The Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement: An Early Instance of Psychology in South African Courts

Abstract

Solitary confinement has a long and appalling history in South Africa, since its introduction in the 1950s. The general history of the relationship between psychology and law in this country tends to overlook the way in which solitary confinement under the so-called 90-day Act provided an early instance of psychological expertise being called upon in legal trials. Two psychologists in particular, Ronald Albino at the University of Natal and Kurt Danziger at the University of Cape Town, became embroiled as expert witnesses in political trials about the psychological effects of solitary confinement on detainees under security legislation. Albino's work has been published (to some extent), but very little is known about the testimony of Danziger, and its effects. This article discusses the evidence that Danziger gave in the trial of Cape Town academic Neville Alexander, and its place in the history of forensic psychology in this country.