Solitary Confinement and Isolation Legal Framework Solitary confinement is generally defined as isolation in a cell that lasts at least 22 hours per day, while prolonged solitary confinement is considered to be isolation of this nature that lasts for more than 15 consecutive days.188 Solitary confinement and isolation are among the most extreme methods regularly used globally against detainees in prisons and are therefore carefully regulated by international law. The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the UN in 1955, declared that solitary confinement could only be appropriate in exceptional circumstances,189 while in 1990, the UNGA called for solitary confinement to be abolished or used as sparingly as possible.190 The precise conditions in which solitary confinement could be considered legal were further clarified in the revised version of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Rules) that was adopted in 2015, which holds that; “Solitary confinement shall be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort, for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review, and only pursuant to the authorization by a competent authority.”191 However, the Rules prohibit the use of solitary confinement completely against prisoners with disabilities, women and children, and denounce prolonged confinement.192 It should also be noted that a general prohibition on solitary confinement has been called for by numerous bodies. The UN Committee Against Torture and the UN Human Rights Committee, for example, consider solitary confinement as an act of cruel, inhuman, and degrading type of punishment and therefore its practice is in violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the ICCPR.193 188 UN Secretary General, Note on Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, A/66/268, 5 August 2011 189 Elizabeth Vasiliades, Solitary Confinement and International Human Rights: Why the U.S. Prison System Fails Global Standards, American University International Law Review, Volume 21, Article 5, 2005. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1045&context=auilr 190 Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted and proclaimed by the UNGA resolution A/ RES/45/111, 14 December 1990, para. 7 191 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), resolution adopted by the General Assembly 70/175, 17 December 2015, rule 45 (1) 192 Ibid., rule 45 (2) 193 Sharon Shalev, A Sourcebook on solitary confinement, Mannheim Centre for Criminology, 2008. Available at: http://solitaryconfinement.org/uploads/sourcebook_web.pdf; Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Al Mezan, Solidarity Confinement of Prisoners and Detainees in Israeli Prisons, June 2011. Available at: https://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/2011/Solitary_ confinement_position_paper_English.pdf 54