NAVIGATING SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN RUTH FIRST’S 117 DAYS

Abstract

Despite benefiting greatly from apartheid, a small number of white South Africans decided to join the war being waged by black South Africans because they were revolted and appalled by the system’s abuses. These people renounced the privileges bestowed upon them by the apartheid regime to devote their lives to fighting injustice and attaining their objective of a free and democratic South Africa for all. One of these white anti-apartheid activists is Ruth First, a journalist, who was detained under the 90-Day Law in 1963 and was kept in solitary confinement for 117 days. Given that research indicates the practice has widespread detrimental impacts on health, solitary confinement is the harshest penalty that can be legally imposed on detainees and prisoners, apart from the death sentence. This study undertakes a literary analysis of Ruth First’s prison memoir, 117 Days: An Account of Confinement and Interrogation under the South African Ninety-Day Detention Law. It examines her experience of solitary confinement, response, and adaptability to such confinement using Gresham Sykes’ deprivation theory. The memoir provides an insight into the harmful effects of imprisonment in general and solitary confinement in particular.