Solitary Confinement
Why the Issue is Important
Solitary confinement, or in other words isolation, is the confinement of an inmate in a 80 foot cell or a special housing unit where he or she is completely secluded from everyone. In most cases, when an inmate is held in solitary confinement, they spend up to 23 hours of the day in a cell, and given an hour of free time in another small cell. The first experiment of solitary confinement started in 1834, and has been proceeding since then. When one is held in solitary confinement, they have very limited interaction with other individuals; they are denied phone calls, limited family visits, they have no personal property, and can suffer from insomnia and forms of brutality.
A frequently asked question is, “Why do
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Solitary confinement is often described as one of the worst type of psychological torture. Humans yearn for social contact to keep them stable; without the advantage of having others to reckon on, the human brain starts to slow down and decay. Humans need to have a sense of control and stableness; solitary confinement contradicts that theory. Isolation and absence of control creates anxiety, depression and hopelessness. Cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, paranoia and psychosis are all factors that can be caused from solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement has devastating psychological, physical, and developmental effects on juveniles. Knowing how damaging solitary confinement can be for youths, detention centers across the country use this method for as a disciplinary measure. There are recent efforts of reform in solitary confinement. Juvenile justice facilities currently hold about 70,000 children in confinement throughout the
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Humans need some type of social life in order to be stable, solitary confinement prevents them from those rights. To take away that social nature from humans deprives them of basic human needs, causing little to no privacy. It causes significant mental and physical pain and suffering especially to those already suffering from a mental disorder. Solitary confinement can cause prolonged depression that can stick to an individual for a very long time if not permanently. Aside from getting depressed, the absence of physical activity, social interaction, or natural sunlight in confinement solely will harm a person. In some cases, it's just unnecessary; some inmates end up in solitary confinement for giving a guard an attitude, or even simply for a tattoo that is thought to be connected to a gang affiliation. Solitary confinement should be used as the last method of any punishment, and a destination for the worst of inmates. The months and years that many prisoners stay in isolation are too long and unthoughtful. Days resided in solitary confinement must be reviewed due to all the effects of one's mental and physical health. Prisoners vulnerable to mental-health injury should not be confined unless if urgent. When inmates with mental disorders are sent to solitary confinement, the results can include long term damage. When placed in solitary, many of the mentally ill deteriorate dramatically and engage
Should Inmates Be Allowed To Stay In Solitary Confinement?
140 Words | 1 PagesInmates should be allowed to fight their stay in solitary confinement. Even throughout the prison system inmates still hold their Rights to be heard. A well-presented case against a stay in solitary confinement should be heard and it should also determine whether the inmate needs to continue being in solitary or not. Solitary confinement is effective but cruel at the same time, this can cause many problems such as lawsuits, possible deaths or mental illnesses from the prisoners who have stayed in solitary. The inmates who have stayed in solitary confinement have a right to appeal, just the same way these individuals have a right to appeal their conviction they can also appeal and fight against their stay in solitary confinement.
Was Anthony Graves Insane
2707 Words | 11 PagesGraves recalled that he remembers hearing loud piercing screams from inmates losing their minds and the feeling of isolation can dehumanize themselves. A person will eventually completely lose their emotions and become a shell of a person they once was. Graves noted, that there should be a reform on how solitary confinement should addressed when there is a need to separate a dangerous prisoner from the general population. He believes that there should be a system of policies and regulations that should be carried out in court before putting an inmate into solitary confinement. He claims that the majority of inmates in solitary confinement observes their lives is hopeless and
Solitary Nation By Dan Edge
1101 Words | 5 PagesThere are three ways to be sent to solitary confinement: the inmate is too dangerous to be around others, for their own
Solitary Confinement: Rehabilitation-Focused Prison System
75 Words | 1 PagesSolitary confinement, in my opinion, is cruel and unusual punishment. If there was not a mental-health crisis in America, and there was in fact a rehabilitation-focused prison system, solitary confinement would be greatly reduced and used much more sparingly. What is the point of driving people to madness by putting them in isolation? It would be so much cheaper for tax payers to change the system to a more effective one that actually reduces
Texas Death Row Appeals Process Essay
2122 Words | 9 PagesCriminals on death row will be placed in solitary confinement. This usually consists of twenty-three hours a day, alone in a small cell, with the only human interaction being with the jailer letting the criminal out for their one hour of exercise. Since the average time spent on death row is approximately ten years, the daily solitary confinement can have detrimental psychological effects on the prisoners. These effects, called Death Row Syndrome, include symptoms such as, depression, paranoia, hallucinations, self mutilation, thoughts of suicide, and stress (Harrison, 6-7). Prisoners also experience psychological stress and mental suffering from not knowing when their execution date will be.
