The United States is currently using a form of punishment that violates the eighth amendment of the Constitution, and is able to do so because the rights of prisoners are often overlooked. It is often believed that they committed a crime, and they deserve to serve their time in prison. However, does anyone deserve to have their mind taken from them, or to lose their sense of self? Roughly 90,000 people are held in solitary confinement, and the things they are put through are unbearable (Rodriguez). One third of prisoners kept there are acutely suicidal, and over seventy percent have “a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; diminished impulse control; hypersensitivity to external stimuli; and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory,” so the odds of escaping solitary confinement unscathed are doubtful (Breslow). Surprisingly enough, solitary confinement is not restricted to violent prisoners, it is actually not restricted to anyone at all; any prisoner, at any time can be placed in solitary confinement, without the slightest clue of how they ended up there. The problems plaguing the US prison system have gone on for far too long, and it is time to do something about it. Solitary confinement is more harmful than helpful because it does not allow the U.S. to accomplish the goals of the prison system, it violates the morals of this country, and it is not an ethical form of treatment; it could be corrected with the help of educational programs for prisoners, and other simple solutions, allowing prisoners to retain their fundamental human rights. 

Solitary confinement was first used in the United States during 1829. The Quakers believed that when people were in serious need of repenting and praying that the most efficient thing to do was lock them in a stone cell with only a bible. However, the prisoners either became insane, committed suicide, or were no longer able to function in society, and the practice was eventually abandoned (Sullivan). Yet, it found its way back into the prison systems in 1934, but available only to the most dangerous criminals. It was during this time that it got its nickname as “the hole”. Prisoners were kept in the dark for twenty-four hour of the day, they were not allowed to have clothes, and twice a day bread and water was shoved though a hole in their door. Some spent days in this condition, others spent years. They were rarely let out of their cells, and were offered no physical contact of any kind (Sullivan). After seeing the effects on these prisoners, the United States military decided to use solitary confinement as punishment against enemies during war times. Similar cells were created to break prisoners mentally, physically, and emotionally and it succeeded (Cooper, 4). Solitary confinement was used much more frequently during 1983 because two correctional officers were murdered by prison inmates, making citizens believe that stricter forms of punishment were necessary. It spread quickly across the country in 1990 and was very similar to how it is today: prisoners spent twenty-three hours in their cell, and one hour in a small, concrete exercise pen. Inmates were not allowed to visit the cafeteria, the communal yard, or any educational programs, with no visitors allowed. In 1995, solitary confinement was tried in court during Madrid v. Gomez on the basis that it is humanly intolerable, however the judge did not find enough “constitutional basis” to shut it down or alter it, and left it as a policy for the states to decide upon. In 2005, there were 40 states which used solitary confinement, affecting 25,000 inmates in total (Sullivan).

 In the short time of just ten years, this number has increased to 90,000, and it is no longer restricted to violent prisoners (Rodriguez). Inmates can be placed in solitary confinement for making smart remarks, taking a step in the wrong direction, or even if an inmate is on his prison guard’s bad side. A 16-year-old inmate, Kalief Browder, told another inmate to stop throwing shoes at people, and was placed in solitary confinement for two years, even though Kalief did not touch the other inmate. A transgender woman was placed there for a year “for her own protection.” Albert Woodfox, who has been in solitary confinement longer than any other American, was placed there because he was “too political” for his prison guard’s tastes (Chang). The inmates within solitary confinement are not there because of their behavior, but for arbitrary reasons which brings questions to the actual purpose of it.  

The overall, underlying goal of the prison system is simply to prevent crime within the United States however, crime and incarceration rates have steadily increased since 1985 (Jencks). Even when solitary confinement was frequently used after 1990, crime rates continued to rise. In fact, the United States had the highest crime rates out of all high-income countries in 2002 (NationMaster). Currently the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.2 million members in prison (Jenks). This makes it apparent that the system needs to be fixed, that something it not right within it, and solitary confinement is a major contributor to this problem. Throughout the state of Texas, forty-nine percent of regular prisoners are reincarcerated within three years, making Texas the state with the lowest reincarceration rates. This number increases to sixty-one percent of all solitary confinement prisoners. On the other hand, Connecticut has one of the highest reincarceration rates with sixty-six percent of regular inmates being reincarcerated within three years, and ninety-two percent of prisoners held in solitary confinement (Tsui). It is important to also remember that a portion of the members kept in solitary confinement are never released because they commit suicide while held in solitary, or they are serving a life sentence or death penalty, leaving only a small percentage of prisoners who stay out of prison longer than three years. There is no question that solitary confinement does not aid in the overall goal of the American prison system, so the next logical question is why?

