Prison Alcatraz

Alcatraz Penitentiary harbored some of this country's worst criminals from 1934 until its closing in 1963. This prison was located on Alcatraz Island, which was in the San Francisco Bay. It was housed on this island so the prisoners would not be tempted to escape. This prison was shut down because of the high costs to keep it running. Although many prisoners attempted to escape, the prison claimed that all of them failed at it. Alcatraz was set apart and on an island, it was greatly guarded because it once was a fort, and the inmates were only allowed outside for one hour each day.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Solitary Confinement is the confinement of a prisoner in a cell or other place which he or she is completely isolated from any and everyone. Merriam Webster also states that even some prisoners are held from 22.5 to 24 hours a day. Solitary confinement is sometimes referred to as isolation, segregation, separation, and cellular confinements so that it seems different from solitary confinement or too make it sound like a less harsh punishment. Solitary Confinement is a huge controversy in today’s society, although some might of forgot due to the fact that there’s an orange oompa loompa celebrity as our president, but this has been a problem since it was introduced in 1829. “In 1829, the first experiment in solitary confinement was at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. It was based on a Quaker belief that prisoners isolated in stone cells with only a Bible would use the time to repent, pray and find introspection.”(Timeline on NPR.org) A large population of people believe that solitary confinement is a violation against anyone 's human rights. On the other side of this argument, some people believe it is a necessary form of punishment and that it does not violate anyone’s human or constitutional rights. In my personal opinion, Solitary confinement violates both the 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article five of the Declaration of Human Rights. I don’t understand how isolating someone for that

The government has concluded that any research lab should not keep testing animals in the cages, so why government is treating human being in that way? The term solitary confinement becomes so popular as the politicians promised to be rigid and tough on crime. The politician makes different promises about keeping us safe and putting bad peoples behind the bars, but they donot think twice about potential effects on the convict’s health and family. Moving on, Solitary confinement is an isolation of the prisoner in a dark room sized of toilet for the long period of time. It breaks their spirit and ability to think; also has an uncountable negative effect on the body. They basically spend more than 23 hours per a day in the room that is same as the average parking spot in the USA. It has so many psychological, mental and physical effects on the body. Most of the people who came back after serving months in the confinement, likely to suffer from mental illness and experience sleeping problems, hallucinations like strange sounds and uncontrolled fear. Furthurmore, the situation of the prisoners is worst because the human body needs to interact with other peoples to maintain their mental and cognitive state. Without any interaction, they suffer from anxiety and depression that leads to various health and behavioral problems.

The system, developed in 1829, initiated as an experiment, then wound up as a way to isolate prisoners who are considered dangerous. Solitary confinement can affect an inmate in many different ways. For example, in “Pro-Con: Should Jails, Prisons Use Solitary Confinement?” By Jessica Priest, it states, “A multitude of studies has shown solitary confinement not only worsens the mentally ill’s symptoms but can be harmful…” This shows that people’s mental problems may worsen in solitary confinement.

• It causes significant mental and physical pain and suffering. History Solitary confinement emerged in the United States during the 1820 when it was believed that isolating prisoners would be rehabilitative.

Solitary confinement is the most used form of punishment for those who are not stable enough to be housed with general population. With this knowledge, it is best to keep using solitary confinement as a form of punishment in the criminal justice system rather than abolishing it. Solitary confinement is one of the most common debates currently in the system. Many people believe that this form of punishment is harmful and does not rehabilitate offenders. Numerous individuals also believe that this is the best form of punishment for those who cannot be with general population because it is a necessity and provides protection for the inmate and correctional officers. It has not been empirically proven whether this form of punishment is effective, but

Alcatraz is known as the most secure prison in all of history. Seated on an island in Californian's San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz has held some of America's most high risk criminals. The prison operated for almost three decades between the 1934 and 1963. (Alcatraz) Alcatraz was known for housing the prisoners that were criminals in other prisons. A massive crime wave was unleashed when prohibition was enacted and during the great depression.

In order to tackle the issue of sentencing inmates to prolonged solitary confinement, certain measures must be taken. Cyrus Ahalt, Craig Haney, Sarah Rios, Matthew P. Fox, David Farabee, and Brie Williams, the authors of “Reducing the Use and Impact of Solitary Confinement in Corrections” discussed six actions that can be taken by correctional facilities in order to reduce the use of solitary confinement and possibly eliminate its negative impact. The six actions are the following: “1) Eliminate all solitary confinement not related to violent misconduct, 2) Limit the terms of isolation, 3) Prohibit the use of solitary confinement with especially vulnerable populations, 4) Require regular review of individuals in solitary confinement, 5) Provide specialized transitional services who are being prepared for transfer out of solitary confinement,

For centuries solitary confinement has been around. According to de Merriam Webster Dictionary solitary confinement is: “the state of being kept alone in a prison cell away from other prisoners”. This method is used as a disciplinary action for prisoners who commit devastating crimes, put other people’s lives in danger, or for the protection of oneself. Being under solitary confinement requires to be kept 23 hours on a cell per day during the period of time estimated depending of the gravity of your fault. This means staying alone by you, not interacting with society.

