Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster

If the goal of prison is to rehabilitate, why is extended solitary confinement practiced?

Prolonged isolation has no positive track record of curing any vice. The only predictable result is a socially inept, sometimes mentally instable person not capable of benefitting society, and just as likely to revert to old habits (if not more).

Solitary confinement does seem to have use as a short-term solution for bad-behavior, similar to being sent to one's room as a child (although without a playstation). Prisoner's may need the threat of undesired consequence to keep them under control, but even a year of isolation from human contact seems wildly inhumane, not to mention ten or twenty.

Few would call an hour or two confined to a room torture, but what if a parent decided their child needed to be discplined more harshly and didn't let them leave for a year? Even with the playstation, one would be hard pressed to label these tactics as anything besides torture.

Granted, many of the crimes that warrant extended solitary confinement are more serious than hitting a little sister, but the same principle applies.