Slow Motion Torture By Jeff Teitz

The Rolling Stone article “Slow Motion Torture,” written by Jeff Teitz, is a perplexing article that dives into the various psychological affects that solitary confinement can have on an individual’s mind. The arrangement of the article itself was hard to follow at times. It was all over the place, talking about multiple things at once that did not correlate with the topic of the paragraph. But, for the most part, I was able to understand it. The article starts off by introducing Brian Nelson, a man that was convicted for taking part in an armed robbery and murder. 16 years into his 26-year jail sentence, he was transferred from the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico—where he was well-liked and trusted but

In Nelson’s case, for example, within the first few months of his arrival, he became extremely depressed. His sleeping schedule was erratic, and he was very susceptible to panic attacks due to his high levels of anxiety. He was also losing weight rapidly, probably due to the fact that he spent a majority of his time pacing whenever he was not reading any form of literature he could get his hands on. He paced to the extent that he had worn tracks into the concrete floors. Considering the room he was confined to was only big enough to have a bed, a toilet, and a desk, that’s all he could do to allow the time to pass. Before Nelson was had even spent a whole year in Tamms, he eventually stopped sleeping altogether. He paced in his room for nearly 18 hours a day. It got so severe that he was taken to the infirmary every two weeks. He also had to get his shoes replaced every 30 days because they would get wore down and ragged really quick. He went on to write the entire bible several times over, as well as read the entire Lord of the Rings