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35 of 111 Murder Reference No.03 of 2017 & other connected appeals 36 APPENDIX B:
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY GERMAN EXPERIENCE WITH SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Between 1854 and 1909 thirty-seven articles appeared in the German medical literature on the subject of psychotic disturbances among prisoners, summarizing years of work and many hundreds of cases. A major review of this literature was published in 1912. Solitary confinement was the single most important factor identified in the etiology of these psychotic illnesses. Indeed, the first report on the subject of prison psychoses was that of Delbruck, chief physician of the prison at Halle, in which the frequency of mental disturbances was at last so great that it attracted the attention of the authorities. Delbruck's report concluded that prolonged absolute isolation has a very injurious effect on the body and mind and that it seems to predispose inmates to hallucinations and advised the immediate termination of solitary confinement. In 1863 Gutsch reported on eighty four cases of psychosis stemming from solitary confinement and described vivid hallucinations and persecutory delusions, apprehensiveness, psychomotor excitation, sudden onset of the syndrome, and rapid recovery upon termination of solitary confinement. Many of these individuals developed "suicidal and maniacal outbreaks." In 1871, in a report on fifteen cases of acute reactive psychoses, some of which apparently occurred within hours of incarceration in solitary, Reich described hallucinosis and persecutory delusions in addition to severe anxiety leading to motor excitement--"[t]he patient becomes noisy, screams, runs aimlessly about, destroys and ruins everything that comes in his way."132 He also described an acute confusional state accompanying these symptoms, sudden cessation of 36 of 111 Murder Reference No.03 of 2017 & other connected appeals 37 symptoms, recovery, and subsequent amnesia for the events of the psychosis. In a statistical summary, Knecht reported in 1891 on the diagnostic assessment of 186 inmates at the "insane department" of the prison at Waldheim and concluded that over half of the total inmates in this department were there due to reactive manifestations to solitary confinement. The majority of these inmates became insane within two years of confinement in solitary. In 1884 Sommer reported on 111 cases describing an acute, reactive, hallucinatory, anxious, confusional state associated with solitary confinement, emphasizing the "excited outbursts" and "vicious assaults" of these patients. His patients' illness began with difficulty in concentration and hyperresponsivity to minor "inexplicable" external stimuli. These "elementary disturbances of the sensorium (i.e., the five senses)" were seen as leading to "elementary hallucinations" which became more numerous, eventually including auditory, visual, and olfactory hallucinations and eventually becoming incorporated with fearful persecutory delusions. In 1889 Kirn described 129 cases of psychosis among the inmates at the county jail at Freiburg, concluding that in fifty of those cases, "solitary confinement can be definitely considered as the etiological factor, (and these) show a certain characteristic stamp" including persecutory delusions and hallucinations in multiple spheres (auditory, visual olfactory, tactile). He also noted that these symptoms often precipitated at night:
. . . The visual hallucinations are very vivid. In 1888 Moeli contributed a description of "vorbereiden"--also known as "the symptom of approximate answers." Ten years later Ganser contributed to the literature the elucidation of a syndrome which included Moeli's symptom. As Arieti points out, Ganser's Syndrome became well known-- indeed, almost a codification of the whole body of literature on the prison psychoses. Ganser provided a comprehensive and well-elucidated synthesis of symptoms, most of which had been previously described elsewhere. The syndrome he described included (in addition to vorbereiden) vivid visual and auditory hallucinations, a distinct clouding of consciousness, sudden cessation of symptoms "as from a dream," and "a more or less complete amnesia for the events during the period of clouded consciousness." Ganser's most original description was of "hysterical stigmata" within the syndrome, including conversion symptoms, especially total analgesia. Some of the German authors failed to note whether the inmates they were describing were housed in solitary confinement and, unfortunately, Ganser was one of these, stating only that his were prisoners awaiting trial. However, Langard, in 1901, also reporting on observations of accused prisoners awaiting trial, described an acute violent hallucinatory confusion with persecutory delusions and specifically stated that 45 this syndrome occurred exclusively among those who awaited trial in solitary confinement. Also in 1901 Raecke similarly reported on prisoners awaiting trial and described the full syndrome described by 38 of 111 Murder Reference No.03 of 2017 & other connected appeals 39 Ganser, including vorbereiden; he specifically condemned solitary confinement as responsible for the syndrome. He described his cases as beginning with apathy, progressing to "inability to concentrate, a feeling of incapacity to think," and even catatonic features, including negativism, stupor, and mutism. In another report, written the same year, Skliar reported on sixty case histories of which he identified twenty-one as acute prison psychoses caused by solitary confinement. While vorbereiden was not noted, most of the other symptoms described by Ganser and Raecke were, including massive anxiety and fearful auditory and visual hallucinations; in severe cases, hallucinations of smell, taste, and "general sensation" as well as persecutory delusions, senseless agitation and violence, confusion, and disorientation. The psychosis developed rapidly, at times within hours of incarceration in solitary confinement.150 Catatonic symptomatology was also noted. The German literature reported only on prisoners who suffered gross psychotic symptomatology, some of whom were observed in hospitals or "insane departments" of prisons; thus, these reports generally described only syndromal expressions that rose to the level of overt psychosis. The German reports do, however, powerfully demonstrate the existence of a particular, clinically distinguishable psychiatric syndrome associated with solitary confinement. These multiple reports described a syndrome which included:
1. Massive free-floating anxiety.
2. "Disturbances of the Sensorium," including--
a. hyperresponsivity to external stimuli; and b. vivid hallucinations in multiple spheres (including auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile modalities); in some reports, these began as 39 of 111 Murder Reference No.03 of 2017 & other connected appeals 40 simple "elementary" hallucinations and progressed to complex, formed hallucinations.
3. Persecutory delusions, often incorporating coexistent complex hallucinations.
4. Acute confusional states. In some reports these were seen as beginning with simple inattention and difficulty in concentration. In others, the onset was described as sudden. The confusional state and disorientation was in several reports described as resembling a dissociative, dreamlike state, at times involving features of a catatonic stupor, including negativism and mutism; and, upon recovery, leaving a residual amnesia for the events of the confusional state. Ganser and others observed hysterical conversion symptoms during this confusional state.