Imagine locking yourself in a room no bigger than a large closet. Now imagine remaining in said room for days, maybe even months, or if you’re lucky, years. No natural sunlight, just a single fluorescent light on for the entire day and night. No windows where you can see the outside world. No outside noise, cause it is separated by a foot of concrete. The only thing you can hear is the constant hum of the light, metal doors, heavy footsteps of guards, and the screaming and shouting of your inmates trying to talk to each other. You eat bland, barely edible food. Also, the guards, who prey upon the weaker, vulnerable inmates storm the halls every hour of the day. Occasionally you hear the wails of an inmate resisting and the rustling of him being dragged out his cell. As your stay goes on, with nobody to talk to, your mind begins to slip, you begin hearing voices, your emotions become unruly and out of control. This enclosure is all you know. Solitary confinement has consumed you, …show more content…
They don't have anyone to vent to, to talk to, and end up bathing in their own emotions. Now imagine leaving them for days, months, or even years at a time. Now, after all that time, they get thrown directly back into society, now you have a broken, angry, and confused person on the streets, posing a threat to their communities. Solitary confinement has been used for years, and time after time, it has proven itself non rehabilitative. Solitary’s original purpose was to subject prisoners to “silence and solitude” in attempt to induce repentance and motivate prisoners to take part in a more socially responsible life. But even in its infantancy, people such as Alexis de Tocqueville, who is a 19th century political theorist, noticed its detrimental effects on people subjected to solitary. “The absolute solitude, if nothing interrupts it, is beyond the strength of man; it destroys the criminal without intermisson.” he