> This is tatamount to solitary confinement for all prisoners, all the
> time. My understanding is that many prisoners in such prisons consider
> them far crueler than prisons that allow them human contact, however
> dangerous it may be.
No _physical_ contact isn't the same as no contact whatsoever. People could communicate trough fences/reinforced glass barriers/intercoms etc. Except for some rapists, I presume most wouldn't miss the physical element too much...