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Solitary confinement in u.s prisons argumentative essay
Essays on solitary confinement being inhumane
Solitary confinement in u.s prisons argumentative essay
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Solitary confinement is occasionally used in most prison systems as a means to maintain prison order: as disciplinary punishment or as an administrative measure for inmates who are considered an escape risk or a risk to themselves or to prison order in general. Some inmates, for example, sex offenders, choose voluntary isolation to avoid harassment from other prisoners. Solitary confinement is popular in America. Solitary confinement is dangerous in its own right. It deprives prisoners of their constitutional rights, and it creates a more dangerous world for all. Supermax prisons remain a major part of the problem, and given that they have shown no ability to hold prisoners without subjecting those prisoners to unconstitutional and unethical
Yet, solitary confinement is still considered necessary in order to maintain control within the prison and among inmates. Solitary confinement is seen as an effective method in protecting specific prisoners and altering violent/aggressive disobedient behaviors, (Maria A. Luise, Solitary Confinement: Legal and Psychological Considerations, 15 New Eng. J. on Crim. & Civ. Confinement 301, 324 (1989) p. 301). There is some discrepancy among researchers as to the varying effects on inmates who have undergone an extensive solitary confinement stay. Most researchers find that inmates who had no previous form of mental illness suffer far less than those who do, yet most if not all of these individuals still experience some difficulties with concentration and memory, agitation, irritability, and will have issues tolerating external stimuli, (Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, 22 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y 325 (2006) p. 332). Although these detrimental psychiatric repercussions of solitary confinement currently appear, several researches have made suggestions as to how these may be avoided. These requirements being that
Every school, psychiatric unit should always make an effort to prevent the need for restraint and seclusion. Everyone has their own opinion on how they feel about these two issues and what the laws should be set on. School policies on seclusion and restraint will always differ from the psychiatric unit’s policy since they are two different environments and may deal with different clientele. There have been many laws that have been set and also changed throughout the years regarding how you should and shouldn’t restrain a patient or student because you could eventually seriously injure them. It can also be bad to seclude a student or patient because they could do multiple things to hurt themselves when they are being secluded.
Many people have tried to stop the use of solitary confinement by calling it “Cruel and Unusual Punishment. (Holt vs. Sarver, 1969).” People also say that it is a direct violation of our eighth amendment rights. The definition of cruel and unusual punishment is as follows: “Such punishment as would amount to torture or barbarity, any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the Common Law, or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment that is so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community. (Farflex Inc., 2011).” Studies show that solitary confinement can alter the mental state of a prisoner so far that it is detrimental to his or her health; I see no reason why this cannot be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. In an experiment conducted by the BBC’s Horizon group, they studied the effects ...
Solitary Confinement is a type of isolation in prison which a prisoner is segregated from the general population of the prison and any human contact besides the prison employees. These prisons are separated from the general population to protect others and themselves from hurting anyone in the prison. These prisoners are deprived of social interaction, treatments, psychologist, family visits, education, job training, work, religious programming and many other services prisoners might need during the sentence of their imprisonment. There are roughly 80,000 prisoners in solitary confinement but 25,000 are in long term and supermax prisons. According to the Constitution, “The Eighth Amendment [...] prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment”(US Const. amend. VIII). Solitary confinement is suppose to be the last straw for inmates to be in. If they don 't follow it, they can be on death row. Taxpayers pay roughly $75,000 to $85,000 to keep prisoners in solitary confinement. That is 3 times higher than the normal prisons that taxpayers pay for them to be in prison. Solitary confinement was established in 1829 in Philadelphia for experimentation because officials believed it was a way for
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 US Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is used to attribute the rapid expansion of the US inmate population to the political influence of private prison companies and businesses that supply goods and services to government prison agencies. The prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. After spending $5.2 billion on prison construction over the past fifteen years, California now has not only the largest but also the most overcrowded prison system in the United States. The state Department of Corrections estimates that it will need to spend an additional $6.1 billion on prisons over the next decade just to maintain the current level of overcrowding. At least 37
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
Isolation and abuse are everything occurrences inside of a supermax prison. Each prisoner is forced to live in their own thoughts and cannot enrich themselves. People often have a difficult time imagining what it like to be inside of a supermax. Complete solitude is an extremely difficult situation to deal with. In Sasha Abramsky’s Return of the Madhouse, she discusses the treatment of the prisoners inside the supermax prisons all across the country. Supermax prisons were created for a reason; however, the techniques used are not always effective and can lead to the destruction of the prisoners.
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. .
Solitary confinement ranks as one of the most controversial forms of governmental punishment. The controversy regards the constitutionality, or in other terms the humaneness of prolonged isolation. The justice system regards prisoners who are assigned solitary confinement as potentially too dangerous to be permitted any form of interaction with other inmates or prison guards. Solitary confinement is the isolation of a prisoner in a small, artificially lit cell that is generally about eight by four feet in dimension. This containment lasts for approximately 23 hours a day, and when permitted to exit the cell for an hour, the prisoner still receives no amount of significant social interaction and is simply allowed to pace in a longer isolated
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
Solitary confinement does not help challenging prisoners in the long run. Solitary confinement actually has the potential to cause inmates to lose their ability to control and manage their anger. If an inmate continues to be violent, the result is a longer time in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is inhumane and should be called torture. Putting and keeping an individual in solitary confinement puts them at a very serious risk of developing a mental illness, which may not be recoverable. Solitary confinement causes many effects that range in severity; it is not something that inmates should be subjected to
Solitary confinements are a prison within prisons, that isolates inmates from the rest of the world. Solitary confinement was originally founded by the Quakers and Anglicans in the early 1800s, in Philadelphia. The purpose of solitary confinement when the Quakers and Anglicans first created it, was to give the inmates the opportunity to get the chance to find Christ (Biggs 2017). Now the purpose of solitary confinement is to serve as punishment for criminals that are killers or cause a problem within the prison. Inmates in solitary confinement sit in a cell that is 80 square feet for 22-23 hours a day, with 1 hour of free time without human contact (Breslow 2014). One side believes solitary confinement is a good and a easy way to protect society
Kalief Browder was only sixteen years old when he was taken to the precinct in New York for allegedly stealing a backpack. He was detained on Rikers Island hoping to eventual return home soon. Little did Kalief know that he would not be returning home anytime soon. Instead of being home, he was often times kept in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is likely to increase mental health issues such as anxiety, paranoia, and depression and ultimately cause individuals to have suicidal ideations. Not only does Solitary Confinement increase mental illness, but also it is unconstitutional due to the fact it violates human decency and rights. While some Institutions are limiting or eliminating
What is solitary Confinement? Solitary Confinement is the practice of isolating people in closed cells for 22-24 hours a day, virtually free of human contact, for periods of time ranging from days to decades. Solitary confinement results primarily from an individual’s behavior while incarcerated, not from their sentence. Although you are isolated and free of human contact Solitary Confinement can promote and worsen mental health issues. When being locked up in a cell for 23 hours everyday you do not get the exercise and activity that regular prisoners will get. Many of the prisoners subjected to isolation have serious mental illness and the conditions of solitary confinement can exacerbate their symptoms or provoke recurrence. Therefore Solitary