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It's Time to End Solitary Confinement: Ian Manuel's Story
January 4, 2024
鈥淚magine that you, at age fifteen, have been sentenced to social death, life without parole, in a space nine feet by seven鈥攖he size of a freight elevator鈥攚here for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day you are trapped; where in a deadly daily routine you sleep, wake up, shit, piss, eat鈥攆ood slipped through a slot as if you were an animal, where you are denied the possibility of human contact except as physical or mental abuse; where visual and sensory stimuli鈥攖he stuff of life鈥攁re only a memory or a dream; where who you are is defined only by your willingness or unwillingness to be disciplined and punished. Imagine life without hope in a brutal hellhole of sameness designed to break your spirit and challenge your sanity.鈥
This is an excerpt from Ian Manuel鈥檚 2022 memoir 鈥淢y Time Will Come: A Memoir of Crime, Punishment, Hope and Redemption鈥 where Manuel recounts his real life experience spending 26 years in prison鈥18 of those years in solitary confinement鈥攂efore advocacy efforts from the Equal Justice Initiative led to his release in 2016.
Since his release, Manuel has made waves as an activist, poet, and motivational speaker. His memoir recounts his journey from his teenage years to the present. He joins us today to talk about juvenile life without parole, solitary confinement, and restorative justice.
In this episode
Kendall Ciesemier
Former Host of At Liberty and Senior Executive Producer of Multimedia, 老澳门开奖结果
she/her/hers
![Headshot of poet and activist Ian Manuel with a neutral expression.](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2024/01/IanManuel-e1704313122573-150x150.jpeg)
Ian Manuel
Poet and Activist
he/him