Solitary Confinement: A Cruel and Unusual Punishment

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Recommended: Effects on inmates in solitary confinement for an extended period of time

While solitary confinement is one of the most effective ways of keeping todays prisoners from conflict and communication it is also the most detrimental to their health. According to an article by NPR.org the reason for most solitary confinement units in America “is to control the prison gangs (NPR, 2011).” Sometimes putting a gang member in solitary confinement reduces the effect that confinement is supposed to have when the confined inmate starts losing their mind. The prisoners kept in solitary confinement show more psychotic symptoms than that of a normal prisoner, including a higher suicide rate. Once a prisoner’s mental capacity to understand why he or she is in prison and why they are being punished is gone, there is no reason to keep said prisoner in solitary confinement. Once your ability to understand punishment is gone the consequences of your actions lose value and become irrelevant. 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 ... ... middle of paper ... .... BBC. (2008, January). BBC-Horizon- Total Isolation. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from www.bbc.co.uk: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/isolation/highlights/ Convention, D. o. (1787, September 17). United States Constitution. Philidelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Farflex Inc. (2011). Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Cruel+and+Unusual+Punishment NPR. (2011, October). At Pelican Bay Prison, a Life in Solitary: NPR. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from npr.or: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5584254 University, T. T. (2011). Deprivation and it's Discontents. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from indianapublicmedia.org: http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/deprivation-discontents/

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