Can a judge sentence someone to torture

Do judges have the ability to give any sentence or punishment they want or do they have to follow a guideline?

The maximum (and less frequently, minimum) sentences for offences are set by parliament.
Many sentences have ‘Sentencing Guidelines’ created by the Sentencing Council. These attempt to categorise offences by harm and culpability. A judge must have regard to them but can depart from them with good reason. They are ‘guidelines, not tramlines.’

An example of this in practice is that assault occasioning actual bodily harm has a maximum sentence of 5 years (section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861) and the assault guideline (https://www.sentencingcouncil.or...) specifies ranges for different actions. So, punching someone once after being provoked and causing a bruise would be category 3 with a starting point of a Medium Level Community Order. Beating someone up with a baseball bat and causing severe swelling to someone’s head, a possibke broken rib and a bloodied eye would be category 1, with a starting point of 18 months imprisonment.

Why can’t dictatorships just spank people and sentence them to house arrest instead of torture?

Well… Not just dictatorships. Anyway, the reason’s the same as the reason Mr Putin used a banned war toxin to (try to) off a Russian who was spying for Britain, and polonium to zap a political enemy who took refuge in England. The point is not only to punish your enemies or rivals, but to do so in a horrible scary way that makes potential enemies or rivals give up their plans to oppose you.

Of course torture and murder are also more satisfying than just putting your enemy in jail or in exile.

Do you think solitary confinement is worse punishment than any other sentence?

As others have noted, solitary confinement is not a sentence.

Whether it is the “worse” punishment, is hard to say. There are many types of punishment that might be considered worse.

However, solitary confinement for extended periods of time can be extremely psychologically damaging. At least to some people.

You’re confining the prisoner’s body to a very, very small space. But the punishment inflicted is actually on the mind.

The human brain was literally not made to be confined to a very small space. It is designed to respond to new stimuli, visual, auditory, proprioceptive. As time marches on and the brain is deprived of the signals that it is designed to expect, some people can slowly lose their minds. Mental illness can develop, including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and others.

How does a judge decide the length of punishment?

Most of the crimes are specifically enumerated in Constitution, IPC or CRPC and the provision that identifies the specific Crime or act will also identify the appropriate punishment .

For instance , "Violation of this law constitutes a , punishable by a fine not to exceed Rs 5000 or imprisonment not to exceed 3 years, or both."

Given this range of potential punishment, a judge will then consider certain "aggravating" (उत्तेजक) or "mitigating" (कम करने) circumstances to determine where along the prescribed spectrum a particular convict's punishment should fall. Common factors considered by judges include:

whether the convict is a "first-time" or Habitual convict.
whether the convicted person was an accessory (helping the main offender) or the chief convict.
whether the convict committed the crime under great personal stress or duress.
whether anyone was hurt, and whether the crime was committed in a manner that was unlikely to result in anyone being hurt.
whether the convict was particularly cruel to a victim, or particularly destructive, vindictive, etc.
(sometimes) whether the convict is genuinely contrite or remorseful.

Can a judge go outside of sentencing guidelines if (s) he feels leniency is warranted?

Sentencing guidelines vary by jurisdiction. Typically, downward departures follow a two step process: 1) has the defendant shown a valid reason exists for a downward departure; and 2) is a departure sentence the best sentence or justified based upon the facts presented. Valid legal reasons for a downward departure are often set forth by statute.

How come different people committing the same crime get different sentences?

There are a lot of reasons. Judges are people and they're given sentencing guidelines, not a sentencing prescription. Lawyers are people too and some will argue mitigating circumstances (for the defence) or aggravating circumstances (for the prosecution) better than others. Some crimes have mitigating circumstances, while others don't. Some crimes have aggravating circumstances, while others don't. In essence, each case is unique and a judge will do his or her best to pass a sentence that reflects the demands of the law, the demands of the case and his or her own opinion.

From time to time judges do get it wrong and pass a sentence that's too harsh or too lenient. In such cases, in England and Wales, against a sentence that's too harsh the convict may appeal against the sentence (without necessarily disputing guilt) and against a sentence that is too lenient the Attorney General may appeal for a tougher sentence. In England and Wales an acquittal cannot be appealed under normal circumstances. Other countries have different laws, so not all of this may apply.

If you go to prison with solitary confinement as part of your sentence and not a punishment for bad behavior, do you get reading and writing material?

My brother is serving a sentence of life without parole for second degree murder at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola. He wasn’t sentenced to “solitary” which is called Closed Cell Restriction there, or CCR for short. To my knowledge, that isn’t done. Solitary is used as punishment for infractions within the prison. Even the Angola 3 were only put in Solitary as long as they were because of a decision by the Warden, not because of the judicial system on the outside.

I’m not sure how long after he arrived at Angola he had mail he wrote intercepted, which the officials who read the mail thought was code for him starting a riot and encouraging inmates to become Satanists. My brother is an atheist and the “code” was just a little cartoon he was writing. He wasn’t going to incite a riot. In any case, he was put in CCR and stayed there for about a year. During that time, he was offered materials to read from the library. He was able to make requests and they would bring things by on the cart. He was also allowed to either make orders or I could order him reading material from specific vendors approved by the prison. As for writing materials, he had access to a certain amount of new pens/pencils, paper, envelopes, and stamps every month. He would write these really great long letters. He has a terrific sense of humor and should probably spend his time in prison writing a book because he’s really good at it.

On top of the reading and writing materials, he also somehow got drawing materials. Not a lot, but large blank sheets of paper that he would use to draw things for my daughter. He would mostly do the drawings in pencil, but he also did some things in colored ink. He was really good and it helped him pass the time. Plus, there were really cool drawings for my daughter. Like these:

This one is of Herman “Hooks” Wallace of the Angola 3, who my brother knew while in CCR.