Why Is Solitary Confinement Ethically Wrong
638 Words | 3 PagesMajor Ethical Issues of Solitary Confinement Solitary confinement can affect a person’s physical and mental health simply because it deprives an individual of their need to interact with others on a daily basis. Solitary confinement, which is used to restrain violent and volatile inmates from the general prison population, is done in increments ranging from several months to years. In an article retrieved from the American Psychological Association, ‘Alone, in ‘the Hole’’, the author states that, “for most of the 20th century, prisoners' stays in solitary confinement were relatively short.” This was the standing rule, in which inmates visited what is known as ‘the hole’, for several weeks to months. As time went by, the average length of stay
Isolation In The Film 'The Yellow Wallpaper'
623 Words | 3 PagesThought most people already know isolation is a dangerous to mental health it also can shorten a person 's life. Isolation can cause all sorts of problems for a patient from hallucinations,Dementia, Heart Disease, Liver Failure, and even induce a coma. In correlation to brain development, Elders who are lonely have a significantly higher chance to be diagnosed with dementia. The individuals who have experienced the effects of low spirits have a more serious danger of getting dementia, but the makers have over exaggerated this. The Hazardous results from having the emotions of being alone and not just the way that somebody lives by themselves or is socially isolated.
The Negative Effects Of Solitary Confinement
446 Words | 2 PagesSolitary confinement is, “Living in a concrete box the size of a walk-in closet. You get tour meals through a slot, you do not see other inmates, and you never touch or get near another human being”(Stevenson 129). Solitary confinement is a punishment not fit for humans. Humans need social interaction to live. We have established how messed up solitary confinement is, but how do we fix it?
Solitary Confinement In Federal Prisons
880 Words | 4 PagesIf we ever hope to come together and promote equality as a society, how must we do so if we suppress the needs of those with suppressed rights? To amend the issues that we have created, there must be stricter regulations around solitary confinement as it is a cause of unnecessary suicides, robs citizens of their basic rights, and brings down our intersectionality as a collective society here in Canada. Lately, the number of solitary confinement prompted suicides have skyrocketed, and have been on a steep incline for nine years, with no plans for amendment. A study at Cambridge University has determined that 63% of suicides in federal prisons take place while the inmate is in solitary confinement. "Shalev, Sharon, A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement (2008)."
Supermax Inmates
446 Words | 2 PagesThe past 25 years the numbers of prisoners who are held in solitary confinement has sky rocketed. State and federal prisons all have solitary confinement. Therefore, when an inmate acts out and tries to attack other inmates, and officers then they are put into an individual cell and are isolated from other individuals. One senator had said that the expansion of the use of solitary confinement is an issue. Supermax prisons hold inmates that are considered “the worst of the worst”.
Solitary Confinement Benefits
353 Words | 2 PagesIn my honest opinion solitary confinement in the U.S. is not justified and only does more harm than good. Not only is it a rash punishment, but it is one of the worst kinds of psychological tortures that could be inflicted upon an inmate. Human beings are undoubtedly social creatures and without the mere contact of another person the mind decays and ultimately leads a person to anger, anxiety, and hopelessness. Psychologists also claim that solitary confinement and isolation in general also cause depression or the loss of ability to have any "feelings", cognitive disturbances, such as confused thought processes and disorientation, perceptual distortions, such as hypersensitivity to noises and smells, distortions of sensations, and hallucinations affecting all five senses, as well as paranoia and psychosis which often times involve schizophrenic type symptoms, and finally, the worst of all symptoms, being self-harm such as self-mutilation, cutting and even suicide attempts.
Solitary Confinement Thesis
320 Words | 2 PagesFor decades, solitary confinement has continually been used in attempts to keep order in U.S. penitentiaries. Solitary confinement or “the hole” is a prison within the prison. First experimented with in the U.S. in 1829 it was meant to isolate prisoners in a stone cell with only a Bible with the idea that the inmates would reflect, pray, and repent. To be more specific “solitary confinement is a person in a cell alone for 22 to 24 hours a day with little human contact or interaction; reduced or no natural light; restriction or denial of reading material, television, radios or other property; severe constraints on visitation; and the inability to participate in group activities, including eating with others” (The Dangerous Overuse…). The cell
Solitary Confinement In Atul Gawande 'Hellhole'
488 Words | 2 PagesIn Atul Gawande “ HellHole” essay they talked about the experiences and effects of people who were previously in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement can be best explained as the process of removing an individual and isolating them from their environment and socialization. Atul Gawande is specifically talking about prisoners of war and incarcerated people and how their experience was and that process. The essay talked about how people are put in isolation which caused them to act out of their character. Goffman would argue that effects of solitary confinement are exactly what total institutions can do to a person's.
Rhetorical Analysis Of Hell Hole By Atul Gawande
625 Words | 3 PagesIn his essay, “Hell Hole” Atul Gawande informs his audience how damaging solitary confinement can be to the human body and character. To make his argument he uses examples of prisoner’s solitary confinement stories and people who have been similar situations. Gawande explains to his readers the difference phases and problems the human body goes through considering the lack of human interaction. The writer makes a compelling argument that solitary confinement is detrimental to the human’s mental state and physical well-being. His argument includes impressive diction, vivid emotional appeals, and logos appeal to guide his readers through his essay.
The Role Of Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1090 Words | 5 PagesIt is quite telling that the most severe punishment in our society other than the death penalty or torture is solitary confinement. Although, isolation is in itself a form of torture, it can drive someone to the brink of insanity. Although published nearly 200 years ago, Mary Shelley clearly understood the potential detrimental effects of isolation, as demonstrated in her famous novel, Frankenstein, where both main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, suffer from and cause isolation for the other. Mary Shelley directs the reader to believe that isolation is the true evil, not the monster, Victor or any emotion inside of them. At the beginning of the novel, Victor is isolated from other people, causing to forget his scientific
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