when segregation was used as punishment, and to get a sense of how it was used in different institutions. Finally, where this was available, we asked for data on incidents of assaults, self harm and staff injuries.2 The visits and data provided a wealth of information which this report can only capture in brief. The report focuses exclusively on seclusion and restraint related practices, and does not address other aspects of conditions of detention and the treatment of people deprived of their liberty more generally. It describes the situation observed and necessarily therefore provides a snapshot of the use of seclusion and restraint at the time of the visits. Plans, aspirations and intentions to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint which were expressed at the time of visits are not reflected in the report, though I am heartened and encouraged to learn of progress towards this goal in recent months, and of the launch of the Department of Corrections' Transforming the Management of At-Risk Prisoners review, and look forward to its findings. b. Definitions For the purposes of this report, ‘solitary confinement’ is defined as the social and physical isolation of individuals in a place of confinement for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day.3 Though widely used in different places of detention all over the world, very rarely is this form of confinement called ‘solitary confinement’, as this term appears to be associated with undesirable practices of the past. Instead, depending on the detention context and their proposed aim, solitary confinement units are variously known as ‘segregation’, ‘isolation’, ‘seclusion’, ‘de-escalation’, ‘separation’, ‘high security’, ‘supermax’ and ‘special management’ units, to name but a few terms used in this context. In New Zealand, the terms most commonly used in the different detention settings visited for the purpose of this review were: 'segregation' (of which there are several types, discussed in the following section) in prison settings; 'seclusion', 'de-escalation' or 'low stimulus' in health and disability settings; and, in children and young people's care and protection and youth justice residences, 'secure care' and 'time out'. 2 Unfortunately, this data was not readily available from all the detaining agencies, and is therefore not reviewed here. Once obtained, the data on staff assaults should be examined in more detail. 3  This definition is based on the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement (2007) (Full text available at: www.solitaryconfinement.org/Istanbul) and the Mandela Rules. It is intended to include instances where individuals are not held in a room or a cell for 22-24 hours, but are still separated from others. For example, as was the case regarding regulations in children and young people’s residences which required those who were held in the Secure unit to spend the majority of the day outside their Secure room (but still within the confines of the Secure unit and in separation from others). 16