残酷但并非不寻常

Cruel But Not Unusual
As kids, a lot of us imagine having superpowers. I was an avid comic book reader, and I often imagined being invisible. I never thought Ï would actually experience it, but I did. It wasn't in a parallel universe-although it often felt that way. While serving time in New York's prisons, I spent 2,054 days in solitary confinement. I was out of sight and invisible to other human beings-and eventually, even to myself.
After only a short time in solitary, I felt all of my senses start to diminish. There was nothing to see but gray walls. In New York's so-called Special Housing Units, or SHUs, most cells have solid steel doors, and some don 't have windows. You can't even tape up pictures or photographs; they have to be kept in an envelope. To fight the blankness, I counted bricks and measured the walls. I stared obsessively at the bolts on the door to my cell .