"Inside one state’sambitious attempt to decrease its use of solitary — and what happens when
prisoners who have spent considerable time in isolation try to integrate back
into society."
When Kenny Moore was
convicted of aggravated assault, burglary and theft and sent to Maine State
Prison at age 18, he expected to serve an 18-month sentence. But after a series
of fights and disruptive behavior, he was sent to solitary confinement, where
his disruptive behavior only worsened. All in all, Kenny spent five-and-a-half
years in solitary confinement and nearly 20 years in and out of prison.
Inside solitary,
Moore ripped the hair out of his body. He bit chunks out of himself. He
started hearing voices. He wrote messages on the wall of his cell with his own
blood.
“It turns you into an animal,”
Moore says in After Solitary, a new virtual reality film from FRONTLINE
and Emblematic Group.
In After Solitary, follow
Moore as he narrates an immersive, 360° tour of a solitary confinement cell,
recounting what his life was like on the inside — and how that
experience has impacted his life now that he’s a free man.
The film is a visceral
window into the practice of solitary confinement, which Maine State Prison
began reducing the use of while Moore was locked up. The prison also started
offering rehabilitation classes to inmates, and says that since 2011, rates of
violence and self-harm have dropped dramatically. But studies show that inmates
who have spent significant time in solitary are more likely to be sent back to
prison.
Meanwhile, Moore, who was
released last fall, is struggling to adjust to life on the outside. He rarely
leaves his bedroom. It is, he says, his “own personal prison” — and the
place where he feels most safe.
