Throughout life we all live through moments that change who we are; mentally, physically and psychologically. These moments can be, huge and defining or something as small as whether we leave our house or just stay home on a certain day. For some, we find ourselves looking back, and not even realizing the power of the decision we made and how it brought us to who we are now. For others, the decisions we made lead to obvious outcomes. A prime example of this is a criminal. Though, he or she might not have known or thought they would get caught, the acts they voluntarily proceeded in, are illegal and the one and only future they ultimately have is jail or prison. Within the prison system, criminals are faced with these same decisions, but the punishment will have much more detrimental effects than any other decision: solitary confinement. This brings me to my main point. Contrary to many may think, it is not just a myth that solitary confinement can and will have extremely detrimental psychological and social effects on any human being, criminal or not. For most prisoners, solitary confinement is, by far the worst and most unhealthy place one could be sent. Each criminal that is automatically placed or eventually sent to solitary confinement is isolated from cell mates, peers, friends, and visiting family, relying solely on the prison guards themselves. Even more so than within the basic prison setting, a person sent to solitary confinement is extremely closely monitored and controlled, having very little space, and little to none fresh air, sunlight, or activities to keep themselves occupied. This form of punishment was coined by Eastern State Penitentiary (E.S.P.). According to, E.S.P.’s website, solitary confinement officially ... ... middle of paper ... ... construction works within society, which is that, a person witnesses another 's actions of thoughts on a certain thing. The more they see this type of thought towards said thing, the more they recognize it and assume that they must have the same thought on that subject. (Mizruchi, Fein. 2) Therefore, in the bigger picture, the social construction of this widespread stigma, that criminals are not real people, has lead to the keepings of solitary confinement within the prison system. This then forces these prisoners within the American prison system to go through these psychiatric syndromes, suicidal thoughts, and overall, a more dangerous and a more unbearable life. Many may think it is not as bad as it seems, but the exact opposite. Solitary confinement can and will have extremely detrimental psychological and social effects on any human being, no matter who you are.
For a long time now, solitary confinement as a form of punishment, protective custody, and suicide watch has been viewed as controversial. Inmates are usually put into solitary confinement not from their crimes, but acts of violence committed in the prison. The practice involves placing people in complete social isolation for extended periods, for example, from days to decades. It’s costly to put inmates in the prison system which the money could be used on many other useful programs that’ll benefit society. The purpose of imprisonment plays no beneficial significance in a human’s overall well being. Especially, being locked in a small cell for most of the day can cause people to develop mental illness due to the lack of contact with others. A large portion of people who are held in solitary suffer from psychiatric problems or may develop them over time after being isolated. Even after being released most people still suffer from mental issues since prisons aren’t designed or equipped to serve as mental health facilities, and the needed treatment is often not even available. Many troubled people still remain trapped between criminal justice and mental health. Now in today's society many state policymakers are rethinking the system.
Gary Deland the former director of the Department of Corrections in Utah states, “Solitary limits prisoner violence by limiting physical contact with other inmates and staff. Simply put, limiting or controlling violent prisoners' interaction with other prisoners greatly limits the potential for violence” (qtd in Katel). While solitary confinement may be necessary to limit violence between inmates, the ramifications of solitary confinement cannot be justified. Solitary confinement causes mental illnesses and increases the likeliness of inmates to become more violent. Limiting the physical contact of violent prisoners is possible without completely isolating them form human
It was acknowledged that for some people whose lives were in chaos and who were causing serious harm to others, a time in prison could have beneficial consequences. Despite this, the WHO Mental Health in Prison Project agreed that for the majority of prisoners, imprisonment was likely to have the following effects: isolation from families and social networks, austere surroundings loss of privacy and poor physical and hygienic conditions, aggression, bullying, fear, suspicion and the attitudes of unsympathetic and uninformed staff, lack of purposeful activity, of personal control, of power to act and loss of identity; pressure to escape or to take drugs, shame and stigmatization. many times people have gone to jail for killing people, most people who kill people are crazy and are freaks. A lot of people who go to jail have mental break downs or have already had
Solitary confinement is the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as a means of punishment or protection. Inside the cell is a bed, sink and toilet, but rarely much else. Food is brought through a slot in the door, aside from that small peak of the world outside during meal times, prisoners are allowed one hour of exercise in a cage outside. Solitary confinement is a controversial issue and has become something researchers frequently look into, with it they came to the conclusion that extreme isolation is not good for the psyche. In fact it has been discovered that some of the side effects of long period isolations include a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; diminished impulse
You are in a dark, clammy room. Eight steps to your right, you meet a wall; ten steps forward, another. Your only possessions for the next few days, weeks, or maybe even years, are a cot, a toilet and the clothes on your back; you’re granted no human contact, and a taste of freedom only one hour a day—in a cage. This is solitary confinement. “The degree of a civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons,” speculates Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, whose literary works analyzed the human psychology. Prisons are typically thought of as a facility in which criminals are stripped of their freedoms and punished for their crimes; it is also used to instill fear onto those who dare fathom breaking the law. America has the highest
While solitary confinement’s prevalence in today’s prison system may seem fair, it is crucial to consider its numerous negative effects, such as physiological
In 1829, the very first prison was formed in the United States. There are many conversations that have taken place on whether the judicial system should rethink the way that they attempt to rehabilitate prisoners. It is my belief that individuals that come out of incarceration can come out worse than before they went in. There are studies that have been done stating that two thirds of the released prisoners commit new crimes and are re-incarcerated. Although solitary confinement is a good punishment for prisoners for short periods of time, sometimes prisoners are left there for too long. Walnut Street Prison, otherwise known as Eastern State Prison, was strictly solitary confinement. The Quakers had a belief that if inmates were separated
Extended periods of prolonged solitary confinement can have severe detrimental effects on prisoners. Moreover, “Few social scientists question that isolation can have harmful effects. Research over the last half-century has demonstrated that it can worsen mental illness and produce symptoms even in prisoners who start out psychologically robust” (Goode, 2015). Eventually, prisoners in solitary confinement will choose to freely withdraw from interaction, as that has become their new norm and feels most comfortable. Also, those that have studied solitary confinement report, “evidence of acute sensory deprivation, paranoid delusion belief systems, irrational fears of violence, resentment, little ability to control rage, and mental breakdowns…
Imagine sitting in a tiny cell for the years at a time slowly but surely losing your mind. This is what many prisoners in the American prison system face today. Solitary confinement is when an inmate is isolated from any human contact, often with the exception of members of prison staff, for 22–24 hours a day, with a sentence ranging from days to decades. This cruel and unusual punishment is used by prisons daily throughout the country. Atul Gawande, a surgeon, public health researcher, and author for The New Yorker writes the article ¨Is Long-Term Solitary Confinement Torture?¨, successfully convincing the reader that solitary confinement is nothing less than unreasonable torture.
