What is the LEGAL definition of solitray confinement in prison, ? Please read?

[hollowwinter848]

Does it depend on what each state says that solitary confinement is in their prisons ? So is 23 hours locked down not solitary ? A group I am with on FB keeps talking about solitary confinement, but it is never given a legal definition and there is a lot of legislation dealing with it, so it must have some kind of legal definition, anyone know / thanks

[Ryan]

Straight from a legal dictionary

The placement of a prisoner in a Federal or state prison in a cell away from other prisoners, usually as a form of internal penal discipline, but occasionally to protect the convict from other prisoners or to prevent the prisoner from causing trouble. Long-term solitary confinement may be found to be unconstitutional as "cruel and unusual punishment.

Time does not factor in, it is at the institutions discretion based on the individual.

Lock down is not solitary. Lock down usually refers to a building-wide procedure to keep ALL inmates in their cell, not just one.