And the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone...”
―Genesis 2:18
A true outsider is, in the end, exquisitely alone, and what a cruel and forlorn existence it is. In the deepest, darkest, coldest, and emptiest sense of the word, to be alone, truly alone― Dostoevsky said it best in the The Brothers Karamazov, writing,“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”(Dostoevsky, 1). To exist on the 'outside' is, by definition, to be excluded, marginalized, minimalized, unheard, unspoken to, unseen, unloved, and unnoticed. A soul, perpetually on the outside looking in, with not even the slightest glimmer of companionship or love within reach... is there a state of being more shattering to the human psyche?
Long before panels of psychologists deemed solitary confinement for any length of time inhumane and possibly deadly, humanity instinctively understood the trauma that prolonged isolation causes; only the very worst the world over are segregated from their fellow man. On a tour of Auburn state prison, one of the first to experiment with solitary confinement as discipline and/or rehabilitation, French political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “This absolute solitude, if nothing interrupt it, is beyond the strength of man... it does not reform; it kills. The unfortunates upon whom this experiment was made, fell into a state of depression, so manifest, that their keepers were struck with it; their lives seemed in danger, if they remained longer in this situation.”(Tocqueville, 2). Reporting to the General Assembly of the United Nations third committee almost two-hundred years later, UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan E. Méndez, said this, “Considering the sever...
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.... UN, 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
4. Maslow http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/maslows-needs-hierarchy.htm 5.Chanakya
Kauṭalya, and L. N. Rangarajan. "Relating to War." The Arthashastra. New Delhi: Penguin India, 1992. 640. Print.
6. Hawaii
"Grains of Sand on the World's Beaches." Grains of Sand on the World's Beaches. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
7. NASA et al.
"How Many Stars Are There in the Universe?" Universe Today RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
"Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)." Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A). N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
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8. Eliot
"T. S. Eliot and Modern Poetic Drama." T. S. Eliot and Modern Poetic Drama. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
9.Teresa
"Mother Teresa Saw Loneliness as Leprosy of the West." NewsTimes. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013
Solitary confinement has the ability to shatter even the healthiest mind when subjected to indefinite lockdown, yet the mentally ill, who are disproportionately represented in the overall prison population, make up the majority of inmates who are held in that indefinite lockdown. Within your average supermax prison in which all inmates are subjected to an elevated form of solitary confinement, inmates face a 23-hour lockdown, little to no form of mental or physical stimulation that is topped off with no human interaction beyond the occasional guard to inmate contact. It is no wonder ‘torture’ is often used synonymously to describe solitary confinement. For years, cases arguing against solitary confinement have contested against its inhumane
Isolation can be a somber subject. Whether it be self-inflicted or from the hands of others, isolation can be the make or break for anyone. In simpler terms, isolation could range anywhere from not fitting into being a complete outcast due to personal, physical, or environmental factors. It is not only introverted personalities or depression that can bring upon isolation. Extroverts and active individuals can develop it, but they tend to hide it around crowds of other people. In “Richard Cory,” “Miniver Cheevy,” The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “Not Waving but Drowning,” E.A. Robinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Stevie Smith illustrate the diverse themes of isolation.
Since the early 1800s, the United States has relied on a method of punishment barely known to any other country, solitary confinement (Cole). Despite this method once being thought of as the breakthrough in the prison system, history has proved differently. Solitary confinement was once used in a short period of time to fix a prisoners behavior, but is now used as a long term method that shows to prove absolutely nothing. Spending 22-24 hours a day in a small room containing practically nothing has proved to fix nothing in a person except further insanity. One cannot rid himself of insanity in a room that causes them to go insane. Solitary confinement is a flawed and unnecessary method of punishment that should be prohibited in the prison system.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has deemed solitary confinement as an unconstitutional form of punishment. It expresses that solitary confinement should be classified as torture because it inflicts potential physical and mental damage on inmates. Being confined to a cell for over 22 hours a day with absolutely no human contact is an inhumane practice and cannot be beneficial enough to overcome the consequences that an inmate must face upon release. Solitary confinement clearly violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” Solitary confinement is the epitome of torture. Inmates often recall not being able to distinguish the time they spend in confinement; hours feel like days, and days feel like months. Certain prisons use solitary confinement differently than others. The Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (SHU) is known as the “most restrictive prison in California.” It is one of the harshest “super-maximum” prisons in the country, meaning that inmates may be subjected to solitary confinement for a set amount of time or an indefinite duration. This is known as the ‘supe...
The negative effects of the long-term use of solitary confinement in prisons has been under the spot light for years, and has been considered to be broken. The maltreatment of prisoners is a constant
Metzner, J. L., & Fellner, J. (2010). Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challenge for Medical Ethics. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(1), 104-108.
