On this day in 1941, solitary confinement opened in D-Block on Alcatraz Island. Solitary confinement is the practice of isolating people in closed cells for up to 22-24 hours a day, virtually free of human contact for periods of days to decades. Referred to as "The Hole," solitary confinement consisted of forty-two cells in D-Block. People were kept in these cells with limited diets, light, sound, and human contact. “Worse than being cold, though, was the total feeling of isolation from the worl