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The positive impact of solitary confinement
The positive impact of solitary confinement
The positive impact of solitary confinement
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Ever wondered what it's like to be a prisoner? He may have done something wrong to end up there, but ever wondered how someone's life is, once they get put behind the bars?
I opened my eyes and a yellow light on the ceiling greeted me with a bright stare. I rolled myself out of the bed with a slight groan and my back started complaining by cracking in different places like firecrackers.
I can see the sun shining outside my cell but no warmth is being given in. The only warmth I get is from my 2cm sheet of "blanket". The air-conditioner in front of me just drones on and on and on, slicing the early morning silence. Overall, my room isn?t the best place on earth, but I don?t have a choice but to rot in it.
My bladder was going out of control so I went across the room to my own private buzzer. Like a doorbell, when pressed, a speaker on the ceiling becomes an intercom and expressing your needs is as easy as talking to a brick wall.
After a few seconds, a scratchy voice breaks the silence.
"What?"
"I need to go to the bathroom."
After about a minute, the door swung open and I hurried down the hallway. Afterwards I walked back into my "bedroom" and waited on my bed, with thoughts of freedom on my mind, for the clang of the keys and the daily morning directions.
"Get up, get up, sweep and mop your rooms and brush your teeth. Make your beds. Get up, get up??"
Throwing my towel around my neck, I went to the foul toothbrushes and walked into the bathroom. Four sinks, bolted to the wall, provide about seven toothbrushes and water for our pearly whites. Once I finished, I wiped my mouth and threw it into the bin for the dirty laundry and grabbed a broom and trudged back into my room, with envious thoughts of...
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...te it as being the worst time of their life. Nevertheless, this prison has given me a lot of time to think about my life, my mistakes and what I need to do in life to be a better person. Afterall, you only have one life and no second chances.
A day in the life of a prisoner isn?t always dreary but being connected to the outside world only by the 4 o? clock news is quite dismal.
Although being locked up here isn?t the best thing in the world, its not all that bad. Prisoners get all the attention they need, even if they don?t want it.
I have grown quite attached to this institution. When I had my freedom, I was unsure about a lot of things, like if I?ll be able to get food and a bed. Here I get both. If you take advantage of prison, believe me, you will go far.
Well, that?s enough of me talking. What you have just read is the utmost and bitter truth.
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
... work. It definitely puts things into perspective when you hear about what it must be like to live in a correctional facility. He told me that a lot of guys are brought in on five to ten year sentences and join a gang or something for protection, but end up getting themselves in trouble and adding years onto their sentence.
The “pains of imprisonment” can be divided into five main conditions that attack the inmate’s personality and his feeling of self-worth. The deprivations are as follows: The deprivation of liberty, of goods and services, of heterosexual relationships, autonomy and of security.
The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...
A life behind bars is not an easy life, but a life that many people become accustom to, not because these people want to, but because they have to. The prison life is one that includes adverse challenges, dangerous situations, gang violence, and unpleasant living conditions. As shown in the documentary, Hard Time: Worst of the Worst, the inmates at the Southern Ohio Correction Facility in Lucasville, Ohio are no strangers to the prison life. Opened in 1972, the prison houses some of Ohio’s most dangerous inmates, totaling 2,200 inmates. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is known as a level 4, or a maximum-security facility. Here, correction officers control each and every movement of inmates. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility houses inmates who find themselves in trouble once they are in inside of prison, such as stabbing or killing another inmate. The inmates are then sent to Lucasville to serve “jail time” for whatever act they may have committed while in prison.
Spending time in an overcrowded cell really lowers your social stability throughout time. Many of the prisoners tend to turn anti-social because they do not want to put up with the conditions in which they live. According to Terence T. Gorski the prisoners tend to develop an illness known as Post Incarceration Syndrome which is something developed through extreme confinement and lack of opportunity. The inmates are more often than not given very little opportunities to rehabilitate themselves with everyday things such as working and receiving an education in the overcrowded prisons. These prisoners are not given enough opportunity to assemble with one another because time is very strict and limited inside the prison walls. Resources are often stretched out to accommodate to everyone’s needs.The inmates tend to get treated in a very inhuman way, resulting in negative consequences. Dealing with the overcrowdedness of the prisons leads to the build-up of stress. Like every human being the prisoners will eventually get very tired of dealing with these conditions and will reach their melting point. When something like this occurs the inmate will most likely receive negative consequences such as complete solidarity. On the contrary being in an isolated cell for about 23 hours a day allows for the prisoners to ponder upon the choices
Imagine. You are alone with your thoughts. There is nothing that can separate you from their unpredictable horrors because you spend 23 hours a day completely alone. In silence you wait, desperate for a chance to leave the four-walled, concrete cell you now call home. These are the conditions of solitary confinement that are still in widespread use throughout America today. Although solitary confinement may seem like the safest way to protect other prisoners, guards and even the inmate himself, it is an inhumane and cruel punishment and it has the opposite effect of what prisons are intended for. .
