Confinement In Prisons

The debate over the treatment of prisoners has been going on for years. Some think that they deserve the punishment they get and some think that they are violated. Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was the first place to experiment with solitary confinement in the U.S during, 1829. Eventually, Forensic Psychologists and Criminologists started to study inmate 's behavior while they were in isolation. If prisons could figure out a different way to punish prisoners instead of solitary confinement, the lives of inmates would be safer.

Solitary Confinement is an isolated room for prisoners usually as a method of punishment. They are locked up in a small cell for about 22-23 hours a day with little to no contact. They are also fed through

Being in a small room with no one to interact with would make any one go crazy. Inmates have experienced many problems but hallucinations, anxiety, insomnia, memory problems, rage, and claustrophobia are the most common. Even when they get out, prisoners tend to have social withdraw and psychotic episodes like schizophrenia. During their time in isolation, there tends to be more self-harm and suicides than the general population. They feel so out of control to the point where they can’t take it anymore, so they end their life. Again, even when they are out of prison, they commit suicide because of all the damage they received in solitary confinement. Prisons are supposed to punish criminals but not to the point where they are going mentally insane and have to end their life. Hans Toch, a criminologist, came up with the term “Isolation Panic” to describe the instances of isolation to prisoners. During his study of about 900 prisoners he concluded that they felt abandoned, would have surges of panic or rage, and they would lose control. If criminologists or forensic psychologist are coining up terms to describe how atrocious isolation is for prisoners, then there is something wrong. Not only are psychologist looking at the impact of isolation so are brain researchers. They have concluded that the isolation creates stress, and stress hormones inhibit neuron formation, which can

There have been experiments with volunteers to stay in isolation and it was reported that the volunteers were only able to have a small tolerance for it. Some were able to stay in for a couple hours and maybe even a day, but the majority of them were going insane in the small room. If volunteers couldn’t bare it for more than one day, how do the inmates feel when they are in there for days, weeks, or even months. Yes, there are certain situations where they need to confine the inmates in solitaire. In those cases, they should the inmates should be in there for a limited amount of time and should only be used as a matter of last resort. There are some prisons that are forming a new solitary confinement that will be small and less restrictive than existing ones. The guards or psychologists at the prisons will also watch the behavior of the inmate to see if they need to be moved or get help. This is a wake up call for people to start realizing that solitary confinement is torturous and degrading. People may think that prisoners deserve it but in all truthiness they don’t deserve to have their insanity played with. Creating a facility that is less abusive than solitary confinement will help punish prisoners for wrongdoings but also not violate their