During the 157 days that he has spent in solitary confinement, he has been deprived of consuming any fresh fruit and vegetables.

So now, in addition to already suffering from severe back, knee and calf pains, he has now developed chronic digestion problems. We are extremely worried about his health and the high security conditions in which he endures.

We are all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life.

Bradley Manning has been imprisoned without charge, under torture, which is what solitary confinement is.

The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement - if you can't deal with this, you needn't apply.

Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players - and yet boxers have their corner men and managers. Even a boxer's opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else. The rules forbid a tennis player from even talking to his coach while on the court. People sometimes mention the track-and-field runner as a comparably lonely figure, but I have to laugh. At least the runner can feel and smell his opponents. They're inches away. In tennis you're on an island. Of all the games men and women play, tennis is the closest to solitary confinement....