LOSS OF VISION For roughly 70 years, countless prisoners marked time in The Hole by scratching tally marks on the wall. With no heat or air conditioning, little ventilation and hardly any light, release couldn't come fast enough, even for the toughest convicts. In fact, it was so dark inside, prisoners would lose their vision within days. Upon release, a fellow inmate would be assigned as a guide until their sight returned, usually within a week's time. The extreme physical, mental and emotional effects of solitary confinement in such dire conditions reportedly weighed heavily on Warden Joe Freytag. In fact, it was said Warden Freytag would visit prisoners in the middle of the night to check on their well-being. Though not nearly soon enough for many a suffering man, the "old hole" was finally shut down in the 1960's.