In order to fully answer this question is it important to understand who is held in prison, why they were arrested, and how long they are their sentence is. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws were created to avoid discrimination between cultures. In theory, if two people were convicted of the same crime the judge would have no choice but to give the two people the same prison sentence. For example, if someone is found with twenty-eight grams of cocaine they are required to spend five years in jail, and if someone is found with two hundred and eighty grams they are required to spend ten years. Although the laws were created for a practical reason, they too have caused more harm than good for the American society. Due to the specific laws concerning drug felonies, seventy percent of the prison population are drug offenders, and fifteen percent are those who have committed violent crimes. Due to these laws, thirty-seven percent of all prisoners spend ten years in jail, forty percent spend five years, and only eight percent spend less than five years (Pryor). These laws are forcing non-violent crime committers to serve abnormally high sentences in prison, and potentially serve multiple years in solitary confinement. 

 If these nonviolent inmates are unlucky enough to be put in solitary confinement, they will experience life threatening mental illness, which they will not be able to control. 

When the body is subject to stress it leads to stress hormones being produced, and the buildup of these hormones causes neurons to break down. In a normal situation, the body would be able to regulate the production of these hormones and repair the neurons. However, when individuals are held in long-term stress inducing environments the body loses this ability causing neurons and the body systems to continue diminishing. In solitary confinement prisoners specifically, the cerebral cortex is much thinner than average, and neurons have fewer connections (Rodriguez). The cerebral cortex plays key roles throughout an individual’s life including determining intelligence, personality, motor function, planning and organizing, touch sensation, processing sensory information, and processing language (Bailey).  Having these essential skills restricted makes it extremely difficult for the individuals to keep their own sense of who they are, and causes their personalities and cognitive ability to evaporate. The breakdown of these neurons can happen at any point of an individual’s life, not strictly during development, meaning that even a full-grown person will experience these effects. The breakdown can start occurring as early as fifteen days within solitary and the effects are shown as anxiety, panic attacks, hallucinations, loss of impulse control, depression, memory loss, and the overall decline of cognitive function (Chang). The use of solitary confinement varies greatly between states, but the average time a prisoner spends within solitary confinement is three years (Rodriguez). Spending that amount of time in solitary confinement can obliterate one’s personality and can cause them to develop many different disorders and suicidal tendencies. Because of this, fifty percent of all prison suicides are from prisoners within solitary confinement, even though they make up only five to eight percent of the overall prison population (Chang).

Not only are the conditions within the cell harmful to prisoners, but the correctional officers are given too much power over them, and often make their conditions worse. The following are quotes from prisoners who were held in solitary confinement. 

“You have only so much time to eat. Sometimes they mess with you: They pass the food out, and they turn right around and pick up the trays.” “When we get beans, we are liable to get rocks or pebbles with them. We get watered-down tea or juice, which the other day we were advised not to drink because roaches were found in the juice cooler.” “You can sell your shower to the guards: In exchange for not having to take you to the shower, they'll give you an extra tray.” “If you are not standing at your door when the guards come, you'll be denied your yard opportunity.” “You're supposed to get an hour a day, but that never happens. It might happen once a week. That just depends on the shift commander and the weather. If there's a raindrop, it's canceled.” “Mail is always tricky in prison, but in solitary it's super tricky. It is used as a weapon against you. Your mail disappears. You'll get an envelope with your name on it, but somebody else's mail in it,” (Winters). 

The lack of regulations within solitary confinement allows the correctional officers to make it a game, to use whatever sense of control the prisoners have left and take it from them. Because of this, inmates are forced to find other ways in which they can be in control, and most of the time results in self harm, which plays a part in the high suicide rates among solitary confinement prisoners. Humans are, by nature, social creatures. People work together to solve problems and help better the society. Whereas there are some individuals who identify as independent, basic human interaction is still required in order for that individual to stay function-able within civilization. Solitary confinement is making the assumption that humans are inherently independent, which of course is false. The only time prisoners leave their cell and actually see other humans is during their showers, and during their outside time. For many prisons, this time has been restricted and inmates use other tactics to get out, even if that means severely harming them self. The absence of human interaction results in mental disorders, such as depression, shown as self-harm as well.  All this harm is due to the fact that the officers do not follow the basic regulations for solitary confinement prisoners, however even when rules are specifically broken it is very difficult for a correctional officer to be given any kind of punishment for their actions. 

