There was no "isolation room." We had Suspension, which was the redecorated Girl's Lounge, I think. Basically, it's a room with four columns of small metal school desks facing towards the wall. A larger office desk is in the back of the room; the securitas sits there and makes sure the kids follow the rules. Near the securitas' desk is a counter with cupboards underneath. Peanut butter, jelly, bread, chips, apples, and plastic silverware are kept in here (the kids aren't allowed to go out of the room for most meals). There's also a mini-fridge for leftover dinners.
In the Suspension Room, you're not allowed to turn around or look at anyone else. You're on bans with the whole school, including staff members (no talking/looking at/communicating with/acknowledging in any way the existence of anyone except for senior staff members that INITIATE contact with you - like if you're walking in line and Tim Brace says hi, you can say hi back but can't go any further (ie asking him how his day is going, etc.) unless he specifically asks you a question).
You are allowed to ask four questions a day: "May I go to the bathroom?" "May I get a cup of water?" "I have a medical emergency, can I go to the nurse/can you call an ambulance?" You need to raise your hand and wait to be called on to ask these questions (which can be annoying since the Securitas rarely look up from their desk and since you can't wave your arm around/turn around, you're just stuck there with your arm up for sometimes as much as 10 minutes).
You can't spend more than 3 minutes in the bathroom for bodily functions and 7 minutes if you're changing your clothes after recreation time.
Suspension is, as a result of a recent change, allowed to eat breakfast in the Dining Hall but they are segregated from the rest of the school and sit at tables on bans. They eat lunch and dinner in the Suspension room and get the gross leftovers that the rest of the school ate the night before.
Suspension is responsible for cleaning up after the rest of the school, especially on weekends. It's really humiliating. Basically, Suspension is the school's bitch.
You are not allowed to have any contact with anyone in the dorms. Like I said, you're on bans with the whole school all the time (except for one appointment per day) if you're in Out-of-School Suspension (OSS). You're on bans with the whole school except during school hours (8:00-3:15, excluding your lunch because you're back on bans/in suspension for lunch) if you're in In-School Suspension (ISS). Typically, an average Suspension student is on Pre-Animus bans but these can be lowered or raised depending on the severity of the behavior that landed you in suspension (someone who's is OSS for attempting to start a sex underground would probably be on Pre-Veneratio bans and opposite gender bans (depending on their sexuality) as well as Personal Bans with the people that he/she tried to start the underground with, whereas someone who's in ISS for being too hard on themselves and having low self-esteem might be put on less strict bans by their Adviser, maybe pre-Amicitia). Also, EVERYONE in suspension (ISS or OSS) is on bans with EVERYONE else in suspension and EVERYONE who is on an Action Plan (which is like Suspension Jr. You're generally on an Action Plan before and/or after you're in Suspension).
Suspension sucks. I know a few Securitas have quit because they think that Suspension is inhumane treatment. Honestly, yes, Suspension is degrading and infuriating and inconvenient and humiliating, but it's not abuse. It sucks. No one's denying that. Depending on the kid, it can help. But again, depending on the kid, anything can help. It's pretty much up to the kid. Suspension is awful but it is NOT - it is NOT - abuse. I feel like labeling Suspension as abusive is like accusing Tim Brace of pedophilia -- it's another flare being sent up to distract from the real issues. It's a lie and it's an exaggeration that undermines the REAL problems and the real things that Carlbrook graduates have the say.
I was in a mental hospital for a month of inpatient and a week of outpatient in 2005 (I was at Carlbrook 2007-2008). (Those two facts, along with everything else I have said so far, probably identify me to anyone who knew me there but whatever, I don't care.) There was a Quiet Room at the mental hospital. I saw kids get tasered and beaten and locked in there. I fell asleep to them screaming. It was the loneliest, most terrifying, most confusing time of my life. Comparing the Quiet Room to Suspension is ludicrous. Yeah, I'm not going to deny it, Suspension seriously fucks with your head. But there's no comparison between Suspension -- where there are PB&J sandwiches, heat, bathrooms, and a movie (albeit a lame educational one with a moral message like Rudy and Gandhi) every weekend -- and a Quiet Room -- where there's nothing but padded white walls, menacing orderlies clinking unlabeled pills in a pleated white paper cup, and a petrified, howling 13-year-old boy banging on the small window all through the night.