Locked up behind bars, awaiting trial for drugs. You want to show you’re a good person who didn’t do anything wrong, you were framed. You get your cell and cellmate and learn some vital information about how you are being set up to fail. About how the prison system doesn’t work. Issues surrounding our prison system are that mass incarceration doesn’t work for several reasons, solitary confinement should be abolished, and that the Correction Corporation of America is making money off the prisons.
The Difference and Similarities between Life inside a Prison and Life on the Outside for the Convict and Ex-convict certainly has its ups, downs, highs, and lows. Convicts that have been incarcerated for quite some time continue to live life on the outside of prison as if they were still behind those walls. From going to bed early, waking up early, and even eating some of the same foods they ate while being in prison. One man made it through his entire jail sentence by committing himself to exercising every day and was released and kept his exact exercise routine. Throughout my research I have concluded that the similarities outweigh the differences, although there are plenty of both when you are a convict incarcerated and when you are an ex-convict and you are in the free world.
The most common disorder reported after being in jail for an extended amount of time was Post Incarceration Syndrome (Gorski). Post Incarceration Syndrome can be defined as “a set of symptoms that are present in many currently incarcerated and recently released prisoners that are caused by being subjected to prolonged incarceration in environments of punishments” (Gorski). It causes the prisoner to have a difficult time connecting and coping with normal daily life. This can be due to the PTSD or antisocial personality traits that the prisoner gains with this disorder (Gorski). It can also cause the victim to become addicted to drugs and alcohol (Gorski). This disorder often causes people to struggle once they are released from prison, causing life on the outside to be a difficult one. This was illustrated in the case where one of the prisoners who suffers from this disorder said, “ It’s not to the point where you want to commit suicide,” he said, “but sometimes, I’m at the point that I’d be wanting to write the judge and say, ‘Just give me the death penalty. Just give me the death penalty, man” (Goode). To add to the problem 73% of prisoners reported chronic depression while 78% said that they felt “emotionally flat” (Goode). Depression is a huge problem in the correctional system because the prisoners often do not receive the care they need. This can also lead to jail suicide and self
For decades, prison has been signified as an unspeakably horrifying place for those who have done harm to our society. Nevertheless, in today 's society, shows like Wentworth, orange is the new black and prison break illustrate prison in an entertaining way. A way that is so detached from reality. However, in the article "Norway 's Ideal Prison," by Piers Hernu, he clearly reveals and gives us a vivid picture of what prison life is like in Bastoy, the home of Norway only prison. On the other hand, "The Prisoners Dilemma," by Stephan Chapman argues how in Islamic countries criminals are being cruelly handled and how flawed the American penal system is and needs to be adjusted. Even though there are many similarities in both articles on what
Prisons have dated back to the twentieth century when the United States had almost two million people confined in prisons or jails. Prisons have been a form of government punishment that has shaped our nation to what it is today. The first jail was established in Philadelphia, in 1970. It was called the Walnut Street Jail and was recorded as the first use of imprisonment through solitary confinement. The basic principles of the new system were to reform those in prison, and to segregate those according to age, sex, and type of offenses charged against them (Schoenherr). The second prison was called Sing-Sing a...
difficult relationships present that day in the prison, and emphasizing with detail on a few inmates
Most people have no idea what it feels like to be in prison, statistically only one out of every five people will know what its like to be in prison. Approximately 1.4 million people out of the U.S.’s 280 million people are in prison. (Thomas, 2) The only reason people know about prisons is because of the media. The news, movies, and books all contribute to people's stereotypes about prisons. Prisoners receive three meals a day, workout facilities, a library, as well as other things. People are also given the idea, through the mass media, that prisoners are free to walk around certain parts of the prison. All of these ideas are cast upon prisons so that people will not be afraid of them. Society has been given the idea that prisons are not very bad on the inside. What is prison life really like?
Being in prison for life can be a real challenge, the inmates wake up early in the morning and if lucky they can take a shower with cold water. They brush their teeth and depending on the correctional facility the inmates are able to go outside to spend some time to play a sport, do physical training, or just walk and talk with other inmates. The most trusted inmates get jobs inside the facility and some even are able to get into school. Serving life in prison can be really hard, the offender has to get used to doing exactly the same thing each day, eating the same type of food, seeing the same people, walking through the same halls. An inmate will have to get his mind on something else, being in prison can be eternity if an offender thinks