Six By Ten: Stories From Solitary

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Six by Tenis a deeply moving and profoundly unsettling wake up call for all citizens. The use of solitary confinement is deeply immoral and we must insist that it be banned in all of our nations prisons. Immediately.

Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prizewinning author,Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

This compelling collection of stories told directly by people personally impacted by solitary confinement is the first book in a new Voice of Witness series with Haymarket Books.

An estimated 80,000 Americans are held in solitary confinement in prisons across the country. Solitary confinement, often in cells no bigger than six-by-ten-feet, means twenty-four hours per day with little or no meaningful human contact.

Six By Ten explores the mental, physical, and spiritual impacts of Americas widespread embrace of solitary confinement, as told through the first-person narratives of individuals subjected to solitary confinement, family members on the outside, and corrections officers.

Each chapter presents a different individuals story and shows how Americans from all over the country and all walks of life find themselves held in solitary for years or even decades at a time. In addition to evocative first-hand accounts, the book also includes essays and analysis on how solitary became such a prominent feature of the US prison system today.

Mateo Hoke is writer, journalist, and co-editor of Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation.

Taylor Pendergrass is a lawyer and activist focused on criminal justice reform. He currently works for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Reviews

Some of the people inSix by Tenwere convicted of crimes, but this book convicts the United States of an incomparably greater crime: blighting the lives and searing the souls of untold hundreds of thousands of men, women, and teenagers by a practice that more enlightened countries consider inhuman. You will not find a more riveting indictment anywhere of our reckless use of solitary confinement, nor one told through such a variety of moving, poignant voices.

Adam Hochschild, author, King Leopolds Ghost

The voices heard in this powerful collection are haunting. As these men and women make inescapably clear, the practice of removing human beings from everything that makes them sane and stablekeeping them for days, months, and years in utter isolation without light, touch, sound, space, and hopeis unimaginably cruel.Six by Tenis a deeply moving and profoundly unsettling wake up call for all citizens. The use of solitary confinement is deeply immoral and we must insist that it be banned in all of our nations prisons. Immediately.

Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prizewinning author,Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

"Six by Ten: Stories from Solitary, edited by Mateo Hoke and Taylor Pendergrass, compels change by giving a voice to the voiceless.

Solitary confinement is one of the dirty little secrets of Americas criminal justice system; sure, people know its there, but few know how often its used or how detrimental it can be. Hoke and Pendergrass, through their experiences in journalism and law, respectively, know just how prevalent and virulent this blight is. In this book, they share the voices of those theyve interviewed: people deeply affected by solitary confinement, including inmates, family members, and corrections officers.

The stories stop you in your tracks, but the appendices help move progress forward with simplicity, depth, and hope, beginning with ten things anyone can do that are impactful and accessible. The educational pieces of the book give apt background on the history and usage of solitary confinement, allowing even those examining the practice for the first time to have a firm grasp of the situation.

Six by Tenmoves Americans to action for humanity and fairness in the criminal justice system."

Foreword Reviews

Praise for other Voice of Witness books:

"Surviving Justiceis a necessary truth telling that amplifies the voices of the countless wrongfully incarcerated sons, lovers, husbands, fathers,mothers, and daughterswho languish in Americas prisons. These oral histories give insight into the nature of the injustice to which they have been subjected, but also offer a way forward. I never could have writtenAn American Marriagewithout the brave and thoughtful testimonies in this book."

Tayari Jones, author ofAn American Marriageand winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award

Author Bio

Taylor Pendergrass is an advocate and activist around ending mass incarceration and racial injustice in the criminal legal system. He currently works for the ACLU and lives in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Duke University and the University of Colorado School of Law.

Mateo Hoke is writer, journalist, and coeditor of Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life under Occupation. He studied journalism at the University of Colorado and the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.