In 2010, a man named Fabian was serving time in prison for drug affiliation, and while he was standing in line for their everyday count, he was conversing with another inmate.  Fabian states that to his knowledge this was in alignment with the rules he was supposed to follow, because he was standing in line without moving. However, the correctional officer on duty instructed him to face the wall with his arms and legs separated and “stretched out,” (Chad). Fabian remembers looking down towards his feet and seeing his correctional officers boot swinging up towards him. “He told me to get up, but all I could do was crawl back into my cube,” Fabian later states. Almost two hours later he was driven eighty miles to a hospital where emergency surgery was performed, in which they removed part of his right testicle. The correctional officer admitted to nothing other than raising his voice, and he stated that he remembered Fabian “crying a little” as he walked back to his cell. Although the officer was found guilty of his crime, he was only given a 120-day unpaid suspension, and he continues to be a state employee (Chad). To make matters worse, this was one of the most successful throughout cases with prisoners as the victims. In 2013, an officer struck an inmate on the head and was only charged with a nineteen-day suspension. Last year an officer charged with “verbal and physical” assault was only given a twenty-day suspension (Chad). The rights of prisoners are not a concern to the court system, making the inmates fearful for their physical, and mental wellbeing, and making them feel as though they are animals being tamed by their guards.

Solitary confinement is now dehumanizing its prisoners. We have come from a prison system with morals, and from a system with education and behavioral modification. We are now entering a new era of control and punishment, simply to make prisoners accountable for their crimes, taking away the morals of this country (Sullivan). Without allowing inmates to attend educational programs they are left feeling as though they do not belong in society. It is essential to have training on how to properly integrate back into society, and without it prisoners almost feel as if they belong in prison. A prisoner who was released just last February was quoted saying, “They just opened the door one day, gave me $200, and sent me to the Greyhound station. I get off the bus, you look to the right, and there's a bunch of homeless kids. You look to the left, there's all the drugs in the world that you could ask for.” (Winters). This is not an uncommon situation among released prisoners, and without the proper guidance inmates will return to their ways which caused them to be arrested very quickly. If the goal of the prison system is truly to prevent crime, then it is the prison’s responsibility to correct this issue. It is the prison’s responsibility to assist their inmates in transitioning into a normal life, and realizing the mistakes that they have made in the past. This requires the prison system to involve many more educational programs for a wider range of prisoners, not strictly punishment. In order for this to occur, it requires a greater public support of the issue. 

Although many individuals are unaware of solitary confinement, the ones who are informed have wanted to take action against it, because of the belief that it is a violation of the eighth amendment. This amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted,” (Stephenson). Seeing as though solitary confinement causes individuals to have their brain and neurons altered, as well as creating lifelong mental illnesses, many describe it as cruel and unusual. The American Medical Association has called for a complete ban on solitary confinement, and it has been tried thirty-six times within supreme court since 1866 (Rodriguez). Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly enough, almost nothing has been done to help solve this issue even with all the evidence that it is a complete violation of the constitution. The use of solitary confinement will continue because it is “a byproduct both of chronic underfunding and understaffing of correctional facilities, as well as of a pervasive view among correctional officials that solitary confinement is an indispensable means of maintaining safety and order within the facilities,” making it untouchable because legislation cannot find a different solution (Cooper, 3). In other words, there is not enough money or enough faculty to contain the abundance of prisoners in a humane way, and with the crime rates continuing to increase solitary confinement may be used more frequently because the prisoners held there only require minimal care.

 Humans are, by nature, social creatures. We work together to solve problems and help better our society. Whereas there are some individuals who identify as independent, basic human interaction is still required in order for that individual to stay functionable within civilization. The absence of love often results in disorders such as depression. Solitary confinement is making the assumption that humans are inherently independent, which of course is false. Solitary confinement is now dehumanizing its prisoners. We have come from a prison system with morals, and from a system with education and behavioral modification. We are now entering a new era of control and punishment, simply to make prisoners accountable for their crimes, taking away the morals of this country (Sullivan)

