 Solitary confinement is the use of extreme sensory deprivation. It’s extremely helpful in isolating prisoners for the guard’s safety, but also particularly dangerous for the inmates’ mental health. Recently, the practice of solitary confinement has come under scrutiny by the public for being cruel. As inmates come forward about their experiences with solitary and how it affected them, the public is split on whether the inmate’s crimes merit the punishment.  Prisons’ use of solitary confinement is extremely outdated and has a large number of flaws, including the violation of 8th amendment rights, which restrict the use of cruel and unusual punishment, extremely prevalent regarding the mentally ill. To the prison system not being able to adequately protect its guards, without totally confining inmates which they deem to be dangerous.

Solitary confinement has been used for centuries, it’s extremely outdated, yet we have not tried to come up with a better option. The first approach to running a supermax prison in the United States occurred in the 1970s and 80s, when the united states was experiencing a drastic rise in the prison population (George 13). One prominent catalyst was the incident at the Marion Penitentiary where guards were killed and all prisoners were put in a form of solitary confinement to control the situation (Smith 2). The United States has struggled with prison violence for a while but this form of controlling unruly inmates boomed in the late nineteen 1990’s, where “fifty-five supermax facilities in thirty-four states” were opened (Smith 2). Solitary is used for inmates that the guards see as a threat to themselves or others, the type of prisoner put in a max-security prison has often committed a very serious crime (Morris 2). Once placed in solitary confinement, the inmate is restricted to his cell for twenty-three hours a day and denied contact with other people. Not being able to see or talk to another person for that long can have serious effects on a person, which will be touched on later.

The main goal of solitary from the prison’s standpoint is to punish the inmates so that they will not continue with their violent behavior, resulting in no further need for the use of solitary (Morris 4). It’s also for the prison staffs’ safety. Prison guards are dangerously outnumbered by the inmates, and since prison is the inmates home they have nothing to do all day but think, and that can be a dangerous thing. Recently, six officers were assaulted in a New York prison. Additionally, three prisoners took down a female officer who was taking them to get medication, and fought six more responding officers. Later, when the inmates had been detained, “officers searched Wiley (one of the inmates) and found a 6.5 inch plexi-glass shank hidden in his underwear.” The prisoners were placed in “special housing” afterwards (Schutzman 1-2).  This is by no means a rare situation it must be brought in consideration for the way the guards handle and house the inmates, and what can be done to lessen the inmates aggression.

Prisoners can gain a reputation with the guards of being disruptive or well behaved. This influences how the guards deal with them. Since the choice of whether or not to put an inmate in solitary is an “administrative decision rather than a punitive one,” the staff itself can temporarily place them in solitary (O’ Keefe 123). That’s where the officers underlying opinion about the inmate becomes imperative. This is because it’s the officers’ job to quickly handle situations, as well as to stop an incident from happening in the first place. Prison security has been described as “unreliable and subjective” because profiling must be used (O’Keefe 124). So it would seem imperative if the officer has so much power he should be using it correctly. Each different job in the prison system from warden to correctional officer was given a “competency profile.” This outlines each jobs duties and how much time they should spend on their tasks (Ruddell and Norris 2). The problem with them is that most are outdated and don’t reflect what needs to be accomplished during a modern workday. This is where the prisoner’s safety becomes important, if guards are taught how to do their jobs incorrectly, prisoners are at risk of injury or worse.

Recently, prisons have come under scrutiny for the treatment of the inmates. It’s a divided issue, because these are criminals we are focusing on, but we cannot forget they are people to. Inmates have started to come forward with their experiences in solitary confinement. One of the most notable sources is the Vice documentary by James Burns. In this short documentary Burns relives his time in solitary, showing the world through a live stream what 30 days in solitary can do to a man. The sad part is his experiment would only be a short sentence for an inmate, some can spend years in solitary and have no way of arguing it. Burns is quoted saying this about solitary confinement which he became familiar with in his teens,

I don’t want to put poison in anyone’s ear-I want to start a conversation, is this something as a society that we should continue to do? Everything suggests that it doesn’t make facilities safer, doesn’t make out community safer, and that people are developing mental and physical ailments because of this practice. So knowing all of these things, why are we still doing this? I want people to really think about that. 

