Imagine spending more than 300 days in a 6-by-9-foot cell with only a concrete bed and a toilet, lacking any natural light. Imagine being fed throughout those long months on a diet of grisly prison food. Imagine, furthermore, being repeatedly woken up during the night, a form of sleep deprivation sometimes classified as torture.

What kind of crime would merit such punishment? Certainly not shoplifting or vandalism. Something more serious, you might think. Armed robbery, perhaps.