ALONE

Frank de Palma spent a third of his life in solitary confinement. Researchers and lawmakers
are only beginning to understand what that does to a person.

Photography for Deseret Magazine
Story by Natalia Galicza

An elderly man with tattoos on his arms, wearing a gray shirt, is relaxing in a black outdoor chair with his eyes closed and face tilted upward, soaking up the sun.
Silhouette of a person with a shaved head standing in a dimly lit room, looking down at a cellphone in front of a window with closed vertical blinds.
Close-up of an elderly bald man with a serious expression, wearing a grey shirt and a black and beige jacket, standing outdoors next to a house with white siding and a staircase in the background.
An elderly man sitting on a bed in a dimly lit room, looking thoughtfully out the window.
Two men walking on a sidewalk in a residential area with trees and apartment buildings, one with a beard wearing a black cap and plaid shirt, the other with a shaved head wearing a gray jacket.
Close-up portrait of an elderly bald man with weathered skin and a serious expression, wearing a gray collared shirt, against a plain, dark background.
A man with a shaved head wearing a black and gray jacket leaning on a stone railing, looking down at water with the sun setting behind him.
A bald man with wrinkled skin sitting outdoors near water, eyes closed, in profile view, with sunlight reflecting on the water in the background.
Open magazine featuring a portrait of an elderly man sitting on a chair, with the large word 'ALONE' spanned across both pages in white letters on a dark background.
A weathered hand with prominent wrinkles resting on a rough concrete ledge or wall, with a dark blurred background.
Close-up of smiling elderly man with a bald head, wrinkles, and wearing a dark blazer, in a warmly lit setting.
Two men stand on a sidewalk in a park, one pointing off in the distance, with leafless trees and a tall apartment building in the background, against a blue sky.

“Darkness became like a blanket of protection to me,” Frank said. He admitted that he struggles to maintain a clear concept of time; that he tenses at the thought of anyone behind him while out in public; that, despite his best efforts, he still considers himself peripheral to society. More shadow than person. “There’s something in me that’s different.”

Frank’s story is emblematic of an American phenomenon. No country uses long-term solitary confinement more than the leader of the free world. More than 80,000 people on a given day experience solitary confinement in prisons nation-wide, according to the non-profit watchdog group Solitary Watch. That number rises to about 123,000 when including jails. The state with the highest percentage of its prisoners in solitary, as of 2019, is Nevada.