What happens to people in solitary confinement | Laura Rovner

翻译人员: Kate Tang 校对人员: Ruan Xiu Ze 阮修泽

驾车穿过世界上最安全的监狱 是件美好的事情。

联邦政府唯一的特大监狱ADX， 坐落在丹佛以南90英里处。

The drive through the world's most secure prison is beautiful.

从外面看，它宛如一座新建的 郊区中学。

The federal government's only supermax prison, known as ADX,

（笑声）

is 90 miles south of Denver.

大堂里干净明亮；

Standing outside the building,

从巨大的窗户里可以清晰地看到 外面的山脉；

ADX looks like a newish suburban middle school.

还有前台服务人员在售卖旅行马克杯。

(Laughter)

The lobby is clean and bright;

（笑声）

there's big windows and clear views of the mountains;

墙上巨大的牌匾写着：

and a polite front-desk attendant with a kiosk selling travel mugs.

“人生给予的最重要的礼物， 是能在有意义的岗位上

努力工作的机会”

(Laughter)

牌匾旁边是一张巨大的，装裱起来的 恶魔岛的照片。

On the wall is a large plaque that reads,

"The best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard

而顺着楼梯而下，长长的过道尽头，

at work worth doing."

是400多个在隔离牢房中衰败的男人。

Just past it is a huge framed photo of Alcatraz.

And down the stairs, at the end of a long hallway,

我在工作中接触过很多关于 犯人宪法权利的案子。

are 400 men decaying in isolation cells.

人们对于犯人的权利的看法众说纷纭。

I work on cases involving the constitutional rights of prisoners.

但有一点很多人都十分赞同：

折磨。

Now, people have differing views about prisoners' rights.

美国政府声明它不会使用酷刑，

我们也谴责其他国家，比如伊朗和朝鲜

But there's something more people can agree on:

对犯人严刑逼供。

torture.

但有些人觉得那些被定义为 “穷凶极恶”的人值得这种惩罚：

The US government says it doesn't use torture,

and we condemn other countries, like Iran and North Korea,

恐怖分子，连环杀人犯， 那些特别“坏”的人。

for their use of torture.

But some people think the so-called worst of the worst deserve it:

我个人认为没有人应该受到

美国政府的折磨。

terrorists, mass murderers, the really "bad" people.

但这只是我的想法。

（掌声）

Now I personally believe that no one deserves to be tortured

by the US government.

But that's me.

不论你的想法如何，

(Applause)

在我继续说下去之前，我需要让你知道 以下几点。

第一，在美国，我们确实折磨人。

No matter where you fall,

每天有数以千计的人被折磨着。

there's a few things I need you to understand

这被称为单独监禁。

before I continue.

First, we do torture people here in America,

它通过我们缴纳的税，以我们的名义， 在背地里进行着。

tens of thousands of them every day.

所以结论是，

It's called solitary confinement.

我们正在破坏我们司法系统的 核心价值观。

It's done in our names, using our tax dollars,

使用最新技术建造，

behind closed doors.

ADX几乎将单独监禁做到了 登峰造极的地步。

And as a result,

we're undermining the core values of our justice system.

每个人每天要在卫生间大小的房里 度过23个小时。

Built with state-of-the-art technology,

ADX has nearly perfected solitary confinement.

他人生的每一件大事小事， 几乎都在牢房里发生。

Each man spends 23 hours a day

但除了在和厕所一臂之遥的距离里 睡觉和用餐，

alone in a cell the size of a small bathroom.

Virtually every aspect of his life occurs in that cell.

他的生活中也没有许多新鲜事。

狱警将餐盘从门上的窗口推进去，

But aside from sleeping and eating,

which he does within an arm's reach of his toilet,

并将犯人们带去单独的运动笼，

there aren't many aspects of life.

这些笼子被犯人和同样受禁锢的工作人员

Correctional officers push food trays through slots in the doors

毫不讽刺的称作狗笼。

and take the men to solitary exercise cages

除此之外，

这些犯人们每天所有时间

that are referred to by prisoners and staff alike,

都被锁在水泥铸成的密闭空间中。

without irony, as dog runs.

向前两步，向后两步。

Other than that,

这就是全部了。

these men are locked in cement closets,

他们看不到附近的山和树 --

all day, every day.

“没有任何活物，连一片草叶都没有，”

Two steps forward, two steps back.

这是被囚禁在ADX里的 一名犯人的陈述。

That's it.

They can't see the nearby mountains or any trees --

部分人反应在多年不见

"nothing living, not so much as a blade of grass,"

10英尺开外的任何事物后，

他们的视力退化了许多

is how one man in ADX described it.

