Why the Most Dangerous Prisoner in America is Kept in Total Isolation

Whoever has lived the longest in isolation appears to be in dispute, but there are a few people who stayed there for more than 40 years without having much interaction with others. The British prisoner Robert Maudsley, often known as the Brain Eater or the Real Life Hannibal the Cannibal, who has spent more than 40 years in isolation, may break the record.

The man we're going to talk about today may have served fewer years in prison than other inmates because he was isolated from them. He is referred to as the most solitary prisoner in the world for a second reason, though.

Thomas Silverstein, who was 52 years old, has been a prisoner since 1977. He was sentenced to prison at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, back then after being found guilty of armed robbery. You might be wondering why a violent heist without any fatalities would result in such a lengthy sentence. Yet, Thomas's actions while inside were what really made a difference.

He has been called "America's most dangerous prisoner," and while the Times is known for its exaggerations, he has undoubtedly been extremely violent within US prisons. He was found guilty of killing four people while he was incarcerated, though one of those convictions was later reversed. He was eventually given a specifically constructed solitary cell for that, one in which he would have to spend every day of the week and all day long. In blog articles published not long before we began creating this documentary, Silverstein was described as having some extremely serious health issues. Yet, the Bureau of Prisons reportedly won't disclose any details regarding his condition.

He was admitted to a critical care unit, but we're informed that not even his family was permitted to see him. This illustrates the prisoner's isolation, and it's important to note that by the time you watch the movie, there might not even be a Thomas Silverstein. Let's now examine how he arrived at this stage in his life. Thomas, so we're told, was raised in Long Beach, California. His mother divorced while still carrying him, but she later remarried. The second man, according to Silverstein, is his biological father. Because of his mother's subsequent divorce and subsequent marriage to Mr. Silverstein, who then formally adopted the infant Thomas, he wasn't around for very long.

He didn't exactly come from the poor side of the tracks, as far as we can tell. He allegedly led a middle-class lifestyle, although at first, he was really bashful and definitely not a difficult child. He was bullied for a variety of reasons, but it is stated that the other kids used to tease him about his name because he was Jewish in a community where there weren't many Jews. According to Silverstein, his mother didn't tolerate fools or bullies with a smile, so he reportedly soon toughened up and fought back. This remark Silverstein once made about his upbringing was featured on the majority of biography pages. "My mother was like that. She stood in the mud. If someone approached you with a bat, you both got your bat and began to fight.

It would appear that he was a slightly problematic child, but it wasn't until he was nineteen that he started having severe problems. He was first taken into custody for armed robbery at that time. He was committed and served four years at San Quentin. Soon after leaving, he met his genuine father—the man he claims to be his biological father—as well as his uncle. The three were ultimately detained in connection with three armed robberies. Due to his youth, it appeared that Silverstein gained some pity, with some claiming that the young man had been duped by the elderly. But, the judge didn't buy any of Thomas's arguments regarding a lack of parental supervision and gave Thomas a 15-year sentence. He would never be released from prison again, and if his current illness has its way with him, he might never be.

It's highly improbable that he will ever escape from prison again, even if he makes it through that. His alleged official release date is 2095, so if he makes it to 143, he might experience the wind at his back once more. He made acquaintances with members of the Aryan Brotherhood while incarcerated in Kansas. Thomas, now 28 years old, was found guilty of killing a fellow prisoner in 1980. According to the legend, the prisoner declined a proposition he couldn't reject. That was supposed to be the white gang's drug mule. According to the television program Crime Investigation, Terrible Tom gleefully committed violent crimes as an Aryan Brotherhood inductee, which quickly led to murder. He brutally murdered Danny Atwell, a member of the DC Black gang.

However, it is important to note that some of the witnesses were later accused of perjury in court, leading to the reversal of his conviction. After that, Silverstein was transferred to Marion, Illinois's United States Prison, a notoriously harsh jail. For the murder, Silverstein had received a life sentence, but following the perjury allegation, it was evidently overturned. But afterward, he was charged with the murder of Robert Chappell, a fellow DC Blacks member. Silverstein has consistently disputed this. The Bureau of Prisons then took action that would be considered deserving of restitution. While Silverstein was on trial for Chappelle's murder, they relocated Raymond Cadillac Smith, the national leader of the DC Blacks, to Marion.

Silverstein would later remark, "I attempted to tell Cadillac that I didn't kill Chappelle, but he didn't believe me and he bragged that he was going to kill me. The guys were not kept apart, he continued, and he and the other detainees thought that the guards wanted one of the men to kill the other. A cynic would argue that the institution wants one less violent prisoner. Cadillac was the one they ultimately lost after being stabbed 67 times by Silverstein. He accomplished this alongside Clayton Fountain, another Aryan Brotherhood member.

