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What Is Solitary Confinement In Prison

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UID: 11316754 CCJS452 Spring 2017 Group 7 Solitary Confinement Op-Ed Group 7 “Prison within prison”. That’s one way that correctional officials described solitary confinement. An average of twenty-two hours in a small, isolated cell is the daily enduring of a prisoner in solitary confinement. This movement began back in the 1800s, however, over the last two hundred or so years, heads still clash over the use of this method. Based on the research that I have conducted, I undoubtedly support the removal of solitary confinement in prisons. The negative physical, mental and sociological effects outweigh the potential positives that solitary confinement may or may not bring. I do agree that solitary confinement is a barbaric practice that has serious social consequences. Many prisoners, 22%, experience psychological and mental problems prior to receiving their convictions (Smith, 2006). The longer one stays in insolation, the worse the effects become. Studies show that solitary confinement is extremely harmful to the mental health of an inmate. Due to being locked up for all but two hours a day, social contact is restricted. This is a psychological necessity for humans to remain normally functioning. These effects eventually cause inmates to act irrationally. Suicide …show more content…

Unless prisons are planning on keeping inmates in isolation for their entire sentence, prisons are causing more problems for themselves because of the problems. The aggression and resentment built up by the prisoner towards the prison and other inmates/officers can be detrimental with the flow of prison due to rule breaking and violence (Weir, 2012; Dingfelder, 2012; Constanzo, Martinez, Klebe, Torrence & Livengood, 2012). There are no rehabilitation results from isolation, so whenever a prisoner is sent, they are delaying the obvious problems that will occur once

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Guenther discusses the effects of solitary confinement such as “They experience intense anxiety, paranoia, depression, memory loss, hallucinations and other perceptual distortions” (1). But doesn’t provide enough reasons as to why U.S prisons should become a rehabilitation place to help those get back into the society they were once in. she only establishments that solitary confinement and prisons are not good to inmates because they caused them to develop psychological problems. What I mean is that, the entirety of the article and her arguments gives the sense that, that’s the purpose of what she is trying to achieve here, making prisons a rehabilitation place instead of something else. But the thing is why should prisons become a rehabilitation center, Guenther claims that “Given that 95 percent of all inmates are eventually released into the public, and that many of these will be released without any form of transition or therapy, solitary confinement is a problem that potentially affects every one of us.”

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Craig Haney’s article Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and “Supermax” Confinement illustrates the complications faced in solitary confinement emphasizing the rise in mental health challenges imposed. Particular attention is paid to the escalation in the nature of mental health-related issues, including the negative psychological effects of imprisonment. Haney discusses these increasingly widespread and specialized units that bring forward the issues presented taking into account the notion of isolation and the association of the high percentage of prisoners suffering from mental illnesses. The article briefly assesses the recent case law concerning the difficulty of mentally ill prisoners, suggesting that the majority of broader psychological problems have been overlooked by the courts.

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In 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.

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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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Owing to the fact that these inmates are considered to be a danger to the prison population, their ability to participate in certain activities inmates are allowed, the privilege of these activities are taken away and inmates are isolated as punishment. Whenever a person is isolated form social settings and human interactions they often develop social disorders and mental illnesses. “When anyone, mentally ill or not, does not have enough social contact, it affects them mentally and even physically. Loneliness creates stress, taking a toll on health. Other things affected can be the ability to learn and memory function.

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There needs to be changes because there is a risk of an inmate not being able to recover from solitary and not be able to be normal. “They are stuck here with nothing to do. You don’t have a strong mind this place can break you quick. A lot of guys don’t even have descents why they just snap out. This is what this place does it makes you mean; it makes you violent.”

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In 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.

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First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the

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Solitary is still used today in prisons but as a punishment, and the prisoners aren’t keep for long periods of time because of the dangers it could cause to their mental

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Some might argue that solitary confinement is actually effective and has its benefits, however this is not the case since this punishment only seems to make criminals much more dangerous when they leave prison than they were before and research shows that inmates who left solitary confinement experience increased anger and end up committing the kind of criminality that society is looking to prevent by using this method of punishment. Thus, solitary confinement ultimately fails as a rehabilitative measure, and as a way to "settle down" problematic

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How is this considered rehabilitative? Many people say that if someone is put in solitary, they probably deserved it, or that it helps with the violence levels in prison. What they don’t know is that it can be used as punishment for almost anything, and it doesn’t actually decrease the violence levels in jail (Gawande). Instead, it creates catastrophic results. “More than 50 percent of suicides in juvenile facilities were committed by youth being held in isolation…” (Gawande).

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Solitary confinement is a punishment for the especially prisoners for violation of prison regulations, serious crime. Simply, confinement means jail in jail. The prisoners received it that will be kept in a cramped space, completely isolated from other prisoners for at least 22- 24 hours a day. However, solitary confinement is not simply a punishment.

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It does not make a criminal a better person, however, the chances are that either he will come out as a better person with regrets of his past or he will have a grouse against the society and come out as a person with revengeful feelings. No one is born a criminal; it is the society and certain conditions that compel a person to commit crimes. Punishments are given to criminals, aiming to reform them and turn them into good citizens. Inmates are placed in these isolation units for a number of reasons ranging from protecting the other prisoners, to providing justice. Solitary confinement prevents from any harm.

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What can be done The monitoring, prevention and treatment of mental disorders, as well as the promotion of good mental health, are part of the public health goals in prisons. According to World Health Organization (2017), even in resource-limited countries, measures can be taken to improve the mental health of prisoners and prison staffs, which can be adapted to the country’s cultural, social, political and economic environment (WHO, 2017). In the British prisons, some practices and policies have also been implemented, which reflect the positive impacts of prisoners’ mental health and wellbeing. Provide prisoners with appropriate mental health treatment and care.

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As depicted throughout the series, the extreme isolation of prison negatively effects all inmates. With rules of no touching or contact

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