Synopsis

Disorder Contained Synopsis

Synopsis
Concerns about the detrimental impact of the prison system on the mental health of inmates are mounting, putting pressure on prison staff, prompting governmental enquiries, and featuring persistently in the agendas of prison reform organisations.

But this isn’t today – this is the 1850s, when the ‘The Separate System’ – the spiritually-inspired adaptation of solitary confinement intended to enable prisoners to repent their crimes – is being introduced to British and Irish prisons. Prison chaplains, doctors and governors conceived this as a way for prisoners to reflect upon their crimes and reform.

Evidence is becoming overwhelming that the Separate System is causing hallucinations, delusions, and insanity. However, rather than being abandoned, the elements of penitence and reform are being discarded and transformed into a regime of deliberate punishment, one that has endured until the present.

Using contemporaneous documents, including prisoners’ memoirs, doctors’ casebooks, and the reflections of prison staff, Disorder Contained combines music, song, wit and compassion to explore the rationale behind this enduring and harsh system.