For instance, some form of solitary confinement has been viewed as a fairly standard and appropriate punishment since forever. But now, with our modern understanding of, you know, human psychology, studies suggest that solitary confinement is especially cruel. It’s torture for your brain. James Madison did not understand this and likely wouldn’t have cared if he did. Why in the hell should that matter now? We know. We are the ones who know. And we are the ones who have the option of making cruel punishments, like solitary confinement, unconstitutional.
