After reading “The Cost of Solitary Confinement,” I agree that the use of solitary confinement should be abolished in prison. Before the reading, I have never heard of such a thing as solitary confinement. Once I started reading the story, I immediately thought this was a foul in wrong thing to be doing, and was flabbergasted that it was even existed in our prisons today. There are many different reasons that I agree with this, but I'm only going to be focusing on if you of them. First off, if none of you are familiar with solitary confinement is, I'll give you a little run down.…
In their paper,Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court, Malcolm C. Young and Jenni Gainsborough say that children put in prison are less likely to make it out of prison by the time they are suppose to be released. The two show that children put in prison are, “7.7 times more likely to commit suicide, 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by staff, 50% more likely to be attacked with a weapon” (6). This means that some parents may…
The United States prison system is notorious for the way it treats its inmates. There are so many theories, and facts to back up the claim that the prison system is not working the way it was intended to be, and it continues to be a growing issue that the government is not addressing. Further, within the already complicated prison system, there is another issue. Solitary confinement, which was originally supposed to be used as a short term punishment within prisons, or jails, has now become an integrated part of prison life (Edge, 2014). Solitary Nation, is 2014 documentary highlights the damages that solitary confinement is doing to people (Edge, 2014). Individuals whom have not shown any signs of degrading mental health come out of segregation, or as the inmates call it, “seg,” disturbed (Edge, 2014).…
Solitary confinement needs to be eradicated not only because it changes peoples’ brains but also because it has an indelible effect on a person’s “whole person”, their essence. Hard Rock’s treatment, which is now illegal, is no different than modern day prisoners’ treatment. Both treatments yield the same thing: distortion of the mind and in severe cases, a disabling of it. Simply, these inhumane acts detract a significant amount of humanity from a person. It takes away dignity and self-awareness in some cases. It plagues the youngest, troubled, testosterone- fueled inmates with senescence. This is beyond cruelty, this passes into the realm of evil, exorbitant torture. Why is torture acceptable in today’s society? Is the government really…
The decision from Mayer Bill de Blasio to end solitary confinement for juvenile inmates in New York City may be the action needed to lead to a more humane treatment of the incarcerated. Solitary confinement has often been argued that it falls against the constitutionally given right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishments. Subjecting juveniles to this kind of treatment, makes it an even more controversial topic. Because solitary has the reputation of degrading the human mind, juveniles, who already have a delicate mental imbalance, are likely to suffer more as they go through the daily “23 hours” of depressions, hallucinations, and desperations that are caused by solitary. It can also be disputed that solitary can be for the juveniles’…
Not a day goes by where our national media doesn’t report on stories involving heinous and criminal acts committed by juveniles in the United States. Juvenile delinquency is a fact of life – ranging from minor status offenses to unimaginable acts of violence. When dealing with young offenders, there are always difficult decisions to make concerning appropriate punishments that take both public safety and the needs of the juvenile into account. In response to a recognizable increase in youth crime, getting tough on juvenile delinquency and holding young offenders more accountable has been the national trend in the past two decades (Brinks, 2004). Many argue that removing juveniles from the environment in which their crimes were committed is the most successful deterrent of future negative behavior. But what does secure confinement provide these…
According to Nate Balis the director of juvenile’s justice strategy group he stated that “ incarceration of juveniles is not helping the community stop a person to stop committing crime it persuades them to keep doing what they’re doing and don’t care about life at all.” (Balis)…
of imprisonment because one should only have to serve their prison sentence, not the side effects that go along with it.…
This third of the prison population that was placed in solitary confinement, one day may be released into society and asked to be socialized, when they were never rehabilitated, but rather segregated. The correctional facility is furthering the damage to inmate’s that are already psychologically unstable and furthering dissocializing these inmates, then releasing them. We would not even put animals in a situation where they would be isolated from others, because we understand the importance of socializing, but we do it to inmates and define it as humane and are confused why recidivism is so high. Solitary confinement without rehabilitation will lead to more issues, rather than solutions. Caging what society defines as animals, then isolating…
I read the story “The Bet”, during my research I found an article called “The wrong box: our prisons' use of solitary confinement is inhumane.” Although, the sceneries are different the outcome is the same. “In truth, modern solitary confinement drains more than life: It drains away the self” (Heffernan & Wood, 2015). On the one hand, a young lawyer willing to bet his freedom, and on the other hand jails where solitary confinement is used as punishment and even to protect vulnerable prisoners. The bottom line is that solitary confinement has devastating consequences to the human psyche and society (Heffernan & Wood, 2015, p.…
When in solitary confinement the inmates are more likely to have depression or violent urges which causes them to try to commit suicide which hurts them whether or not they…
Placing a juvenile into a secure facility is not advantageous to the juvenile and has nor proven to be to be beneficial to society either. Statistics show that almost half of the juveniles in custody have not committed a violent crime or one that was against another person (Elrod & Ryder, 1999). Secure facilities resemble prisons where offenders are locked down and kept away from the public, but provide no real systematic approach for helping the juvenile down a path that will lead them to being a successful member of society. Secure facilities also have a growing problem with violence within their walls and escapes attempted. Although the majority of the juveniles who are incarcerated in a facility came in for a non-violent reason, the method…
But the truth of the matter is that solitary confinement produces more harm than good. Solitary confinement produces and increased mental illness in the minds of inmates. It is true that solitary confinement is one of the few disciple procedures that prisons and officers have available to inmates, but their are other options like restraining chair and pepper spray. In conclusions solitary confinement is pretty useful but their are many more reasons to abandon and leave the practice than to keep it in use in prisons. Solitary confinement is one of the many issues that prison systems have in the united states along with the food, the violence and the growing inmate population. The method to solve all of these problems is to start somewhere and solitary confinement seems to be a good…
Today, there are more than 80,000 prisoners in the United States that are held in solitary confinement. (Solitary Confinement) The two main reasons persons are put into solitary confinement are because of ones conduct in prison, and the severity of ones crimes. They are locked away in an eight by ten cell for twenty three hours a day for years; sometimes decades. They are deprived physical contact with other people; with the exception of when they are moved to shower and exercise. Their meals are given to them through slots. Some hold the opinion that it is the only way to handle the worst prisoners. Others may insist solitary confinement is tantamount to psychological torture.…
Solitary confinement, a tortuous punishment dating back to 1829, is much alive and still in use in prisons around the world. Prisoners that are put into solitary confinement spend at least 23 hours in a small closet sized room with little to no contact with other human beings and no way to exercise their minds. In these poor conditions, prisoners find it easy to lose a grip on reality; they suffer from a wide range of things including, insomnia, distortion of perception, hallucinations, and PTSD even after being released. Even though countless studies have proven the detrimental effects of solitary confinement, not much has been done to prohibit its usage in the United States.…