Prisoners, Solitude and Time by Ian O’Donnell (review)

Abstract

men firmly but fairly’. This won him great loyalty and affection from his employees. Ireland at that time recognised his achievements. The foundation of the National Gallery of Ireland was prompted by calls to recognise the contributions of Dargan. A meeting in the Mansion House on 14 July 1853 aimed to honour Ireland’s ‘most distinguished individual’ who, ‘it was said, had laid the foundations for the country’s future prosperity’. His statue now welcomes visitors to the National Gallery on Merrion Square. As a former Minister for Transport, I can attest to the magnitude of the Dargan legacy. It is a legacy that I and succesive Ministers for Transport draw on regularly. It shows the capacity for investment in transport to change the direction of travel, not just for commuters but for a country. However, this is not a legacy without consequence for now. Today we face challenges regarding how we can maintain such a network, given the many different forms of travel available now. That said, William Dargan literally changed Ireland then, and enabled journeys to where we are now. William Dargan, An Honourable Life is a beautiful and accomplished work, that recognises someone who is truly a ‘giant among men’. Paschal Donohoe TD is the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and a former Minister for Transport. Prisoners, Solitude and Time, Ian O’Donnell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 336 pages. Thisbookexamineshowprisonersdealwiththerigidityofsolitaryconfinement and the effects of time – something those in prison have a lot of – upon them. It is also just as much an examination of survival, the power of human resilience in the face of pain, and its corollary, humankind’s inhumanity. Professor O’Donnell’s clinical analysis provides a reinterpretation of the literature. Putting his head very much above the parapet, he is challenging the established orthodoxy that solitary confinement is unequivocally damaging. For penal reformers (myself included), it may be difficult to accept that, from such extreme hardship, even torture, something good can emerge. The author emphasises throughout the book that he is not providing a Studies • volume 106 • number 422 249 Summer 2017: Book Reviews defence for cruel and degrading treatment or downplaying the emotional and physical hardship experienced by prisoners. In fact, through his use of prisoner narratives, he highlights the damage being caused by our penal system and how it ‘has lost sight of the inherent dignity of the person’(p.292). These harrowing stories are interwoven with the text. What he is arguing is that, while the majority cope with solitary confinement, although some are seriously damaged, there are others who manage to transcend their bleak and harsh environment. We should try and understand how they manage to do this. The prevailing discourse denies that it is possible. This, the author argues, is bias on the part of those involved in academic and penal reform, and ignores the reality of what can actually happen. The book begins with an account of the history of solitary confinement. With the advent of modern (1800s) penal architecture, it became possible to separate prisoners who, heretofore, were detained in cramped and unsanitary conditions. The new penal institution’s aspiration was to separate prisoners to prevent corruption by their peers and to allow for self-reflection and atonement for past sins. It was to be a place of redemption. O’Donnell’s analysis of the literature shows the tragic-comic misinterpretation of early penal reform enthusiasts regarding the causes of ‘madness’ in prison, which ignored the possibility that the institution itself might be contributing to prisoners’ ill-health. The historical analysis provides a context for today. Juxtaposing past and present, O’Donnell shows that solitary confinement is considerably more difficult for today’s inhabitants. Ideologically, solitary now is not a benevolent tool to facilitate personal conversion; the optimism of the past about this has been replaced by corrosive pessimism. In the United States and elsewhere, it has become an administrative tool to segregate certain categories of prisoners. The glimpses of human contact of nineteenth century solitary, such as the eye of the prison guard through the door, have been replaced with a twenty-four hour security camera and automated doors. In a society that is...