(Burns). Inmates still in prison have been interviewed saying the same things burns said in his documentary. Inmate James Beasley has been in solitary for the past fifteen years. In his interview he has said solitary has changed. He doesn’t know how he will handle normal human interaction, and that solitary has given him extreme anger issues. Those claims are what researchers are looking into, what effects extreme isolation really has on people. 

Researchers have begun examining correlations between mental health issues and prison isolation. The main concerns of the researchers are the sensory deprivation that the inmates experience and the lack of social interaction, and how it will affect them when they get out. Research has brought forth a bounty of problems such as “appetite and sleep disturbances, anxiety, panic, rage, loss of control, paranoia, hallucinations, and self-mutilations” along with a long list of psychological problems (Haney 130-131). Post-traumatic stress disorder has also been connected to the use of solitary. It seems that inmate James Beasley was not lying in his interview when he said that solitary changed who he was as a person. There is a mental health program in all prisons where the guards determine the prisoners SIB, or self-injury behavior, and when prisoners are found to have a high SIB, they are placed in solitary confinement. They are put in there for what is assumed their own safety, but research has found that a large majority of successful suicides are in solitary (Lanes 5-6). Along with the fact that mentally ill prisoners will usually be housed in solitary for a longer period of time than non-mentally ill inmates. The combination of the physiological problems gained while in administrative segregation, is why solitary confinement is a highly disputed topic. And is viewed by many as cruel and unusual punishment which violates their 8th amendment right .

The eight amendment right bestowed upon all Americans states that there shall be no cruel or unusual punishments inflicted upon them for their crimes. Yet the very questionable use of solitary confinement is still prominent in the united states. It can be clearly scene from all of the information and data above, that for most people solitary confinement has negative effects on them. Reflecting on what has the most people thinking about change to is the mental ill population in prisons. It has been estimated by the U.S Department of justice that there is a quarter of a million people who suffer from mental illness in prisons (George 2). The worst part is that the negative effects had been known by prison systems for decades, but not as clear to the general public. The Manual of Correctional Standards in there 1959 issue stated that solitary should only be used for a short period of time because of its negative effects, but people currently are still being placed in it for extreme lengths of time (George 12). But like any other country when the prison population drastically rises they look away from the right thing to do and turn to the easy. One of the first time that the Supreme Court ever really looked into the 8th amendment and solitary was in 1976 in Estelle v. Gamble. This case regarded prison staff not providing Estelle his medicine, the supreme court voted that this did violate his rights (George 18). This was expanded on later in the Rhodes v Chapman case were the court stated the 8th amendment would be broken when the inmates were deprived of minimal necessities (George 19). 

When is the point you able to decide that a human is being deprived of too much? Complete sensory deprivation clearly seems to be that point based on all of the information above. So the decision in Rhoads v Chapman should protect the inmates from such a thing, but the United States government has decided otherwise. As stated earlier in the paper we experienced a spike in crime in the 70’s/80’s, Humane societies have been said “At no point in modern history of imprisonment have so many prisoners been so completely isolated for so long a period of time in facilities designed so completely for the purpose of near total isolation”’ (George 14). As a whole the U.S struggled to control all of the incoming inmates. We can view the successes and failures of the British, during their rise in inmates in the 1960’s. During this time, they had conflict with the Irish Republican Army causing a rise in very angry Irish inmates. They responded as we did by putting large amount of prisoners in solitary, but it did not work.  This is when they decided to change up the method of controlling inmates completely (Lamb 3).

