Solitary Superstition

According to the Oxford Dictionary, solitary confinement is defined as “the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as punishment,” Not only does the United States imprison more citizens than any other country in the world, but the US correctional system places the largest amount of prisoners in solitary confinement (Cloud, Browne, Drucker, & Parsons, 2015, p. 18). According to the definition of solitary confinement, it is used as a punishment, but what other reasons does our criminal justice use to support this practice? One researcher explains that this practice is also used to separate the general prison population from the population of violent criminals who may be a risk to others (Cloud et al., 2015, p. 19). However there is another side to solitary confinement, which is the damage that it causes. According to one researcher, solitary confinement not only restricts prisoners from having contact with the world outside of prison but it also restricts their socialization within the prison walls (Marcus, 2015, p. 1160). Another researcher would even go as far
2014, Ridgeway 2013, Stroud 2012). If a prisoner comes in with prior mental health issues, this research demonstrates that it will get even worse when exposed to solitary confinement. On the other end of the spectrum though, is those who come in with good mental health but slowly deteriorate while in solitary confinement (Gallagher 2014, Gordon 2013, Pizarro & Narag 2008, Pizarro et al. 2014, Ridgeway 2013, Stroud 2012). This is a problem because our prisoners are not getting those with mental health issues the help that they need before release. If these prisoners are not receiving the mental health treatment they need to function, they cannot be expected to perform to their full potential upon