Solitary Superstition

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).

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.

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.

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

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?

Solitary confinement in the prison system is far too common in this country. Bohm and Haley (2017) note that 15 consecutive days spent in solitary confinement is considered to be cruel and/or torturesome as reported by a UN Special Rapporteur. These 15 days are also the point at which psychological damage occurs and is also irreversible. So if 15 days has been identified as cruelty and likely irreversible to one’s mental stability, then why do prison systems continue to place inmates in solitary confinement for

The concept of solitary confinement in itself is absolutely inhumane because being subjected to it has long lasting effects. In 2015, after serving a three-year sentence for supposedly stealing a backpack, a 22-year-old Kalief Browder committed suicide. What drove him to suicide was the damaging effects from prolonged isolation (two years to be exact) and the constant beatings he received at the hands of correctional officers and fellow inmates (“Kalief Browder, held at Rikers Island for 3 Years Without Trial, Commits Suicide”). We cannot lose another life because of solitary confinement, now is the time to eliminate solitary confinement and invest in more humane methods of

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.

Just imagine a criminal walking down a hallway to a small enclosed space that they will be trapped in there seeing those exact same 4 prison walls for days, weeks, month, and even years. Only seeing another human being when given food, though a small slot in the door. Some criminals turn out fine, but others Most of them slowly goes insane going crazier and crazier by the day. Many people have been debating on if solitary confinement should even be in prisons or not. So Solitary confinement does not effectively work as well as it needs to.

Eastern Canadian prisons still use Solitary Confinement despite numerous studies suggesting that mental health issues will arise from the punishment in the forms of anxiety, panic, insomnia, paranoia, aggression, and depression (Crime and Delinquency, 2003).

By depriving them of such crucial resources while their prisons because they are locked away in solitary confinement cells, inmates are being set up for failure because they lack the proper skills and resources that other inmates have access to while serving their sentence, which can be the reason for the higher revisionism rates among inmates who served time in the solitary confinement units compared to inmates who did not. (Unknown. 3) Because of data and studies provided by correctional facilities across the country, it’s safe to assume that solitary confinement doesn’t aid in the rehabilitation process of inmates but harms them even further since inmates would served time in long term confinement cells are more likely to commit additional crimes and be rearrested once they are released. If solitary confinement doesn’t work to rehabilitate inmates causes them to become more likely to commit additional crimes once released, then it shouldn’t be used as a form of punishment in jails and prisons across the

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

There are three common reasons for the mentally ill to be prevalent to isolation in our prisons systems (Torrey, 1997). First, those prisoners with preexisting mental illness may find it difficult to conform to prison regulations. They are therefore are often placed in solitary confinement for disciplinary purposes or administrative reasons. Second, many prisoners who are placed in solitary confinement develop severe mental illness as a result of the extreme isolation. Dr. Terry Kupers, one of the foremost psychologists on the impact of solitary confinement on mental health, explained: Being asked whether prisoners with serious mental illness are selectively sent to punitive segregation, or whether the harsh conditions of isolation and idleness cause psychiatric DE compensation in a vulnerable sub-population of prisoners. Of course, both mechanisms of isolation and segregation are in play and is of deep concern to all (Knowles, 2015). Third and lastly, mentally ill prisoners in isolation are more likely to violate prison rules and fail the requirements of so-called "step-down" programs, thus prolonging their solitary sentences. The confluence of these three factors has led to high rates of mentally ill inmates being confined in isolation. Empirical studies show that solitary confinement is linked to suicidal thoughts, impaired concentration, confusion, depression, anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations making it a clear factor in the increase numbers of mentally ill inmates

Over the past few decades, many researches have strived to test and explain the correlation between violence and crime and mental illness. Moore and Hiday (2006) assert that up 22% of inmates has a mental illness, sometimes containing more mental illness patients than many psychiatric units. Due to these statistics it is evident how important it is to understand the causes of the correlations between crime and violence and mental disorders. This proposal wishes to explain and understand the possible correlation and the reasons for such correlation between mental health illnesses and violence and crime. Further research to test

While dedicated research on the subject of psychological damage as a result of imprisonment is surprisingly sparse there are a few articles that touch on the subject. Prison is a ripe case study for many Psychology scholars due to its inherently insular nature and varied subcultures. Researchers have noticed frightening trends among inmates such as increased aggression, impairment of executive functions, and increased development of psychosomatic disorders.