12 Darkest Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Moments
6. O'Brien Is Implanted With 20 Years Of Prison Life - Hard Time
When Miles O'Brien is falsely accused of espionage by the Argrathian government, instead of getting thrown in prison like a caged animal, they decide to try something different. But make no mistake, different doesn't necessarily mean any less cruel.
Their process is simple: instead of making him live 20 years in prison, they simply CONVINCE him that that's what they did by implanting perfect memories of spending 20 years locked away in an Argrathian gulag. As far as Miles knows, he just got out of prison that same day. As you can imagine, the true cruelty comes in when he finds his friends and family not a day older than when he "left", making his already frayed mental state basically fall apart completely.
It's a genuinely harrowing scene as the most obsessively in control character next to Odo turns into a PTSD stricken, barely functional man right before our eyes, to the point where he can barely even be around his own family. And of course, Colm Meaney knocks every second of it out of the damn park.