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…
Isolation is a broken framework that was resolved to be inadequate and destructive in the 1800's but is still utilized today. It doesn't bring down detainee animosity, in truth it appears to raise it. Reprieve Global's calls for abrogating the practice additionally highlight the issue. Singular ought to be controlled, utilized less every now and again, and for shorter periods of time. Consolidating this with utilizing elective techniques to begin with, ought to be useful to the jail framework and society all in…
Most people understand what solitary confinement from films or television shows that revolve around a prison. The prisoner is sent to a cell where they have zero human interaction, unless it is with the prison guards escorting the prisoner for vital human needs such as eating, which is also done alone. It is a punishment for the inmates that have been deemed unsafe to have around the normal population of the prison, or have done something wrong that caused the prison to send them to solitary to punish the prisoner for what they have done. I was originally someone who believed something such as this may seem simple enough to understand and was a humane way of dealing with a problematic prisoner, when in reality, it is much more traumatic for…
When you think about what has changed between now and the 1800’s there are endless possibilities to mention. Most of the time however these changes have been for the better. When you come across something that hasn’t changed much one can’t help but wonder why. The similarities between institutionalism now and in the 1800’s are eerily similar. “In the 1830’s jail was an all purpose solution for a lot of issues” (Campbell, 2014). Intentional or not I still feel like this is still the case. The people in prison who are confined in solitary either have mental issues, which caused them to end up in solitary confinement, or they made a bad decision causing them to end up in solitary. Whatever the primary mental state of the prisoner, the majority…
However, in the case of Sully and those with the same punishment, it can be pushed beyond the brink of sanity. Based on the workings of Fathi (2015) “A considerable number of the prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition...others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide” (p.170), despite these clearly immoral issues it still stands as a plausible punishment. In most cases, the negative effects of solitary confinement can be far reaching into person's mind. In a study found by Fathi (2015) “[N]o study of the effects of solitary or supermax-like confinement that lasted longer than 60 days failed to find evidence of negative psychological effects” (p.170), with ranging levels of damage done that could actually be recorded. Moreover, as stated by Abramsky (1999), could turn Robert Scully, originally convicted of robbery and drug charges, into a killer and attempted kidnapper. In his argument, Abramsky paints a vivid and saddening portrait of the vessel that holds its captives to standards that are no short of appalling, the super¬max. A place designed to torment the already freedom less and…
One of the worst forms of violence Assata endured was being kept in solitary confinement without a particular motif. This forced inertia manifested itself physically in Assata. She states: “I have always been an active and restless person, and being locked up in that little cage all day drove me wild. I needed to stretch my legs. I started to run around the cell.…
Solitary confinement has been called into question as violating of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The Eighth Amendment guarantee the protect from any cruel and unusual punishment. On Febuarary 24, 2012, a Russian immigrant named Viktor Bout challenged the use of solitary confinement during his time in Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). Bout was convicted on 2 November 2011, for conspiracy of attempting to smuggle arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to kill U.S. citizens and delivery of anti-aircraft missiles. Once Bout was convicted he was held in solitary confinement for fourteen months. Judge Scheindlin (2012) ruled that,…
Critics of Va. supermax prison doubt isolation is the solution – A lot of critics think isolation has no solution yet worse affects.…
Many prisoners, after being put into solitary confinement, seem to lose hope that anything will ever be fine again. Jason breslow records the statements of one Harry Harlow as he says, “‘most subjects typically assume a hunched position in a corner of the bottom of the apparatus. One might presume at this point that they find their situation to be hopeless.’ Harlow also found that monkeys kept in isolation wound up ‘profoundly disturbed, given to staring blankly and rocking in place for long periods, circling their cages repetitively, and mutilating themselves,’” in reference to many subjects he observed.…
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.…
Imagine alone in a dark hole for twenty-three hours a day, no one to talk to, to look at, or anything to do and with the exception of food, that is what Solitary Confinement entails. Solitary confinement is a controversial form of punishment used in the prison. Prisoners who are placed in Solitary Confinement will spend up to twenty-three hours a day in a cell without human contact except prison staff. Solitary Confinement should not be in the prison system because it drives people to suicidal thoughts, and also causes insanity and want to do more harmfull things to more people.…
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the prison system in the united states. Some of the controversies involve overcrowding, excessive costs, and the increase of violence. One of the biggest issue is solitary confinement. Although many way that solitary confinement is the only solution to keep and restrain violent inmates, because research shows that solitary confinement does more good than bad, harms the mental state of prisoners, and is more costly than the regular prisons, the practice should be abandoned and made illegal in all 50 states.…
There are plenty reasons that solitary confinement should be changed based on research, but there is also many obvious reasons for it to stay the same. Most people would feel bad for someone just sitting in a jail 23 hours a day but you shouldn't. The reason that they are sitting in a jail for 23 hours a day is because they hurt or did something horribly bad. The only reason they are in jail is because of themselves. For whatever they did this is what they get as a punishment. The most important part of our days is being safe. And to leave these prisoners with others horrid thing may happen.…
One big problem that I find with solitary confinement is that it the inmates in there are getting some kind of social reinforcement. The social reinforcement that they are getting is not the positive kind either. The inmates are cutting themselves to get attention from the prison staff while they are in solitary confinement. This is not healthy for them or for the staff, with all the blood that is coming from the inmates has the possibility of spreading disease. These inmates are learning that acting out or threatening to kill themselves ore others they will get attention from the prison staff this is not a good thing to be getting reinforcement from.…