| Summary: | Combining analysis of 186 longitudinal interviews with robust administrative data, we document how people in prison in Washington state experience solitary confinement not once over one long period, but repeatedly over an average of 6.3 shorter 'spells' during their incarceration, followed by periods of adjustment as people re-enter the less restrictive general prison population. We identify three categories of shocks people experience across repeated spells: sensory overload, fractured social relationships, and distorted perceptions. These shocks accumulate into new harms, like existential insecurity and compound re-entry challenges. In sum, we re-frame how we conceptualize and measure time in solitary confinement; our analysis of solitary spells and shocks contributes to a growing body of theory understanding re-entry as a non-binary process.
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