Data on Mental Illness and Soliatry Confinemnet

Some of the data we have collected on Solitary confinement and the mental effects its use has on prisoners to be used as part of the Data Representations and Visualizations for Solitude.

Fact Sheet:
Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement
www.solitarywatch.com

20,000 inmates are in soli- tary confinement in America‘s supermax

those in solitary developed psychopa- thologies at higher rates than those in the general popula- tion (28% vs. 15%).

401 jail suicides in 1986 found that two out of three were among those held in a control unit.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/solitary-confinement-shane-bauer

Inmates deemed a threat to the security of any of California's 33 prisons are shipped to one of the state's five SHUs (pronounced "shoes"), which hold nearly 4,000 people in long-term isolation

Prisoners spend an average of 7.5 years in the Pelican Bay SHU, the only one for which the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has statistics. More than half of the 1,126 prisoners here have been in isolation for at least five years. Eighty-nine have been there for at least 20 years. One has been in solitary for 42 years.

42 Years of Solitude
By Ryan Jacobs

81,622 - the Number of prisoners in solitary confinement across the United States in 2005, the last year for which the federal government released data

11,730 - Number of inmates held in isolation in California prisons today

7% -  Percentage of California inmates who are in isolation

39% - Percentage of inmate suicides that happen in isolation units

78% - Percentage of Security Housing Unit (SHU) inmates not classified as gang “leaders” or “members”

$12,317 - Extra annual cost to taxpayers for each prisoner in the Pelican Bay Shu

11'7" x 7'7" - Dimensions of a SHU cell at Pelican Bay

6' x 8' - Dimensions of the average American home’s walk-in closet

51% - Percentage of Pelican Bay SHU inmates who have spent at least five years in isolation

89 - the Number who have been in solitary for at least 20 years

1 - Number who have been there for 42 years

A 2003 study of inmates at the Pelican Bay SHU by University of California-Santa Cruz psychology professor Craig Haney found that 88 percent of the SHU population experiences irrational anger, nearly 30 times more than the US population at large

41 percent of SHU inmates reported hallucinations.

Twenty-seven percent have suicidal thoughts.

Inmates in isolation killed themselves at eight times the rate of the general prison population.

In California, prisoners were hunger striking to protest isolation.

Up to 12,000 inmates participated in protests against long-term SHU confinement across the state of California.

Visualizing Data - Google Docs From Procesing to VDMX

Just a quick Screen Capture to demonstrate how we are pulling and visualizing statistical data on mental illness from Google Docs and outputting it to VDMX to be projected onto the piece.


Project Solitute: Outputting data from Google Docs to VDMX using Processing and Quartz Composer from brodie thornton on Vimeo.

We are using Public Classes created by Jer Thorpe (found here) in Processing to pull data from cells on a Google Docs Spreadsheets stored online and outputting the data of each cell as a 3d cube onscreen.

The Processing sketch is outputted to Quartz Composer using the Syphon Library for Processing and blended with a directory of movie clips. The Quartz file is then placed within VDMX so we can sequence it with other movie clips and add effects to each.

The VDMX file is then outputted again through Syphon to Mad Mapper so that we can map the outputs to the surface we are projecting onto.

The Files for this setup can be downloaded here.

Prototype Video

Man Trapped Inside The Structure: BreakDown

Man Trapped inside the Structure: Actor Performance Direction

Location: Dark looked cell or room resembling solitude

Set up: Wide angle lens, 3 Lights, static camera keeps rolling, Frosted Glass.

Character: Healthy normal man put into a cell who slowly starts to loose his     mind in solitary confinement. Skinny looking young man with a beard and strong features.

Shots / Actors Actions:

Man thrown into the cell and doesn’t care about what is going on.      INTRO

Man looks around the room to take in his surroundings.

Man starts to walk around the cell and feel the walls.                          REGRET

Man paces back and forth for an extended amount of time. 

Man sits in a ball in the corner of the room.

Man begins to Shiver and look around the room.                                 PARANOIA

Man thinks people are looking at him

Man begins to itch and scratch his skin and head.                                ANXIETY

Man is rocking back and forth on the ground.