When the body is subject to stress it leads to stress hormones being produced, and the buildup of these causes neurons to break down. In a normal situation the body would be able to regulate the production of these hormones and repair the neurons, however when individuals are held in long-term stress inducing environments the body loses this ability and neurons and the body systems continue to diminish.  In solitary confinement prisoners specifically, the cerebral cortex is much thinner than average, and neurons have fewer connections (Rodriguez). The cerebral cortex plays key parts throughout an individual’s life including: determining intelligence, determining personality, motor function, planning and organizing, touch sensation, processing sensory information, and processing language (Bailey).  Having these essential skills restricted makes it extremely difficult for the individuals to keep their own sense of who they are, and the breakdown of these neurons can happen at any point of an individual’s life, not strictly during development. The breakdown can start occurring as early as fifteen days within solitary and the effects are shown as anxiety, panic attacks, hallucinations, loss of impulse control, depression, memory loss, and the overall decline of cognitive function (Chang). The use of solitary confinement varies greatly between states, but the average time spent within solitary confinement throughout the United States is three years (Rodriguez). Spending that amount of time in solitary confinement can obliterate one’s personality and can cause them to develop many different disorders and suicidal tendencies. Fifty percent of all prison suicides are from prisoners within solitary confinement, even though they make up around five to eight percent of the overall prison population (Chang

Not only are the conditions within the cell harmful to prisoners, but the correctional officers are given too much power over them, and often make their conditions worse. The following are quotes from prisoners who were held in solitary confinement. “You have only so much time to eat. Sometimes they mess with you: They pass the food out, and they turn right around and pick up the trays.” “When we get beans, we are liable to get rocks or pebbles with them. We get watered-down tea or juice, which the other day we were advised not to drink because roaches were found in the juice cooler.” “You can sell your shower to the guards: In exchange for not having to take you to the shower, they'll give you an extra tray.” “If you are not standing at your door when the guards come, you'll be denied your yard opportunity.” “You're supposed to get an hour a day, but that never happens. It might happen once a week. That just depends on the shift commander and the weather. If there's a raindrop, it's canceled.” “Mail is always tricky in prison, but in solitary it's super tricky. It is used as a weapon against you. Your mail disappears. You'll get an envelope with your name on it, but somebody else's mail in it,” (Winters). The lack of regulations within solitary confinement allows the correctional officers to make it a game, to use whatever sense of control the prisoners have left and take it from them. However even when rules are specifically broken it is very difficult for a correctional officer to be given any kind of punishment for their actions.

The American Medical Association has called for a complete band on solitary confinement and it has been tried thirty-six times within supreme court since 1866 (Rodriguez). Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly enough, almost nothing has been done to help solve this issue even with all the evidence that it is a complete violation of our eighth amendment. The use of solitary confinement will continue because it is “a byproduct both of chronic underfunding and understaffing of juvenile correctional facilities, as well as of a pervasive view among correctional officials that solitary confinement is an indispensable means of maintaining safety and order within the facilities,” making it untouchable because legislation cannot find a solution (Cooper, 3). In other words, there is not enough money or enough faculty to contain the abundance of prisoners in a humane way, and with the crime rates continuing to increase solitary confinement may be used more frequently because the prisoners held there only require minimal car

Even though there does not seem to be enough resources for the complete ban of solitary confinement currently, there are still many options available on how to limit it. The first way is to return to restricting solitary only to the most violent inmates who the correctional officers fear will harm other prisoners, as well as moving prisoners who are being held there currently under unnecessary circumstances into the regular inmate population. A hard limit of seven days should be placed on solitary confinement to avoid neuron depletion. Any prisoner with mental disabilities should never be placed in solitary, for this causes a higher risk of self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Finally, educational practices should be a requirement for every prisoner, even if the prisoners are handcuffed during the duration of the session (Rodriguez). The goal of the prison system revolves around reforming its inmates into functional citizens, and this goal will not be accomplished without education. 

As mentioned earlier, 16-year-old Kalief Browder spent three years at Rikers island, two of which were served in solitary confinement because he told another inmate to stop throwing shoes at people. His family says that he was “smart, fun, social, and engaged,” before his sentence but afterwards he was paranoid and withdrawn. His mother states, “the Peanut (Kalief’s old nickname) I once knew is all gone, mentally he is still in Rikers.” Kalief’s older brother said, “His personality was gone. His happiness was gone. You saw a darkness in him, versus the bubbly, the energetic, the outgoing from before. He became a shell,” (Chang). Solitary confinement has willingly changed a sixteen-year-old boy’s life, making him unrecognizable to his family. This must stop. It is time to start caring, and it is time to start acting. It is time to start building the prison system back up to its former self and bringing the incarceration rates back down. It is time to give the country back its morals, and keep upholding the constitution which is the foundation of this wonderful country. Now is the time to give the prisoners a fair shot of making it in this world, because taking their life away is unjustified.  Now is the time to start looking for the answers on how to abolish solitary confinement for good, because we cannot afford to ruin any more families. 
