No Human Contact

Solitary Confinement, Maximum Security, and Two Inmates Who Changed the System

By: Pete Earley

Narrated by: Rich Miller

In 1983, Thomas Silverstein and Clayton Fountain, both serving life sentences at the U.S. Prison in Marion, Illinois, separately murdered two correction officers on the same day. The Bureau of Prisons condemned both men to the severest punishment that could legally be imposed, one created specifically for them. It was unofficially called "no human contact."

Each initially spent nine months in a mattress-sized cell where the lights burned twenty-four hours a day. They were clothed only in boxer shorts, completely sealed off from the outside world with only their minds to occupy their time. Fountain turned to religion and endured twenty-one years before dying alone of natural causes. Silverstein became a skilled artist and lasted thirty-six years, longer than any other American prisoner in isolation.

Pete Earley—the only journalist to be granted face-to-face access with Silverstein—examines profound questions at the heart of our justice system. Were Silverstein and Fountain born bad? Or were they twisted by abusive childhoods? Did incarceration offer them a chance of rehabilitation—or force them to commit increasingly heinous crimes? No Human Contact elicits a uniquely deep and uncomfortable understanding of the crimes committed, the use of solitary confinement, and the reality of life, redemption, and death behind prison walls.

©2023 Pete Earley Inc. (P)2023 Tantor

Fascinating exposé of the horrors of the US prison system and its sterilized torture of human beings in solitary confinement

Brilliant biography and fascinating protagonist. A rare look into the troubled life, resilient mind, and human spirit of Thomas Silverstein and his survival in the harshest of worlds.

Interesting to see life in extreme

Interesting story about the life in a maximum security prison. An area of interest that few (fortunately) know of.

Parents

Parents can destroy or cherish. Those who destroy their children leave far reaching ramifications. It is clear that a loving father and mother is a great gift.

Worthy read

Very well researched and narrated. Interesting history of the prison system as it relates to what most would considered cold blooded killers

only real life could make a story like this

because a great job of putting you in his shoes. I love how It incorporates the letters from their correspondence through the years. absolutely mind blowing someone can be an isolation for more than half their life