According to Crime Investigation, Silverstein walked around the wing carrying the body of the victim to demonstrate to the other people what may happen if they wanted to attempt and kill him. After this, he reportedly rose to become one of the top men in the local Brotherhood. Moreover, he received a second life sentence. Now that order has been restored, an officer named Merle Eugene Klutz is brought in. Silverstein has consistently asserted that Klutz entered the violent wing of the prison with a very strong hand. He was there to specifically watch Silverstein, who claimed that he often harassed him in addition to just watching him.

Klutz's passing marked the culmination of that. He was escorting Silverstein to the shower block one day in 1983 with the assistance of other guards. Silverstein attacked the officer with a handmade or Shank-like weapon that he had been given while still in restraints, with the assistance of another prisoner. According to the autopsy report, Silverstein stabbed Clutz about 40 times. Silverstein has consistently claimed that he took this action because Klutz had treated him especially poorly, even as a prisoner. That wasn't the case, according to an inquiry, but Silverstein claimed the investigation was tainted in the first place. At this point, he was moved to another prison, where he killed a different guard.

A 23-year lockdown at Marion ensued. Others claim that the first supermax jail in the US was created as a result of these two instances. One could infer that this marked the start of Silverstein's time spent in seclusion. But this wasn't your typical solitude; this was absolute seclusion. That implies that the cell is occupied around the clock, and the lights are always on. "No human interaction" was his security status. Few inmates understand this; the most renowned examples are Silverstein and the British madman we discussed at the beginning of the video.

Human rights activists claim that such isolation isn't too dissimilar from the so-called "whitewashing" kind of torture employed by the military and occasionally radicals. The BOP started presenting Silverstein with books and a TV over time. Yet, critics contend that this only occurred because the Bureau understood that a prisoner couldn't just have nothing in order to be truly punished while incarcerated. He needs to receive something, and then you need to take it away. In films like Silence of the Lambs, when Doctor Lecter has his books taken away, we witness this type of torture 101.

He has a larger self-contained cell than usual, it should be noted. One requirement is that it have a shower because you cannot use the bathroom. Online, there are a ton of sketches Thomas himself created of his cell. We could also point out that not all guards were hated by Silverstein. In a now-famous incident, Cuban rioters 1987 took control of a portion of a prison. Silverstein was escorted from his cell and given a brief period of freedom to walk wherever he pleased. The authorities were worried that Silverstein might harm or perhaps kill the guards who were being held hostage by the Cubans. One of the guards had long known Silverstein, but nothing horrible ever happened to him.

It was claimed that he had always treated the prisoner with kindness, occasionally inquiring if his shackles were too tight. Yet, Silverstein said that some of the guards would often torture him. You may even read a blog post that contains a note that Silverstein must have written right before he got sick. In that passage, he discusses deprivation, saying "Dear friends and supporters, as I've noted for decades, with each new Warden administration, which they rotate roughly every three years, usually takes away from what we've got instead of gives us more" and "They got to flex their muscles as cowards do with the hopeless and helpless"

In the final paragraph, he describes what it's like to be in solitary confinement, saying that "like the monotone bars and walls that entomb me, they stamped out the colors of happiness that I enjoy sharing with the outside world, enforcing a black and white existence in this colorless hole of madness" Other blog posts by Friends of Silverstein tell us that his writing and art have occasionally been taken away and that it can be difficult to get anything creative on a prison yard. We discovered a great deal more of Thomas's writings that were blog posts. In contrast to even the worst scenario of captivity, he writes in another post that he is unable to shout across a hallway.

It may be said that he is in a state of severe loneliness. He claims that events that have never been reported on have happened to him. And he continues by saying that inside the walls of the prison, things happen that hardly ever appear on such prison TV shows. He views the legal system as unfair. He thinks that, for the most part, the jail system is not about rehabilitation. "History and studies plainly show that solitary confinement does more harm than good, that it reflects the ignorance and sadistic attitude of prison authorities who accept this barbaric medieval technique, and that it is a crime against humanity," he says about solitary.

Although one prison official once told a writer, "We can't execute Silverstein, so we have no choice but to make his life a living misery," the guards didn't see it that way. Otherwise, prisoners will also murder guards. We should also point out that Silverstein does occasionally get to visit people, but never at close quarters and always with glass and a telephone. In a recent message, a visitor said, "He was told there were some things he wasn't permitted to share with me, one being the book he's writing.

Tom expressed a wish to continue his study. I had no clue that funding for inmate education had been discontinued. What do you make of all this, then? Is the jail system to blame? partially due to the decline in humanity? Do you believe Thomas has received what he deserved, or not? Comment and let us know.