Bac in 2011, Maine State Prison launched a brave new reform programme which aimed to significantly reduce the use of solitary confinement due to the all round negative affects it was having on not only the individual serving the time but everyone who had to deal with them too.

Bafta and Emmy-winning filmmaker Dan Edge and his co-director Lauren Mucciolo were given the opportunity to gain unprecedented access to the prisons solitary unit where they ended up filming for more than three years. The result of which is this extraordinary and harrowing portrait of life in solitary which provides us with a unique insight into this type punishment.

The United States is the world leader in solitary confinement with more than 80,000 American prisoners currently living in isolation. Some of these people have been kept in these conditions for years, even decades, the result of which is sever mental illness and a hefty price tag for the tax payer.