Researcher interviewed 29 voluntarily isolated prisoners: "My body is crying out for contact"
A new PhD thesis provides the first insight into voluntary isolation in Danish prisons. 29 convicted men talk about the choice between violence and loneliness.
Prisoners in voluntary isolation: "Rotting away from the inside"
According to Politiken, sociologist and PhD student Frederik Taxhjelm has become the first researcher to conduct interviews with inmates who have voluntarily chosen isolation in Danish prisons.
A total of 29 convicted men have spoken with Taxhjelm for his PhD thesis. They describe the choice as a dilemma between being subjected to violence in the community or "rotting away from the inside".
When Taxhjelm met with one of the inmates in the prison's visiting room, the picture was striking: unkempt hair, bloodshot eyes and food remnants on his shirt. "He clearly hadn't bathed in a long time," says Taxhjelm. One of the inmates put it himself as: "My body is just crying out for contact with someone."
Source: Politiken