Differences Between Internal And External Evidence

Many researchers have found that long periods of time in solitary confinement can have negative mental effects on inmates. This is due to long-term confinement because it consists of not only prolonged deprivation of social interaction but also sensory deprivation (Haney, 2003). Medical ethics are also in question about the effects of long term confinement. Medical professionals have to handle a particularly difficult situation because they are required to provide medical assistance to these inmates that may be facing psychological issues. This is a problem because medical professionals are aware that solitary confinement has negative effects on the well-being and mental state of these individuals (Shalev, 2011).

The deinstitutionalization of state mental hospitals has left many individuals untreated and in the community where there come under police scrutiny due to their odd behavior, that is a manifestation of their illness. Majority of mentally ill offenders have not committed a serious crime and are subjected to inappropriate arrest and incarceration (Soderstrom, 2008). This new policy has become quite a concern to the fact that the correctional environment has proven to show no positive results in the mental health of the offender during their time of incarceration or upon their release date and thereafter (Soderstrom, 2008).

One evidence based practice technique that I have seen utilize in my healthcare setting is the use of locked doors on the psychiatric unit. All the doors are kept locked and you have to access them with a key to unlocked them. All visitors have to go through a lobby and check in and then have access to the unit by a healthcare staff member. Having a locked unit ensures the patient are kept safe. According to the article, Psychiatric care behind locked doors, locked doors are used to regulate patients and any other people to have access on and off the unit. This helps protects the community from the patients and protect the patients from the community. This is a major safety issue. If anyone access to the unit they could bring the patient things

In the Frontline presentation, “The New Asylums”, the program explored the lives in prison of several Ohio inmates. The presentation presented numerous distinct issues of the treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. The most significant issues presented within the program were the medical treatment received both in and out of the prison system, factors that influence punishment, isolation and medication, the length of the sentencing the mentally ill receive, and why prisons seem to have become the new asylums.

Patients that we received often wants to either harm themselves or others, and these patients are also considered violent which lead to the frequent use of restraints and seclusion. Using these methods represent a danger to not only staff but also for the patients. Many injuries occur during these confrontations. The need to minimize the use of restraints and seclusion on the unit is necessary for patients and staff safety.

Throughout the ages, the idea of involuntary hospitalization has always had its supporters and its detractors. Many people have long debated the ethics of forcing treatment on patients that cannot always make the best decisions for themselves. Involuntary commitment is now a very hot topic, especially in a state like Florida, where their Baker Act and Marchman Act laws are greatly debated on their usefulness versus their harmfulness. The Baker Act, enacted in 1971, is Florida’s main mental health law, which allows for the voluntary and involuntary commitment of mentally ill patients who are believed to be a threat to themselves or others. Many have highlighted key issues

The statistics on this topic are very elusive, but we know that approximately twenty thousand inmates are in solitary confinement in America‘s supermax prison, and thousands upon thousands of others are held in isolation in other smaller prisons and jails. In the early 1800’s, a new style of prison rolled around. It was called the penitentiary (Eastern State) and the idea base of this facility was to hold prisoners in solitary and reform them, not to punish them. Back nearly two hundred years ago, this makes plenty of sense, but why is America stuck two hundred years in the past? Why are we putting the human mind in an environment where the entire foundation of the brain begins to lose all understanding? Solitary confinement is for both the safety of the prisoner, and as punishment when rules have been broken. If prisoners such as rapists and murderers are terrified of this small little cell does that not say something? An estimated 20% of all inmates in the nation‘s prison and jails are seriously mentally ill, and the use of a solitary confinement system only makes this worse. In the punishment of wrongdoing and of violence, prisoners are thrown into solitary without a second glance. When we take into understandings that people with severe mental illnesses do not always know right from wrong, they tend to be the high population of those in solitary confinements. Once thrown into this small cell, prisoners are looked at like next to nothing, they are treated terribly, having only one hour a day to be placed in an even smaller cage like contraption and see the outdoors. With conditions like these, one statistic that is most often published, seventy percent of solitary prisoners commit suicide. Twenty three hours a day, seven days a week for weeks and months on end, these prisoners

​Mental health disorders are a significant cause of morbidity in prisons across the United States (U.S). Deinstitutionalization of the state’s mental health system has turned prisons into America’s “new asylums”; it has become a warehouse for the mentally ill. Our U.S prison rehabilitative services are not equipped to provide care and psychological treatment for the mentally ill which allows for these mental illnesses to persist, worsen or even trigger new ones. It can even cause inmates to wind up back in prison upon release for minor offenses. In addition to the lack of resources for these mentally ill individuals, the prison environment also directly affects the mental