以至于他们无法清晰地看见远处的事物。

Some people report that after years of not looking at anything

犯人的隔离十分彻底和深切

further than 10 feet away,

以至于我们的一位委托人会每天 躺在牢房的地上几个小时，

their eyesight has deteriorated so much

that they can't focus on faraway objects anymore.

只为在别人从他门口走过时，

The isolation is so deep and profound

看一眼他的脚步。

that one of our clients would lie on the floor of his cell for hours,

还有一位和飞进他房间的一只黄蜂 成为了朋友，

just hoping to catch a glimpse of someone's feet

每天投喂它，像朋友一样与它交谈。

as they walked past the door of his cell.

有些人尝试通过大声朝着浴室排水管吼叫

Another befriended a wasp that flew into his cell,

与狱友沟通。

feeding it and talking to it like a friend.

即便如此，这其中的许多人

在和我们交谈一个小时后失声。

Some try to communicate with fellow prisoners

by yelling through the shower drains.

他们的声带已经许久没有发声这么久了。

Still though, many of these men lost their voices

我们知道长期禁闭的后果十分严重。

after talking with us for just an hour.

Their vocal cords were out of practice speaking for that long.

这不符合常识。

这就是为什么严格的监狱系统和酷刑制度

We know the impact of long-term isolation is devastating.

时常将单独拘禁作为一种严刑使用。

This borders on common sense.

这也是为什么在座没有任何一位可以忍受 他们至爱的人，

It's why harsh prison systems and torture regimes

例如父母和孩子，

routinely use solitary as a form of severe punishment.

被单独锁在一个小小的卫生间里数天， 更何况是数年。

And why none of us would tolerate having a loved one,

甚至是数十年。

like a parent or a child,

locked alone in a small bathroom for days, let alone years.

在代表我们的第一位ADX委托人的过程中，

我们认识了另一个人， 汤米·西尔弗斯坦 （Tommy Silverstein）

他在1983年，在“禁止与人接触”的命令下

Or decades.

In the course of representing that first client at ADX,

被联邦监狱局判处单独监禁，

we learned about another man, Tommy Silverstein,

因为他杀死了一名狱警。

who the Federal Bureau of Prisons put in solitary confinement

那时的汤米31岁。

under a "no human contact" order in 1983,

现在，他已66岁。

他被单独监禁了35年。

after he killed a corrections officer.

Tommy was 31 years old.

因为找到合适的词汇去形容ADX的经历 对他来说十分困难，

Now he's 66.

He's been in solitary confinement for 35 years.

已然成为一名小有成就的画家的汤米，

将这一切画了下来。

Struggling to find the words to capture his experience of ADX,

除非我们开始改变这个国家 对待犯人的方式方法，

Tommy, who has become an accomplished artist,

不然，他可能会在那里度过他的余生。

drew it instead.

Unless we start to change how we treat prisoners in this country,

麦凯恩和曼德拉都曾说过

他们在监狱里熬过的所有恐怖经历中

he'll probably be there for the rest of his life.

单独监禁是最可怕的。

那是因为单独监禁使人处于

Both John McCain and Nelson Mandela

失去自我认知，

said that of all the horrors they suffered in prison,

以及和世界的联系的风险中。

solitary confinement was the worst.

That's because solitary puts people at risk

心理学家克雷格·黑尼 （Craig·Haney）博士解释道，

of losing their grasp on who they are,

这是因为人的身份和认知 是由社会创造的。

of how and whether they're connected to a larger world.

我们通过与他人的关系了解自己。

As psychologist Dr. Craig Haney explains,

that's because human identity is socially created.

单独监禁可以让你改变对自己的看法。

We understand ourselves through our relationships with other people.

它甚至可以让你怀疑你是否拥有自我。

有些被单独监禁的人甚至不确定 他们是否存在，

Solitary confinement can make you change what you think about yourself.

所以他们会对狱警口无遮拦

It can make you doubt whether you even have a self.

然后被拷住或者殴打。

Some people in solitary aren't even sure they exist,

但至少，他们知道自己是存在的。

so they'll mouth off to a corrections officer

逐渐的，一些ADX的犯人们 显而易见地崩溃了，

and end up getting shackled or beaten.

But at least then, they know they exist.

比如把头往牢房的墙上砸去

或者在身上涂满粪便。

Over time, some of the men in ADX break down in obvious ways,

又或者尝试自杀，其中很多人成功了。

like banging their heads on the walls of their cells

许多人选择割腕

or smearing themselves with feces.

仅仅是为了通过痛苦， 将自己与真实的世界连接。

Or attempting suicide, some of them successfully.

