You’re going to be here for 23 hours a day,” a voice directs as you move your head to gaze around, taking in the sparse furnishings.
Your time in your cell will last nine minutes – not nine days, nine months, or even the nine years and longer experienced by some of those in real life solitary. It offers a visceral, interactive experience through a Guardian app on your smartphone and VR goggles or Google Cardboard headset.
At least, that’s what you can see in a compelling new virtual reality journey built by the Guardian, which replicates the experience of solitary confinement in disturbing detail, complete with unsettling peripheral images, cracks in the walls and the hollow cries of fellow prisoners.Ħx9: a virtual experience of solitary confinement aims to highlight the psychological toll on those subjected to such harsh incarceration for between 22 and 24 hours a day.