Since the introduction of solitary confinement and the construction of super-max prison there has an on going debate on whether using these punishment is violating the 8th amendment and also explaining all the health risk caused by solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is when a prisoner is held in a cell alone and they spend between 22.5 and 24 hours a day. Prisoners have no contact with other inmates and guards are also have limited contact with inmates. Solitary confinement was first introduced in the mid-nineteenth century and it was believed that it would help reform prisoners. The ideology behind solitary confinement and super-max prisons was that prisoners would be locked up alone and left with nothing but their Bible and this would allow the prisoner to reflect on his actions and wrong doings and eventually reform into a law-abiding citizen. But soon after solitary confinement was put into place it became clear that solitary confinement did not meet there goal of reforming individuals but evidence proved it caused harmed to the prisoners physical and mental health. Besides being harmful to prisoner’s physical and mental health it was also very expensive to run super-max prisons. Many began to question whether it was morally and ethically correct to keep prisoners in solitary confinement for long periods of time at once. When solitary confinement was first introduced it was used as a short-term punishment for prisoner who committed severe offenses in prison.

Isolation, being locked up in prison, does affect your wellbeing. One inmate had a disciplinary problem, which he was very aggressive towards the staff (Navasky & O'Connor, 2010). He spitted and threw body waste at the staff (Navasky & O'Connor, 2010). They had to use force on him to control his behavior. “The staff showed no interest in helping this person. The just wanted to lock him away” (Navasky & O'Connor, 2010). He called his experience in solitary confinement a prison within a prison, in which he called it worse than being taken from society to be placed in prison (Navasky & O'Connor, 2010). Segregation, isolation, is what makes inmates mental illness worse and what manifests psychotic symptoms. The video mentioned that if you are in segregation and you are not mentally ill the chances of you becoming mentally ill is very high, especially if you are psychologically fragile to being with (Navasky & O'Connor, 2010). If it were not for the new system, he would have been placed in segregation instead of the prison infirmary (Navasky & O'Connor, 2010).

Alcatraz one of the most secure prisons. Let’s back up why was Alcatraz needed. In the early 1900s a law was passed that made it illegal to make or sell alcohol. This made people mad crime was a daily thing robbers were stealing from each other. One of the most famous gangsters Al Capone opened up thousands of bars. Even when he was in jail he bribed the guards to let him talk to his men his bars thrived even though he was in jail

The cells designed for solitary confinement wards are built to reduce as much visual stimulus as possible (Browne et al., 2011; Nurse et al., 2003). Regardless as to why a particular inmate found themself in solitary confinement, the cells are not only made to reduce stimulus, they are also made for intense restrictions and control. Prisoners can find themselves in total isolation for a variety of reasons; some inmates are pulled from the general population for being considered being a threat to others (having committed a secondary mistake within the prison walls, e.g. starting a riot) meanwhile, other inmates are placed in isolation for their own benefit or safety purposes which are depicted and chosen by the prison authorities (Nurse et al., 2003; Bulman, 2012; Kupers et al., 2008; Browne et al., 2011). There have been cases where the decision to place a prisoner into solitary confinement is done prior to the arrival of the inmate and can be depicted by one of two things – a record of mental health or the charge against the criminal being placed in prison (Cohen,

Next, with Alcatraz being such a cold and harsh conditioned place, there were many people who tried to escape, but never fully succeeded. There was a total of thirty-six people who tried to escape in fourteen different attempts. There was a myth that it was physically impossible to survive a swim from the island to San Francisco, because of the water being freezing cold and sharks. The first escape attempt made was on April 27, 1936. A guy named Joe Bowers climbed up on the island’s edge and was shot down by an officer from refusing to surrender. Joe Bowers fell 50 to 100ft. and died. The second escape attempt made was on December 16, 1937. Inmates Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe got out of their cells ad jumped into the bay. There was a huge storm

With the new prison, the U.S. Army ran a rather mild institution with minimum security. “Prisoners spent their days working and learning…Many prisoners worked as gardeners while a select few were employed as babysitters for the children of prison officers (Mahaney, Erin. History and Facts about Alcatraz. About.com).