其他人尝试着适应，

不表露出任何心理障碍的迹象。

Many people cut themselves

just to feel the pain that keeps them tethered to the real world.

但是这种调节也有严重的危害。

Others adjust,

这是因为长期囚禁的经历

showing no outward sign of mental illness.

会自相矛盾地导致逃避社交。

But there's grave harm in the adjustment itself.

一开始，人们会对人与人之间的交流 产生饥渴。

That's because the experience of long-term isolation

但长此以往，

这种交流变得迷失，甚至恐怖。

can paradoxically lead to social withdrawal.

他们没有办法应付这种交流了。

At first, people are starved for human contact,

所有这些堆积成一种长期的社会性死亡。

but over time,

it becomes disorienting, even frightening.

ADX的人们陷入暂停。

They can't handle it anymore.

不完全是这世界的一部分，

All of this amounts to a prolonged social death.

他们并不是任何完全有形的 人类世界的一部分。

The men in ADX are stuck in suspended animation.

正是因为以上所有原因， 国际人权法

Not really part of this world,

严禁长期单独监禁的使用。

they're not really part of any world that's fully and tangibly human.

事实上，联合国呼吁所有政府

It's for all of these reasons that international human rights law

停止使用单独监禁已经15天了。

prohibits the use of long-term solitary confinement.

截止今日，

汤米·西尔弗斯坦 （Tommy Silverstein） 已经被单独监禁12815天了。

In fact, the UN has called on governments to ban the use of solitary

for more than 15 days.

As of today,

在评判了其他国家的人权法后，

Tommy Silverstein has been in solitary for 12,815 days.

美国国务院声明长期的单独监禁

是对人权的侵犯。

Now in judging other countries' human rights records,

举个例子，在2009年，

the US State Department has called the use of long-term solitary

国务院谴责了以色列，伊朗， 印度尼西亚，和也门

a human rights violation.

In 2009, for example,

对单独监禁的使用。

State Department condemned Israel, Iran, Indonesia and Yemen

但我们却纵容这一现象 发生在我们的土地上。

当一座监狱伫立在美国，而不是中国，

for their use of solitary.

But we allow it to happen on our own soil.

当它被国家政府管辖， 而不是什么暴戾的警长，

When a prison is located in the US instead of China,

当它配置了最先进的技术 和一尘不染的地板，

而不是拥挤的牢房或者破旧的环境，

when it's run by the federal government and not some rogue sheriff,

你很难相信这里发生过酷刑。

when it has state-of-the-art technology and gleaming floors,

但值得注意的是，

not overcrowded cells and decrepit facilities,

it's harder to believe that torture happens there.

有些时候，这也是折磨的一种形式。

作为一名民权律师，

But it's important to entertain the idea that, sometimes, this too

我认为确保人们，

就算是被指控犯下可怕罪行的犯人，

is what torture looks like.

也不会被政府严刑拷打，是十分重要的。

As a civil rights lawyer,

如果这场演讲是一部电影，

I believe it's important to ensure that people,

接下来，我会告诉你我们是如何 坚持不懈，最终取得胜利的。

even those convicted of terrible crimes,

aren't tortured by our government.

但这不是一部电影。

And if this talk were a movie,

所以取而代之，我会告诉你这种不平等 已经根深蒂固，藏于表象之下。

I'd tell you next about how we fought and fought and eventually won.

想要揭露它有多么困难，

以及为什么我们依然逆流而上。

But this isn't a movie.

So I'll tell you, instead, about how deeply this injustice is hidden.

你可能会觉得律师，以及在司法体制里 工作的人们，

How difficult it is to expose it,

会知道监狱里面发生着什么。

and why it's important that we do.

但我是一名律师，且居住在距离ADX 两个小时以外的地方。

You'd think that lawyers, people who work in the justice system,

但直到我们去见到第一位客户之前，

would know what happens in our prisons.

我对这一切一无所知。

But I'm a lawyer, and I live less than two hours away from ADX.

我不觉得这是个个例。

ADX将自己从社会的严查中隔离出来。

And until we went to see that first client,

I didn't know anything about it.

在它成立后的25年里，

I don't think that's an accident.

它只准许了人道主义组织的一次访问。

ADX walls itself off from public scrutiny.

记者们常常被拒之门外。

In the 25 years since it opened,

邮件被审查删改。

it's allowed only a single visit by human rights organizations.

就算鲜少的有家人探视，

他们会被不出面的政府官员监视着，

Journalists are routinely denied entry.

一旦他们觉得太多ADX的细节被泄露， 探视就会被即刻终止。

Mail is censored.

