Seclusion And Restraints

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).

Inmates have been placed here for both short and long term sentences. Segregation has a significant impact on inmates with preexisting mental illnesses. According to Arrigo and Bullock?s (2008) research, ?the extreme isolation that was characteristics of the early prisons?ultimately resulted in serious physical and psychological consequences for convicts.? The SHU has become the way prisons control troublesome inmates. Solitary inmates are only out of their cells for weekly showers and recreation time, but they are still heavily restrained. These inmates have no contact with the general population including dining and religious gatherings. This method of isolation leaves no remove for communication with other

Four concrete walls, a steel bed, and a sink to soak the unclean clothes in as well as an insignificantly compact restroom. Welcome to solitary confinement where the lights always stay on and there’s always room for just one, you. When we think about solitary confinement we probably think of a killer or rapist getting what they deserve. What we don’t see is another human life being psychologically destroyed. Some of these prisoners have been in solitary confinement from a couple of years to decades. It is true that these are not honorable or peace keeping men, but a human life being tortured by solitude is a torture no one deserves.

Solitary confinement has had a long history in the American prison system. America is the first country to adapt solitary confinement into the prison regiment. Pennsylvania had the first special housing units for inmates or “SHU”. When Europeans came to America to look at the new model for prisons in Pennsylvania they wrote reports describing to the European parliament on how prisoners were treated like caged animals. Many of them quickly realized that this was not what prisons were set out to accomplish. The purpose of a prison is to rehabilitate criminals and bring them back into society as an individual that has the best mental tools and skills to make their respective communities better. Putting inmates in solitary confinement for more than 48 hours can only lead to awful emotional pain and mental problems which can result in self-destructive behavior to regain the self-control that is being deprived through this process of isolation and expulsion.

This section of the paper consists of three main parts. First, the research questions that will be addressed, the expected hypotheses and an identification of independent and dependent variables. Second, the supporting literature for the hypotheses is discussed. Third, a conceptualization (definition) and operationalization (measurement) of each independent and dependent variable. Research Questions

Solitary confinement is occasionally used in most prison systems as a means to maintain prison order. Mainly for disciplinary punishment, or as a place to put inmates that are at escape risk, or a risk to themselves and prison order. Sometimes inmates that are sex offenders voluntarily choose solitary as a means of protection from other prisoners. Sometimes solitary can be used to hold pretrial detainees to prevent them from messing with witness, so they can’t try and force a confession. For 23 hours a day inmates are confined to the barren environment that is their cell with high surveillance (Smith, Peter Scharff, 2006.) Inmates have no social contact. Visits and phone calls are infrequent and highly restricted. Visits sometime only take place via video screens. The physical contact one experiences is limited to the interaction with prison guards, weather it be putting on restraints or taking them off.

When there is a mentally ill prisoner, should they suffer? Solitary confinement does this to prisoners all Solitary confinement means isolating prisoners in a separate cell as a form of punishment, worsening the prisoner’s mental health around the world. Mentally ill inmates have many factors of poor treatment in prisons worsening their health rather than helping them. Solitary Confinement remains an ineffective method of punishment for prisoners causing prisoners mental distress, many different forms of neglect, leading them to suicide, and worsening their mental wellbeing.

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

Solitary Confinement has been used as a punishment, to keep the prisons secure. However, with the changing of opinions from a few decades ago, to present time, more people want less solitary confinement used. With also corrections policies changing over time has also changed the dynamic of how a younger person could be charged and sentenced, compared to an older person who is not a juvenile could be put into solitary confinement. More facts about the use of Solitary Confinement, the policy is up for debate. Starting with do I agree with the New York Times, The Living Death of Solitary Confinement?

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

Dr. Milton Meltzer, former chief medical officer at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (2010) states, “The sense of self, the ego and ego boundary phenomena are profoundly affected by the isolation” (par. 4). Hyper responsivity to external stimuli, perceptual distortions, illusions, and hallucinations are all a result of being restricted to the conditions of isolation. Case studies have been observing why such changes in a person occur. Findings therefore led to evidence that individuals experience a degree of stupor, difficulties with thinking and concentration, obsessional thinking, agitation, and irritability. The list continues to grow depending on whether the individual already suffers preexisting mental conditions. Although it is still a controversial issue the use of solitary confinement has not been proved to be cruel and unusual

Restraints is an intervention used to confine a person to prevent injury to self or others. Different types of restraints include physical, chemical and seclusion. A physical restraint is anything that prevents the patient from being able to freely move. This can include seat belts, wrist restraints, vests, bed rails, etc. A chemical restraint is using a drug for sedation which also restricts movement or freedom. An example of a chemical restraint can be an antipsychotic. These drugs can be used to reduce anxiety, aggression, and violent behavior. Lastly, seclusion is isolating or confining the patient to a room where they cannot leave. This form of restraint is also to protect the patient from harming them self or others. The use of restraints or seclusion can be a useful intervention if all other interventions have failed. Patients should not be harmed with these restraints so it is crucial they are done properly. Patients who are put in restraints

Solitary confinement is isolation from other inmates as a punishment for when you fight or get in trouble in prison. People Say that Solitary confinement is like being in a prison inside a prison, and that the second prison is the prison of your mind. “The worst scars are left in your mind,” they say. The prisoners that already have mental issues are put in solitary confinement more than non mentally challenged inmates. More than them simply because they have the issues and they can’t “act right” but how are they supposed to act right if they don’t know what acting right is.

Since the early 1800s, the United States has relied on a method of punishment barely known to any other country, solitary confinement (Cole). Despite this method once being thought of as the breakthrough in the prison system, history has proved differently. Solitary confinement was once used in a short period of time to fix a prisoners behavior, but is now used as a long term method that shows to prove absolutely nothing. Spending 22-24 hours a day in a small room containing practically nothing has proved to fix nothing in a person except further insanity. One cannot rid himself of insanity in a room that causes them to go insane. Solitary confinement is a flawed and unnecessary method of punishment that should be prohibited in the prison

This may also include environmental restraints, in which the patient is locked in their room or seclusion from others. These are usually used to prevent patients from injuries sustained from falls or other accidents. Also, it is used to administer treatment when a patient is not compliant with medical practitioners.