Man tries to sleep and begins to lie down on the ground.

Man Tosses and Turns on the ground trying to sleep.                          SLEEP DEP

Man begins to sit up and rub his eyes and face.

Man starts to laugh which leads to breaking down and crying.            SELF HARM  

Man starts to self-harm by punching himself

Man self harms by punching the walls and scraping the walls             SUICIDAL

Man gets tired from self-harming and breaks down into a ball on the ground.

Man looks around the room feeling like he is being watched.

Man begins to shout at his hallucinations “go away – go away”.        HALLUCINATION

Man is crying into his hands.                                                                   

Man begins to talk to himself and reassure himself its ok.                   DEPRESSION

Man is allowed leave the cell as it fades to blackness.

Prisoner trapped within the structure idea:

Working closely with the team we have developed an idea suggested by Mark that will tie into all areas of the project. The development of a new symmetrical structure by Ronan with a central piece has helped focus the project even more. The new structure lends itself well to the story because we can use the left and right sides to show direct opposites and the central piece as a main focus point.

The new idea that the team and I have been working on is using the central piece as a place to show a prisoner trapped inside the structure wanting to escape. The use of an actor in a prison cell going through each emotion or mental illness will be a good way to get the message across of a human trapped inside the structure. The surrounding shapes around the central focus point can be used to show the inner mind of the prisoner. Interaction is an integral part to this project and we want to make sure the audience is aware of the interaction that is happening rather than a subtle interaction that may go unnoticed by certain members. We feel that the central piece could be a good place to show interaction maybe using external sensors that control the visuals and audio within the installation. This new idea will help give the audience a firm understanding of what is going on at all times with maximum impact without confusing them.

New Structure Designed by Ronan De Lacey

Visual Example

Narrative Testing Solitude

We want to make sure that the visuals we are using to tell our story are understood so that we are getting our message across in an effective way. I have created a test where I will show a number of participants some images and I want to ask them to relate them to the headings shown below. 

What image most strongly represents Sleep Deprivation?

1.     Continuous Dripping Water

2.     Day to Night Time Lapses

3.     Cross Hatches of days going by

4.     Bags under eyes

5.     Clock Ticking

What image most strongly represents suicidal thoughts?

1.     Knife to Wrist

2.     Tying Rope into noose

3.     Dangling Feet

4.     Poison

5.     Gravestones

What image most strongly represents Paranoia?

1.     People laughing at you

2.     People crying

3.     People shouting

4.     People whispering

5.     Eyes Staring at you

What image most strongly represents Anxiety?

1.     Rubbing Hands Constantly

2.     Blurred Dizzy Vision

3.     Seeing Stars

4.     Chewing Finger Nails

5.     Erratic Eye Movements

Some Examples of the images being used for testing.

Sound and Colour Testing

Amongst  many tests that will be carried out, we want to test the affects of different colouring techniques and soundscapes. For the colouring testing the same clip is coloured in six different ways. After the audience views each clip they will be asked a series of questions.

This is the short video that will be shown:

These are the questions that will be asked:

Colour Testing - Solitude:

Colour 1:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the first coloured clip?

Colour 2:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the second coloured clip?

Colour 3:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the third coloured clip?

Colour 4:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the forth coloured clip?

Colour 5:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the fifth coloured clip?

Colour 6:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the sixth coloured clip?

Do you think the colouring of the clip affected your perception of the visual content? If yes how?

Do you think the colouring of the clip affected the mood of the visual content?

For the sound testing the same clip has four different sound designs. After the audience views each clip they will be asked a series of questions.

This is the short video that will be shown:

These are the questions that will be asked:

Sound Testing - Solitude:

Sound 1:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the first clip?

Sound 2:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the second clip?

Sound 3:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the third clip?

Sound 4:

Write down any feelings or thoughts about the forth clip?

Do you think the sound design each clip affected your perception of the visual content? If yes how?

Do you think the sound design of the clip affected the mood of the visual content?