3 April 2026
by Lev Shlosberg*
On why he requested to be held in a solitary cell
Source: Novaya gazeta
The day before my quarantine was to end, I submitted a request to the head of the SIZO [remand prison] asking to remain in a solitary confinement cell: ‘I am psychologically stable. I have undergone psychological tests in SIZO No. 1’s laboratory. I do not experience any additional stress from being held in a solitary cell. This request has been discussed with and approved by my lawyer.’ My request was granted.
I came to understand the necessity of this course of action during my very first week in detention in the SIZO. I realized that solitary confinement would be a blessing for me.
The most important thing that a person must do while imprisoned is protect oneself. Protect one’s inner world. Protect one’s mental health. Protect one’s inner harmony. And for some, perhaps, even find it.
To do so, one must rely first and foremost on oneself and one’s inner resources. From the outside world, all that is needed is the support of family and friends, and books.
Achieving a balance between inner and outer worlds requires personal effort and self-reflection. One must attentively and calmly look inward, and understand the condition of this inner world – how severe the shock of imprisonment has been, what causes pain, what causes anxiety, what needs adjustment or even recalibration.
No one can do this delicate work better than the person themselves. No one knows you better than you know yourself.
I understood that it was important for me to preserve and protect my inner space. And in this personal matter, I did not need other people inside the prison.
Prison, as a place of confinement, still leaves a person with the opportunity to remain free when alone with themselves.
A room measuring 2.5 by 4.5 metres is my temporary domain, a space that should be mine alone to inhabit around the clock. For now, it is my home. I must organize my life in this limited space in such a way that everything within it helps me endure and remain inwardly free. Solitary confinement helps create personal space under conditions of imprisonment and thus protects the individual.
In solitary confinement, a person can structure their world in such a way that physical captivity does not destroy inner freedom.
A remarkable feature of solitude as a form of psychological protection during imprisonment is that the ability to live harmoniously in solitude is in itself an attribute of a free person.
For someone intellectually inclined, solitude is neither a burden nor a punishment, but an opportunity. An opportunity to get oneself together. An opportunity to restore emotional equilibrium. An opportunity to adapt to a different way of life. An opportunity to contemplate without being distracted by anyone else. This is something of great value.
Outer peace is also important for inner peace. Human interaction should be as extensive only as it is needed from within. I realized that in my new living situation, the most important conversation for me was the one taking place within myself. But not only that.
The space of a solitary cell naturally includes letters and books. A voice carried in a letter can be heard more clearly in the quiet of solitary confinement. Books fill solitary confinement with the boundless expanse of literature. Culture cannot be contained by any walls, not even those of a prison.
Another important virtue of solitary confinement is the opportunity to be oneself in one’s own company. There is no need to put on a mask for anyone, whether a mask of strength, or guardedness, or feigned calm. People feel sadness, and in solitary confinement there is no need to hide it. One can read a letter from a loved one and cry, and no one needs to see those tears. The ability to preserve the natural expression of human emotion in solitary confinement frees a person from the forced artificiality of maintaining outward appearances, from having to put on a brave face and spend emotional energy on that unnecessary burden.
Of course, any direct analogy is imperfect and risky, but the founders of hermitages and monasteries who sought refuge in remote wilderness, often disappearing into obscurity in complete solitude, were searching not merely for seclusion but for the very possibility of remaining spiritually free at the greatest possible distance from the crowd.
The founder of the monastery nearest to Pskov, Savva Krypetsky, even laid the path to his refuge through a marsh so that no chance passerby would be able to cross this natural barrier.
Creative work, in the overwhelming majority of cases, presupposes the physical solitude of the author, which in essence becomes the artist’s co-author.
Modern life is eroding the human phenomenon of solitude as the natural state of a spiritual person (and this is not a religious sense). Pervasive, constant communication makes solitude almost impossible, and this profoundly affects a person’s mind, way of thinking, and way of life.
The impossibility of escaping forced and unnecessary communication turns a person into an unwilling servant of constant busyness – the chief destroyer of human wholeness.
Dependence on the burdens of the external world can stifle abilities and talents, leave ideas and plans unrealized, and steal away priceless time for connection with loved ones and for genuine human experience.
My solitary confinement in the Pskov prison fortress has allowed me to compare my personal living space with the world surrounding it, reminding me that the essence of human existence should not be determined by external circumstances, even those of overwhelming force.
As far as I can remember, I have never feared solitude. Now I understand that solitude in imprisonment gives a person the opportunity not to lose the path towards freedom.
Pskov Prison Fortress
Translated by Annabel Pedgley