Solitary confinement is the confinement of very violent inmates and inmates are placed in super maximum cells. The justice system now has been proved to be overcrowded and ineffective, this drives inmates closer to insanity. Solitary confinement is the confinement of inmates who have committed a deadly crime or an inmate who was in jail and disrespected a guard. The conditions of these horrific places are nothing good. The confinement of these inmates is supposed to improve their violent ways instead it increases their crime rate. Even though many individuals believe solitary confinement is beneficial, there are many reasons why it is very dangerous for the inmates: the physical conditions, mental/physical abuse, and effects on their social life after.
In closing, there are many negative effects on solitary confinement. There is the fact that it mentally abuses inmates, costs too much money, and even violates human rights. A lot of initiatives have been done to rid of solitary confinement. Initiatives such as test subjects being used to test the effects of confinement have been put into effect. Solitary confinement is one of the oldest isolation cases done in prisons today. A lot is still to be discovered about solitary confinement. Just keep knowledge that solitary confinement does more harm than
The growing unease with solitary confinement also comes amid mounting evidence of its harmful effects on inmates' mental health, which one psychologist has described as "social death."
Once incarcerated, the everyday lifestyle of a human being is taken away and adapted by a new life separate and restricted from reality. All while adapting to prison life; disrupting human behavior is deemed and prisoners are disciplined, including a prison transfer, solitary confinement, or confiscation of visiting hours and personal items. Solitary confinement, also known as one of the cruelest punishments a prisoner can receive, is relocating the inmate into an isolated cell for up to 22 or more hours a day restricting them from human interaction. Solitary confinement allows inmates to be left for days, weeks, or years abandoned alone in a cell. To already be restricted from the outside world, and then to become isolated alone in a cell has drawn attention to prison policies in efforts to eliminate the overuse and potential of mental health issues among the
My opinion on solitary confinement is that instead of keeping prisoners that deal with mental illness to be in a mental hospital to be taken care of until they can regain the power of overcoming mental illness. The prisoners need more help that deals with the disorder but the prisons don't give the help that the prisoners deserve.It would make a bigger difference if they keep working on reforming the solitary confident system more to allow prisoners to be treated like other prisoners but still have the same safety that they should have.Allowing them to be more social could help them with hearing what other inmate deal with and maybe they can learn from others how to get through the sentence they're spending in jail. This makes me wonder why
That is important because, without regular socialization, mental health could severely decline and inmates could lose that skill which is needed to be a part of normal society. Without this skill in the real world, released inmates may feel excluded from society, which could lead to future violent behaviors. The average cell size is ten feet by seven feet, as stated by Mr. Charles Samuels Jr. who is the director of the federal bureau of prisons. There’s not much room in solitary cells for them to do anything but lay down or sit down or walk four feet back and fourth across the room. While inmates do get about an hour a day of exercise time, the other 23 hours (Sullivan) of sitting around could lead to physical degeneration of the muscles. Samuels talks about restrictive housing when referring to solitary confinement. William Lutz, in his article, “The World of Doublespeak,” he describes euphemism as “an inoffensive or positive word or phrase designed to avoid a harsh, unpleasant, or distasteful reality (278). Calling solitary confinement by the term “restrictive housing” is a euphemism, an understatement, because the rooms where inmates are housed in solitary confinement are quite small, and when one hears the word “housing,” one usually pictures a house, which may make them feel like the “housing” is bigger than it is. The executive director of the Colorado department of corrections, Rick Raemisch, calls solitary confinement “administrative segregation,” in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. However, Raemisch believes that solitary confinement is “overused, misused, and abused,” and that there are too many people in “administrative segregation,” as he calls it. While Raemish doesn’t agree with the overuse of solitary confinement, the terminology both he and Samuels used softens the