At the city jail, King was placed in solitary confinement, cut off from contact even with Abernathy. He expected some word from the movement’s lawyers, but the long night passed without news from anyone on the outside. Jail going had always been extremely difficult for King, even when Abernathy accompanied him, but the loneliness of solitary confinement and absence of outside contact made it considerably more painful. King said later that first night in the Birmingham jail represented some of “the longest, most frustrating and bewildering hours I have lived … I was besieged with worry.”
