"The Fire Inside" magazine, written by offenders in California women's prisons, quotes one prisoner as saying that her recommendation for those held in solitary confinement is “to create a schedule” and figure out the time of day, because it “helps to assert control over your own life and not be totally defined by whatever ‘routine’ the prison is forcing on you.”

Another aspect of their identity that is destroyed is their ability to form relationships with others.In most societies, women are perceived as being particularly social; having relationships with other people is seen as an essential element of their role as women in particular.