Seven South Carolina inmates are serving solitary confinement for a viral video they filmed inside the South Carolina's Kershaw Correctional Institution.
The video was recorded in 2014 and uploaded to World Star Hip-Hop where it went viral. The inmates were later charged by prison officials with assisting with a social media site, throwing up gang signs and on a contraband cellphone.
Dave Maass, a researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, uncovered the public documents showing seven inmates would spend nearly 1,000 days each in solitary (a total of 7,150 days or 19.75 years).
Mr Maass told the New York Daily News that prison officials likely gave the harsh sentence because they were embarassed by the video.
"It doesn't help the prison at all if they're filling up disciplinary detention with social media violators. It was a work of art, not an act of violence."
Officials at South Carolina's Kershaw Correctional Institution did not respond to The Independent's request for comment.
