Prisoners

When I was 8, I lived within walking distance from the Eastern State Penitentiary, a prison that was built in Philadelphia in the early 19th century. Each cell was meant for solitary confinement and was built with the belief that if you spent time alone you would come to repent. There was a small skylight in the ceiling of each cell to let in the "light of God". There were no visitors, no books or letters, and when they were walked from room to room they had to wear a hood to keep them from any sort of communication. What happened though is that a lot of the prisoners (some of whom were in there for crimes like spitting or public drunkenness) went crazy. Al Capone stayed there for a while as did Pep the dog who allegedly killed the Governor's pet cat.

Maybe this has something to do with the long-term ineffectiveness of timeouts.