One way that prisoners can be dealt with more humanely is by eliminating the need to use solitary confinement for minor rule infractions and prohibiting that inmates with mental illness be subjected to solitary confinement. According to “Solitary Confinement: Common Misconceptions and Emerging Safe Alternatives,” many believe the misconception that solitary confinement is used only for the most violent of inmates, when in reality disciplinary segregation is commonly used for minor rule violations. We should not be punishing inmates with solitary confinement for minor infractions instead we should enforce less severe consequences, such as providing correctional officers with sanction grids that guide them to choose the appropriate punishment for certain behaviors (“Solitary Confinement: Common Misconceptions and Emerging Safe Alternatives”). Moreover, inmates with a known mental illness should not be placed in solitary confinement because, in concordance with “Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement,” it causes severe mental suffering and isolating them to a small cell where they experience sensory deprivation constitutes torture. Instead of sending

Isolation has rarely been viewed as a positive thing. When people think of someone or something that is isolated, words like “lonely” and “outcast” may come to mind. Even in corrective facilities, such as prisons or asylums, isolation (or solitary confinement) is deemed as a punishment. A study was conducted in a hospital to determine possible psychological and/or physical problems isolation may cause for patients and Abad, Fearday, and Safdar found that, “The majority showed a negative impact on patient mental well-being and behaviour, including higher scores for depression, anxiety and anger

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with over 2.4 million people in jail (American Friends Service Committee). A census taken in 2005 discovered that out of those 2.4 million prisoners behind bars, 81,622 of them were being held in solitary confinement (Casella and Ridgeway). In that same 2005 census, it was gathered that 44 states use solitary confinement in their prisons (Casella and Ridgeway). Eleven years later one can only image how these numbers have changed, and most likely grown. As defined by Solitary Watch, “Solitary confinement is the practice of isolating people in closed cells for 22-24 hours a day, virtually free of human contact, for periods of time ranging from days to decades.” Solitary confinement

The report was to develop strategies for reducing the use of this practice throughout our nation’s criminal justice system. Over the past several months, a team of senior officials at the U.S. Department of Justice met regularly to study the issue of solitary confinement—or “restrictive housing,” to use the more general corrections term—and formulate policy solutions. This report is the culmination of the Department’s review (Raemisch 1). Data are from the National Inmate Survey (NIS), 201112, conducted in 233 state and federal prisons and 358 local jails, with a sample of 91,177 inmates nationwide United States. (Department of Justice 1).

Solitary Confinement is the process of isolating individuals incarcerated from the general population. Prisoners held in solitary confinement can be isolated from general populations for days, weeks, months or even years. In solitary confinement prisoners are confined to a small cell from anywhere between 22-24 hours a day. Solitary confinement prisoners are restricted from all human contact, activities including physical and educational and only allowed approximately an hour of free time alone outside their cells in a cage for recreation.. Individuals can be sent to solitary confinement for protective measures such as mental health, disciplinary actions and a host of other reasons. The use to of solitary confinement for protective measures has been a widely debated issue over the last few years because it could have both positive and negative effects on a given population. Over the years we’ve begin asking ourselves rather or not solitary confinement as a protect measure for individuals with mental illness is beneficial or detrimental to their health and mental state. The answer is simply yes, solitary confinement for the mentally ill is could have a detrimental affect on there health.

Due to the lack of proper resources and psychiatric professionals, the main source of programming and help that the correctional client has is the medication that is being administered to them by correctional officers (Brandt, 2012). Correctional staff often lack the proper education, training and knowledge on how to properly treat individuals will mental illness (Gur, 2010). Because of this the main form of behavioral correction is the use of segregation also known as solitary confinement (Kaba, Lewis, Hadler, Lee, 2014). Correctional staff will place inmates in segregation if they are a danger to themselves or others within the facility (Kaba et al, 2014). Segregation is severely isolating and can often further damage the inmate’s mental health. It often drives them ‘crazy’ or ‘insane’ because they cannot handle the lack of social interaction or the isolation stimulates their mental illness even further. An example where is would worsen a mental illness is schizophrenia, the lack of communication and light often can cause worsening hallucinations (Kaba et al,

Evidence-based practice (EBP) in nursing means making decisions about patient care on the basis of best, current, standardized practice and guidelines. According to an article, written by Dr. Kathleen Stevens, the development of evidence-based practice (EBP) is fueled by the increasing public and professional demand for accountability in safety and quality improvement in health care (Stevens, 2013). The author also mentioned in her article that the intended effect of EBP is to standardize healthcare practices to science and best evidence and to reduce illogical variation in care,