Hacker News Reader

Comment by qingcharles | Hacker News Reader

I went practically 10 years without seeing the sun (jail) and I always wonder what damage it did to me, if any.

I vaguely recall a study long ago where they took 2 groups of prisoners of the most dangerous kind and did regular blood work on one group giving them vitamin supplements. After some months the guards chose to leave all the cell doors open, they were sitting in the hallway in groups playing board games, making music, singing, telling stories. The guards thought it was pretty funny. The other group was still doing their gang warfare, getting into fights, making primitive weapons and killing each other.

Lack of D wouldn't be good for the brain. Symptoms of Shortage could be bone pain, muscle weakness, fatigue, cardiovascular disease, asthma etc but those are things you would notice.

I definitely suffered bone pain, muscle weakness and fatigue, even while trying to work out every day. I can't speak for the cardiovascular issues. No asthma. I did try to maintain a low-carb diet for the 10 years I was locked up to try to balance things out.

In which country is it legal to incarcerate people without any access to sunlight?

According to the rumours of torture being committed there against Julian Assange, the UK seems a likely candidate

I was thinking the US, but UK would fit too I guess.

What are the rumours?

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

(Title: The ongoing torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange)

Prior comments from the person suggest Cook County and Illinois within the USA, all in pre-trail as a result of not being wealthy enough to foot a bail bond.

It is legal in the US to utilize solitary confinement methods that are implemented 24 hours a day. [1] There are facilities without windows and some keep the lights on all day and night in their solitary confinement units. [2]

In a recent story, D3f4ult discussed that this happened to him for a year and he was given 24/7 isolation for one year. [2]

[1]: https://solitarywatch.org/facts/faq/ [2]: https://journalistsresource.org/home/solitary-confinement-re... [3]: https://darknetdiaries.com/transcript/139/

This is so barbarian, I’m sorry.

I understand that some prisoners are so dangerous that you might want to deny them contact to other prisoners. But you can still provide them with a view of the sky and some fresh air time every day.

It comes down to money, sadly. It costs too much to provide secure windows or provide outdoor space for fresh air.

It doesn't have to do with money. The cheapest fucking thing in the world is sunlight.

it is completely about barbarian, punitive, punishment. it doesn't work, but it makes many of us feel good, so we continue doing it.

Windowless dorms come to mind.

My first five years were with the lights on 24/7.

USA. Many county and federal jails are built right in the center of dense populated areas like downtowns. They don't want you looking out, they don't want you looking in. Also, they are very space restricted as they cannot grow in any direction, so space for recreation is not available.

I once had to do a deposition with a warden, so I asked him straight out how they got away with this. His answer was "math". Basically he said "Look, jails are short term facilities, the average stay here is 30 days. Nobody is going to come to harm in 30 days."

The problem with the word "average" is that it is very misleading. When say 50% of those arrested are able to bail out within hours, that brings the average down considerably, compared to the other significant part of the population who have been in there up to 11 years waiting for trial.

doing what in Jail?

Time, presumably.

for doing what?

Crime.

Innocence

Perl

Creating Clippy?

downvoted for what? He could be working there, or served by hacking and want to talk about it. If people post they were in jail in a post about "sunlight during the day", the "in jail for what?" should be expected..

Nothing. You don't do anything in jail except look at the walls. Jails are for those waiting for trial. Prisons are for those convicted of crimes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com