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The Hole: Solitary Confinement, By Jack Shihab

1030 Words5 Pages

Solitary confinement legal definition is referred as the act of being kept alone in a cell without any interaction with other prisoners (US Legal, n.d.). In the article “The Hole: Solitary Confinement” by Jack Abbot writes about a vivid real life description of the author’s incarceration in prison. Abbott account unfolds the hardship and the effects of solitary confinement on the human body and mind. In this enclosed space of a cell there is little room to maneuver, measuring ten feet long and seven feet wide. In addition, there is a bunk, toilet and sink combination which leaves only approximately seven feet long by three feet wide of walking space (Abbott, 2002). The psychological effect on the mind deprived from the constant daily state …show more content…

Confined to at least 23 hours a day with one hour utilized for outdoor exercise. Journalists Jason Breslow cover story “What Does Solitary Confinement Do to Your Mind (2014); broadcast the various challenges faced by the inmates. The first reality check for inmate in solitary confinement is the space of their cell, smaller than a horse stable. Inmates are feed daily their food delivered from a slot in the iron clad door (Breslow, 2014). Regardless of the restricted space and almost 24 hours of confinement; supporters of this type of segregation attest it keeps the prisons safe. Sadly, the truth is that solitary confinement does take a heavy toll mentally on inmates (Breslow, 2014). The philosophical question the writer seeks is summed up to if solitary makes inmate crazy; the effects on the inmates, and are inmates more dangerous after solitary confinement. The background to the effect of solitary confinement on the mind was conducted in 1950, by psychologist Harry Harlow. The research resulted in that extreme isolation is havoc to the human psyche (Breslow, 2014). Harlow test subjects were rhesus monkeys placed in a special designed solitary chamber. Within two days in the chamber the monkeys displayed signs of hopelessness, profound disturbances, with blank stares and rocking in place. In addition, the monkeys conducted self-mutilation, and for those who spent 12 months in isolation their social skills were almost obliterated (Breslow,

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800 Words | 4 Pages

According to Bassett, 50% of suicides occur inside solitary confinmenet (419). Not to mention, inmates are sometimes physically abused by the guards in power. Through the Solitary Nation documentary, it is seen that guards sometimes have to use bigger forces like a toxic gas to get an inmate out of their cell. While it makes sense that guards have to do it for their own protection, there needs to be thought about why inmates do the things they do. When inmates suffer from their mental illnesses, they begin to lose their sense of reality as well as sense of right and wrong.

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Research Paper On Solitary Albert Woodfox

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I INTRODUCTION TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT It is somewhere around three a.m. in the morning. You wake up to an empty, cold room, no larger than 60 square feet, with nothing but four walls surrounding you. You are stripped, handcuffed and taken about 30 feet outside your cell where you are allowed a brief shower.

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According to American Friends Service Committee, “numerous studies have documented the harmful psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement, which can produce debilitating symptoms and result in an increased risk of suicide and the effects are magnified for two particularly vulnerable populations: juveniles, whose brains are still developing, and people with mental health issues...” (2017). My topic of discussion deals with the injustice of social isolation in our prison system and the effects on an individual 's mental health. Kalief Browder a fairly normal adolescent residing Bronx, NY. Kalief endured false imprisonment at the age of sixteen; he spent three years and 800 days of those years were served in solitary confinement.

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TO: Thomas R. Krane, P.h.D., Acting Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons FROM: Roger Rael, Graduate Student University of Colorado-Denver DATE: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 RE: Evaluating the consequences of continued super-max confinement I. Issue The issue is broad and national in scope. Whether the Federal Bureau of Prisons should continue supporting the use of super-max facilities is a matter of extreme societal and legal questions. Solitary confinement, for an extended or indefinite period of time, implicates constitutional rights and questions our morality as a society.

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Analysis Of After Years In Solitary, Freedom Hard To Grasp

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The article is mostly fact and it does provide references for quotations and dat. The author of this source is Kevin Johnson, and this source was originally published by USA Today Information Network. The article does not give the author credentials. Owning the fact that the author is trying to inform the ready that solitary confinement is an effective punishment, the article is mostly free of bias. In this source, I learned that once you are released from solitary confinement it is hard for someone to adjust to the real of the world.

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Solitary 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

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2707 Words | 11 Pages

Graves 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

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665 Words | 3 Pages

The documentary solitary nation demonstrates the effects of solitary confinement on the prisoner’s health. There are several problems associated with using segregation as a punishment, however, the main problem is the effects to the mental health of the inmates. The documentary illustrate that some prisoner lost their sanity in solitary confinement. One example is what happened to the prisoner Adam Brulotte, at the beginning of his solitary confinement time he was optimistic and have plans to improve himself by reading books and think about his future, but only after twenty five days he started to lose his mind and become unstable, threaten to cut himself, pushes feces under the door and flooded the unit. This behavior clearly indicates segregation bad affects to the mental health of the inmates.

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PEople who are isolated said that they experienced hallucinations, tried hurting themselves and felt a disconnect to reality. Which brings in an interesting question is that even though these guards see that solitary confinement is hurting prisoners and is not working why do they do it? I would suggest that Goffman would say that people are dehumanized when they are

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