the practice of solitary confinement traces its origins back to the 19th century when quakers in pennsylvania used this method as a substitution for public punishments. research surrounding the possible psychological and physiological effects of solitary confinement dates back to the 1830s. when the new prison discipline of separate confinement was introduced at the eastern state penitentiary in philadelphia in 1829, commentators attributed the high rates of mental breakdown to the system of isolating prisoners in their cells. charles dickens, who visited the philadelphia penitentiary during his travels to america, described the "slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body". prison records from the denmark institute in 1870 to 1920 indicate that staff noticed inmates were exhibiting signs of mental illnesses while in isolation, revealing that the persistent problem has been around for decades.