Many have been imprisoned, then subject to the horrors of torture known as solitary confinement or administrative segregation (AS) in the Canadian prison system. No matter the crime, it is a harsh punishment to inflict on any human being. The practice typically involves confining a prisoner to a single cell 23 hours daily with no meaningful human contact. Administrative segregation can last for months to years at a time. It is non-rehabilitative as it has negative effects on human beings causing symptoms of depression and self-harm, cognitive disturbances, and psychosis. Additionally, inmates in AS are more likely than the general population to commit suicide. Punishment through administrative segregation is paradoxical to the Canadian prison
Supporters of solitary confinement believe that Inmates that propose extreme dangers to prison staff and other inmates must be removed and placed in solitary condiment for their protection and sometimes the inmate themselves. Therefore, many would argue that when left alone in solitary confinement, it allows inmates to engage in self-reflection. Furthermore, many supporters of Solitary believe that disciplinary segregation is needed and has proven to keep stability in correctional institutions. Solitary confinement does solve the issue of physical violence and allows for personal reflection. While this argument is popular, solitary confinement causes extreme psychological consequences on inmates. When placed in solitary confinement inmates begin to lose sight to what real and mentally brake down over time. While held in solitary confinement for long periods of time prisoners experience hallucinations, extreme anxiety, amnesia, and violent impulse behavior. In 1997, a study done by the Human Rights Watch shows that 5% of the overall prison population in America has suffered some kind of psychotic illness due to extreme isolation. While Solitary confinement might try to bring down aggressive behavior, studies show that it actually causes greater
Famous German physician Albert Schweitzer said, “We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.” In the novel Of Mice and Men, written during the Great Depression, loneliness is a very important theme. I am going to write about how loneliness has impacted the lives of George, Crooks and Curley's wife, in this essay.
Thousands of people statewide are in prisons, all for different reasons. However, the amount of mental illness within prisons seems to go unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. This is a serious problem, and the therapy/rehabilitation that prison systems have do not always help those who are mentally ill. Prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide (Hills, Holly). One ‘therapy’ that has increased throughout the years has been the use of solitary confinement, which has many negative effects on the inmates.
Over 200 inmates around the country being held in different forms of solitude were asked about their symptoms. All of the inmates shared similar symptoms. Over half of the inmates showed: disorientation, hallucinations, panic attacks, hypersensitivity to stimuli, focus issues, sedated mental activity, memory loss, aggressive thoughts, paranoia, and self-control issues. Increased sensitivity to stimuli was reported. They experience few stimuli in solitary, and they grow accustomed to the lack of stimuli.
“US: Look Critically at Widespread Use of Solitary Confinement.” Human Rights Watch, 1 July 2016,
Describing a course in history when isolation was highly adopted, Deresiewicz writes, “The mob, the human mass, presses in… The soul is forced back into itself—hence the development of a more austere and embattled form of self-validation…where the essential relationship is only with oneself” (par.8). Deresiewicz describes the time of urbanization, when country folks began flooding into cities. With so many people moving into the city, there was not any room to breathe because there was not any privacy or space—all the voices and thoughts were forced into one sector of society. This forced some people to advance past the crowd and focus on oneself, on the soul. When submerged by a sea of people, the best shelter is inside the body and mind, where one can reflect the internal self and external world in a serene environment. Extending on the importance of temporary isolation, Deresiewicz adds, “Solitude becomes, more than ever, the arena of heroic self-discovery, a voyage through interior realms” (par. 8). When engaged in the physical world, people don’t focus on themselves because there is too much stimulation occurring around them. But when alone in solitude, when there is no around except oneself—no noises, sounds, distractions—then a person is able to reflect on his or her character. It is important to immerse in introspection because mental health is as vital as bodily health. And by delving deeper into the psyche, individuals discover new information about themselves that wouldn’t have been uncovered with others because the only person that truly understands him or her is that
Solitary confinement can be described as a prison within a prison. It is a small room barely 80 meters square with mostly a bed, a toilet and a sink. The prisoner confined is brought food through a small opening. With the exception of the prison officials, the prisoner is entirely isolated. They are only allowed few hours of exercise but in a cage. Originally, this confinement was supposed to take a few hours or in extreme cases, a week. It is, however, not the case now. A prisoner can even be confined for years. Studies have shown that this kind of imprisonment has drastic effects on the psychological state of an inmate. Before these results are unveiled, it will be important to look at the history of this kind of imprisonment.
"…Races condemned to 100 years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth." These powerful last words of the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude ring true. The book demonstrates through many examples that human beings cannot exist in isolation. People must be interdependent in order for the race to survive.