The following interview features Mona Evans’ personal experience of solitary confinement, in light of the news of Eva McNair’s death by suicide in Anson Correctional in June 2024. Please take care while reading.
(Note: ICON refers to intensive control in solitary confinement as a result of a charge you are convicted of within the prison. It’s like a “prison within the prison.” You can be sentenced to as little as 90 days to as much as a year or more.)
What was your experience with solitary confinement and ICON during incarceration?
I went to solitary confinement three times during my two and a half year prison bid. The shortest amount of time was 10 days, and my longest was 46 days. (Editor’s Note: The United Nations classifies solitary confinement as a form of torture when someone is detained in solitary confinement for more than 15 days.)
During my first time in solitary confinement I slept the whole time. I wasn’t able to go outside, they shut the yards down due to covid. The whole entire 10 days I was in solitary confinement, I wasn’t able to shower due to the facility being short on staff. So when you’re in solitary confinement a prison guard has to escort you from your cell in handcuffs to the shower and lock you in and you get 3-5 minutes to shower before the guard comes and takes you back to your cell.
My worst experience was when I did the 46 days and I was also on my menstrual cycle and the guards would only give me 3 to 4 pads a day. I have heavy periods and found myself soaking through my clothes, and my sheets. During the 46 days I was allowed to shower every other day and I could wash my clothes and my sheets once a week.
During the 46 days I really missed talking to another person, and just being around other people, which caused me to start feeling really depressed. And the worst part was not being able to communicate with my children and family. When you’re in solitary confinement you can’t make phone calls. Your only form of communication is writing. The barriers with writing is the guards would take so long to pick up your letters and once they finally did it still had to go to the mailroom and go through that process so it would take about 15-20 days for your family to receive your letter and by the time you your family writes back same barriers, once the mail arrives at the facility it goes to the mailroom to get sorta out between units in the prison, and once your unit receives mail again it’s up to a guard to pass it out to the inmates. So during the 46 days, I was able to send out two letters and received 1 back.
During this time, I even started to having entire conversations with myself — like someone else was in the room. I had never done that before and have not done this since my time in solitary.
What effects did solitary confinement and ICON have on your physical and mental health?
I never experienced ICON. But I will say that solitary confinement was the most dehumanizing experience I ever went through. I was depressed with the lack of human contact, not being able to communicate with my kids, and family. Also, I felt so unclean and disgusted with myself every time I bled in my clothes, or my sheets. Due to the fact it was freezing, I had no choice but to cover up with those same soiled sheets until wash day. Without being able to shower daily, this experience took the last of my dignity I had left.
What have you heard from peers about their experiences with ICON and solitary confinement? What was the impact on them that you witnessed or that they told you about?
I have had several friends go on ICON during my incarceration. The impact I witnessed was hearing code blue on the lockdown unit and finding out that someone tried to kill themselves in solitary confinement. The most common thing I heard from my peers was being hungry all the time. Once you are placed on ICON, you are not allowed to order food from the canteen. You have to eat the meals the prison provides for you, which isn’t always edible. The last meal is at 5pm. Also, the lack of hygiene care — not being able to shower everyday — was very dehumanizing.
Why do you feel it is necessary to end the practice of solitary confinement?
Solitary confinement causes more harm to individuals. If an individual never dealt with mental health, they will after ICON. 80 percent of individuals that experience ICON develop a mental health issue.
Being placed in solitary confinement for long periods of times isn’t sanitary.
People are designed and depend on human contact from other people, to shut off all human contact is cruel and unjust.