And even when rare family visits occur,

they're monitored by an unseen government official

在中国和俄罗斯，人道主义活动家，

who can cut the visit off without notice

if he thinks that the prisoner is talking in too much detail

媒体，以及联合国，都被一并拒绝。

about the conditions in ADX.

我们亦是如此。

In China, in Russia, they keep out the human rights observers,

ADX用一名记者的话说，

keep out the media, keep out the UN.

就是“美国国土上一座黑暗的建筑。”

And so do we.

我们知道保密是实施酷刑的场所 统一的特征。

ADX is, in the words of one journalist,

"a black site on American soil."

但数年的发声和提高认识，

We know that secrecy is a hallmark of places that torture.

我们对关塔那摩监狱的认知

都比ADX要多。

But after years of shining a light,

五年前，

关塔那摩监狱爆发绝食 和强使进食的运动时

we now know more about the conditions in Guantanamo

同样的事情也在ADX上演。

than we do at ADX.

但你大概率从没听说过

Five years ago,

因为政府强迫家属和律师们封口。

when there was a hunger strike and force-feeding at Guantanamo,

the same thing was happening at ADX.

但重点是： 美国的刑法系统本该是透明的。

But you probably didn't hear about it

because the government gagged family members and lawyers

from talking about it.

而且在某人被送往监狱之前，

But here's the thing:

这大致上是真实的。

the American criminal justice system is supposed to be transparent.

立法者们在公众视野下辩驳和讨论 禁止犯罪行为的法条。

And before someone gets sent to prison,

that's largely true.

我们社区中的市民们作为陪审团 出席刑事审理。

Legislators meet in public to debate and define the laws

并且如果你想要观看一场审理，

that prohibit criminal conduct.

法庭的大门完全向你敞开。

Citizens in our community serve as jurors on criminal trials.

然而，审理过后， 我们开诚布公的义务就结束了。

And if you want to watch a trial,

有了紧闭的监狱大门的庇护，

the courtroom doors are wide open.

任何发生在监狱围墙中的事情 都无可奉告。

After the trial, though, our commitment to transparency ends.

没有了大众视野下的彻查，

With the prison door securely shut,

黑暗开始笼罩。

what happens behind prison walls

stays behind prison walls.

除了处死之外，

监禁是最违反人权的命令：

And without the scrutiny of the public gaze,

它是对市民自由的剥夺。

the darkness festers.

但没有任何政府机构

Other than execution,

incarceration is the most intrusive power of the state:

比监狱更不透明和更不负责任。

虽然监狱背靠纳税人

the deprivation of citizens' liberty.

并将其百分之95的住户回馈给社会。

But no government institution

is more opaque and less accountable than prison.

保密性才是ADX可以让人凭空消失的元凶。

Even though prisons are supported by tax payers

and return 95 percent of their residents to our communities.

所以，肯尼迪（Kennedy）法官指出， 我们都有法律义务，

It's that secrecy that allows the ADX to disappear people.

作为一个民主国家，也作为个人，

“我们应该知道犯人被带走后 都发生了什么。”

And so we have an obligation, said Justice Kennedy,

监狱系统是每个公民的顾虑和分内之事。

as a democracy and as a people,

这是你的司法体制。

"we should know what happens after the prisoner is taken away."

这些是你的监狱。

折磨在黑暗的庇护下悄然发生。

The prison system is the concern and responsibility of every citizen.

所以我们必须记住， 阳光是最好的净化剂。

This is your justice system.

These are your prisons.

这不仅仅是因为我们需要知道 ADX中发生的种种，

Torture happens in the dark.

And so we need to embrace the admonition that sunlight is the best disinfectant.

也是因为了解这件事， 本就可以创造变革。

物理学中有一个理论，叫不确定性原理。

Not only because we need to know what happens inside ADX,

but because the knowing itself can create change.

它说明仅仅通过观察

There's an axiom in physics called the uncertainty principle.

就可以，也会改变，

观察到的亚原子反应。

It teaches that the mere fact of observation

换句话说，

观察某事可以影响它的过程。

can alter, will alter,

the subatomic reaction being observed.

在一个像美国一样的民主国家里，

监狱是以我们的名义，为我们治理的。

In other words,

watching something affects its course.

ADX的处境牵扯着我们纳的税，

In a democracy like the US,

公共安全，

prisons are administered in our name and on our behalf.

以及最重要的，

我们对每个人与生俱来的尊严 的共同信念。

The conditions in ADX implicate our tax dollars,

我们有义务成为作证人。

public safety

and, most of all,

谢谢。

our shared belief in the inherent dignity of every human being.

（掌声）

We have an obligation to bear witness.

Thank you.

(Applause)