Self-Harm In Jail

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).

This paper explores the topic of mental health within prisons and how it affects the inmates. The report of my findings were through research of twelve articles, two credible website sources, and a published textbook.

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 can cause mental distress to inmates. Solitary confinement causes problems with people’s heads, lives, and in some occasions makes the world more dangerous. The barbaric conditions of solitary confinement may cause or worsen depression, paranoia and anger. Scientist say if you ever go in solitary you will be damaged by it. If you survive it, it has impact on you. Solitary confinement is a big discussion all around the world, because of all these mental health issues. Inmates have nothing to do but just sit there. The barbaric condition only worsens men and women, they are lonely and drenched with depression in their heads. If there wasn’t solitary there would be less angry inmates walking out of the cells and going into the real world. Nikki Jenkins went straight out of solitary to be a free man, within a few weeks

What if something that is supposed to be keeping society safe is actually doing more harm than good? As it turns out, that might be the case with the solitary confinement of prisoners. For multiple days at a time prisoners are locked into a lonely cell as small as a bathroom stall, going days without any human contact or communication. While solitary confinement is expensive to taxpayers, it is costing even more in social terms, as it can debilitate inmates and cause serious mental harm in forms of anxiety, paranoia, and even hallucinations beyond their life behind bars. The argument ‘On the Edge of Humane’ by Keramet Reiter argues that the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement

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?

There is a loss of privacy for the prisoner, even though they are all alone in the cell, guards are constantly watching them. They are there watching every move they make. It is often argued that solitary confinement creates a loss of freedom because the prisoner is already taken away from society, but then also isolated again in prison. The idea of being surrounded by four walls for 23 hours of the day is frightening. Therefore, many prisoners develop suicidal thoughts, personality disorders, and mental illnesses such depression, anxiety, paranoia, bipolar, schizophrenia, and claustrophobia (ConnectUS, 2015). It can also be stated that the purpose of solitary confinement is often not effective because instead of having someone there to help them process what they did, they are isolated. Prisoners in confinement simply end up just waiting for time to pass by instead of thinking about their

Confined prisoners, many of whom are later released at the end of the sentence, are excruciated with a new behavioral deficiency as a result of their time in solitary confinement. This can dangerously affect social orders/groups and it can prompt higher rates of recidivism among these prisoners. As for a psychological aspect, any human contact is critical capacity for keeping the faculties in place and when that human contact is banned or denied, inmates can lose their capacity to work appropriately. Now and again prompt themselves to inflict self-harm as well as harm others in the population. Only one could imagine what this isolation could do to a

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

While solitary confinement is one of the most effective ways of keeping todays prisoners from conflict and communication, it is also the most detrimental to their health. According to NPR the reason for most solitary confinement units in America “is to control the prison gangs (NPR, 2011).” But that is not always the case. Sometimes putting a gang member in solitary reduces the shock and awe effect that it is supposed to have, when they start losing their minds. The prisoners kept in solitary confinement show more psychotic symptoms than that of a normal prisoner, including a higher suicide rate. Once a prisoner’s mental capacity to understand why he is in prison and why he is being punished is gone, there is no reason to keep said

In the case of juveniles or young adult offenders, who in prison are vulnerable to attacks and abuse from other inmates, being placed solitary confinement grants the protection and security. Another benefit is that the prison officials can subject more aggressive and violent inmates to solitary confinement to further protect the general population of inmates. Moreover, supermax prisons that subject inmates to solitary confinement decrease the likelihood of gang affiliations and formations, in which the prison officials are able to further control the safety and security of the prison. However, the negatives effects of solitary confinement outweigh the positives. Therefore, solitary confinement needs to be reformed to lessen its negative effects.

Once an inmate is place on solitary confinement, the only social interaction they have is with two armed guards as they are escorted to the “yard” or their one hour of activity. I emphasize “yard” because the area for activity for inmates under isolation is hardly able to be considered a yard. It is barely bigger than their cell and many times it is completely enclosed with fencing from the walls to the ceiling. This isolation from humans and the outside world has sever effects on inmates. Prisoners in solitary confinement have increased rates of self mutilation and suicide.

The United States practices solitary confinement. “It is commonly thought that solitary confinement is reserved for incorrigibly violent, dangerous people—the worst of the worst.” (Cloud, Drucker, Browne, & Parsons, 2015) However, in researching solitary confinement, whether or not the inmate was dangerous has not always been the reason that inmates end up in solitary confinement. In some cases the inmates who are placed in solitary confinement are not at risk of causing harm to guards, prisoners or anyone else. According to the Penal Reform International website states, “Excessive use of solitary confinement in prisons around the world is becoming an increasing concern. (Penal Reform International, 2015)

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