Solitary Madness Research Paper

Solitary Madness History has shown many ways that criminals were punished for committing a crime. Some crimes in the past were punished with torturous techniques that were deemed suitable at certain points in human history. However, as time passed, many of those punishment techniques were viewed, by many, as cruel and demeaning, which sparked change in the way crime was punished. Legislation was created to protect the inmate from being punished too severely. However, as many of these institutions began to change and reform prison sentences, many still viewed punishment techniques as “coercive forms of control” (Wright, N/D, p 318). Even though, prisons are meant to control inmates every movement, they are also abusing that power in separating

According to Bulman, Garcia, and Heron (2012) 247 men between, Colorado State Penitentiary, and San Carlos Correctional Facility, which is a psychiatric care prison, were separated and broken down into ethnic backgrounds, which included 40 percent white, 36 percent Hispanic, 19 percent African-American, 4 percent Native American and 1 percent Asian. The results that were released concluded that the inmates that were housed in administrative segregation developed psychological symptoms. Some symptoms that were noted, were characterized as “free-floating anxiety, hallucinations, excitability and outbursts” (Bulman, Garcia, &Heron, 2012). However, these effects were from inmates that had no history of mental illness before entering the prison system. Furthermore, inmates that had prior mental illness exhibited worsening condition over time in administrative segregation, however, according to Bulman et al, (2012) mentally ill inmates would have more serious

The Colorado study demonstrated the psychological effects that caused both, sane and mentally ill inmates, to demonstrate hallucination and outburst by confining them in solitary confinement. However, because of deinstitutionalizing, there has not been a concise way of dealing with mentally ill offenders. There has not been programs that have been effective in helping and treating the problem. The problem has been dealt with incarcerating instead of treating, and that is the real problem. How does a system that is designed to punish, treat mentally ill offenders? The answer is legislative reforms to provide funding to treat and establish groups to monitor inmates inside prison, however, there must also be community involvement outside of the prison walls where offenders can establish an assistance and not be simply released to the wild as they are