in solitary started when he was 15.