In the past the UN has made some very progressive laws regarding solitary confinement, cracking down regarding human rights. Something the United States has not been as proactive in. Nearly 40 years ago the UN declared extreme solitary confinement to be inhumane and within the past couple years they updated the rules. Dubbing them “Nelson Mandela Rules,” in regards to Nelson Mandela’s incarceration in South Africa (Lamb 3).  One of the most notable events coming from the United Kingdom were prisoners being aloud to fight their sentence in solitary confinement. This came after it was ruled in favor of the inmate in two cases. Bourgass v Secretary of State for Justice and Shahid v Scottish Ministers. These cases ruled that the inmate would be able to fairly represent himself, after 72 hours in solitary if he should continue to be there (Beaton 53). Compared to when American inmates are put in solitary where they don’t get a real argument, they also lose all rights including rehabilitation, and recreational activities. Yet the united states courts still do not consider cruel. Another very ground breaking law presented by the UN was banning children from being put in solitary confinement since they are the most influential. It is obvious that the American prison system is flawed and has not yet put in enough effort to make it more humane. One of the big issues is that prisons are a very money fueled business, cutting back to the bare essentials or less. Some things i gained from my criminal justice class was knowledge about the corruption of the criminal justice system. Most prisons are run by third party companies contracted by the government, there main goals are too keep prisoners coming and to make money so it’s difficult to make change unless forced by law. Which cannot happen until we start treating the inmates for who they really are, people.

One of the most successful methods used in the United Kingdom are the Close Supervision Centers. These group a small number of inmates who are deemed dangerous together, under constant supervision. Sounds like a bad idea, but it has reduced the amount of violence due to one key aspect. It provides the prisoners with activities to look forward which in turn keeps them on a straight path. Compared to the U.S were the prisoners only thing the prisoners have to do is count the days and think. Which connects to earlier statements, being left alone with just your thoughts can be very dangerous to the inmate’s health. The Close Supervision Centers provide incentives like “education programs, libraries, mental-health treatment, and exercise.” Making the days pass faster, while all these things are taken away from prisoners that act up in the United States (Lamb 5). Supervision Centers seem to also help the inmates integrate into the real world again, they have also caused a massive drop in the use of solitary confinement. This carries over to most of Europe were long term isolation is frowned upon. This method clearly has potential to change the prison system as a whole, giving the prisoners life skills and things to keep their brains occupied. Just general logic should show that this is a better option, the point of the prison system is to penalize an individual for their crime. Than release most of them back into society a better person.

There has been some much needed changes in the right direction regarding U.S prisons, but not nearly enough. A Mississippi prison took steps in the right direction to gradually remove prisoners from solitary confinement into general population, but after some very hard times (Goode 2). Roy Harper an inmate in Unit 32 recapped on what was happening before the changes came. He recapped on how prisoners revolted against the prison during their time, similar to the British’s experience with the Irish. Inmates reportedly cut themselves, flooded the toilets, and mutilated their gentiles to get attention. Prison officials cracked down, taking the inmates fans during extreme summer heat but still no change came. Not seeing any change coming they decided to change strategy’s, similar to the British they looked for ways to keep inmates occupied. They decided to offer jobs for the inmate who showed good behavior and slowly moved them out of solitary, after a pending lawsuit (Goode 9). Mr. Sparkman the deputy corrections commissioner was stunned by the change in procedure, quoted saying it was “against everything he had been trained to do” along with back in 2002 “I’d have probably locked them down for anything that squeaked” (Goode 10). A good connection to the information in the fourth paragraph, regarding prison staff training not being sufficient.

It has been clear throughout American history that we do not necessarily accept change and try and maintain power. However, there will always be change, if most of the civilized world finds solitary to be inhumane and have experimented with better options. Than we should try and become the forefront of that endeavor. Prison staff will have to worry less about an angry prison inmate if we lessen the amount of angry inmates. Research points to it messing with the inmate’s head turning sane men insane. Providing inmates with the skills to be part of society again is the future of the prison system. The world in general is cracking down against inhumane treatment of people. If the inmates lose hope of something better, they have nothing to lose, and if the prison system does the same thing but expects change they are insane.
