The Detention Of Prison Inmates

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

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

Law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. This confinement, whether before or after a criminal conviction, is called incarceration.

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

A study conducted in California’s prison system from 1999 to 2004 determined that nearly half of all suicides committed by inmates were because they were in solitary confinement (Breslow, 2014). Although some inmates have failed at their suicide attempts, that does not mean that they have not attempted to end their lives. There is a higher rate of inmates self mutilating while being in solitary confinement than if they were in the general prison population (Breslow, 2014). This means that inmates that are isolated are more of a danger to themselves. Being in solitary confinement also attributes to personality disorders, Breslow mentioned that many inmates lose the ability to communicate with others after being in solitary confinement for a long period of time and thus do not want to leave their cells (2014). It can be argued that having inmates in solitary confinement is a human rights violation. When inmates are isolated, they are constantly being monitored through a camera. The inmates have no form of communication with people and even their food is passed through a slot on the door. Solitary confinement can be considered torture because it has been proven that by subjecting inmates to this they experience mental illnesses such as paranoia, hallucination, panic attacks, and suicidal attempts (Breslow, 2014).

Inmates in solitary confinement are more likely to lose their minds than other prisoners. Without sustained social interaction, the human brain may become as impaired as one that has incurred a traumatic injury (Gawande 6). In most cases, solitary confinement is an extreme punishment that isn’t always necessary. It should be used in certain cases and, if it is needed, inmates should not be treated in the ways they are now. Solitary confinement should only be used if it is necessary and if it is, under certain circumstances.

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

Can you imagine spending years without having social interactions with others or without complete access to basic human activities like showering and exercising? Around the United States, eighty thousand prisoners at any given time are sitting in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement of prisoners is addressed by many various names that include; isolation, control units, super-max prisons, the hole, administrative segregation, maximum security or permanent lockdown. The use of solitary confinement on prisoners is cruel, ineffective, and inhumane.

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).

The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch created a report that described how placement in solitary confinement exacerbated the stresses of being in jail or prison. Many resort to harming themselves with staples or razors, having hallucinations, losing touch with reality and having thoughts of or attempting suicide – all this while having very limited access to health care. While some inmates are known to have psychiatric disorders prior to entering the prison, others develop mental disorders as a result of being placed in a solitary confinement. Psychological effects can include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia and psychosis. Moreover, isolating prisoners who are known to have mental illnesses is that it prevents the inmates from ever possibly recovering.

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

Imagine spending 23 hours a day locked in a tiny concrete cell, smaller than some closets. There is no human contact, no windows to look outside, and hardly anything to stimulate your senses. The other 1 hour you will spend in recreation, which is nothing more than a cage outside, barely larger than your room. There is no space to run, no view of the outside world. You’ll never even see a blade of grass during your stay. This is solitary confinement, something many say is a sentence worse than death. In the United States today, there are over 80,000 prisoners currently in solitary confinement. It was originally proposed as a rehabilitative means, however, it has been proven to cause more damage than anything, ultimately provoking more violence and causing mental deterioration. Some prisoners may even end up spending an entire life sentence in solitary confinement, which defeats the purpose of rehabilitation. It is often viewed as a mere act of torture. According to the Prison Policy Organization, “An estimated 56 percent of state prisoners, 45 percent of federal prisoners, and 64 percent of jail inmates have a mental health problem” (Mental). Most inmates need help, not to just be locked away and kept apart from the world. Many can, and will with the correct treatment, function as a safe member of the community. As a society, we have come a long way in the area of mental health and have become more humane in the way we deal with societal issues, such as crime, and should