The worst thing for a child to hear is, “you are being sent to your room”. It means being alone for what feels like an eternity, even if it is only for half an hour. In the end, you know you are going to be let out of your room, fed a proper meal, and once again be with those you love. What if this wasn't the case, and at the end, you were not let out of your room? Imagine if this was your life. For some prisoners, this is their reality – solitary confinement. The question that guided the research conducted on this topic was: What are the psychological, legal, and social conditions of American prisons in the 21st century, and how do they affect the inmates? The specific focus of the paper was the psychological effects of solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement was established in 1829 in Philadelphia. It was based on the belief that when prisoners were isolated with a Bible, they would use the time to pray, self-analyze, and make peace with God. Solitary is currently used as a form of punishment to maintain prison order and to reduce violence in prisons (Smith, 2006). In 2015, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that 20% of all prisoners stayed in solitary confinement or segregation at one point during their incarceration from the years 2011-2012. It was further reported that the inmates who were most likely to be living in isolation were those younger than 25 years of age, did not have a high school diploma, or who were lesbian, gay, or bisexual (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015). Furthermore, gang members, transgender people, pregnant women, people who are considered flight risks, mentally ill individuals, and suicidal people are also frequently found in solitary. (Reiter, 2017). The prison guards personally select the inmates they feel require solitary confinement. The evidence given for the justification as to why a certain person is placed in solitary confinement could be as simple as the reading material in one’s cell (Reiter, 2017). Recent trends illustrate a massive increase in inmates being placed into solitary confinement, as many more inmates are categorized as “dangerous”. Currently, there are approximately 80,000 people in solitary confinement in the United States (Herald, 2013). The benefits, or lack thereof, and purpose of solitary confinement is a constant debate in society, as the negative effects on prisoners after being taken out of solitary confinement are detrimental to the prisoners long-term well being.
Once in solitary confinement, inmates are kept in a dark, approximately eight-by-ten foot cell for twenty-three hours a day, every day, without any contact with other prisoners, family, or the outside world. These inmates are released from solitary for one hour during the day in order to exercise in a solitary pen and shower. When the concept of solitary confinement was first introduced, its physical boundaries started as a hole in the ground, and has developed to the current 8 by 10 foot isolation cell. In many super maximum security prisons, isolation is long-term, in fact, the longest a prisoner has been held in solitary confinement is 43 years, Albert Woodfox (Pilkington, 2006). Woodfox was in solitary confinement for being falsely accused of killing a prison guard in 1972. He was released in 2015 and Woodfox now uses his time to campaign against the use of solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement is controversial, and it is constantly debated if solitary confinement is needed in order to maintain a peaceful situation within prison systems. The logic behind isolation is to stop those who may endanger or negatively influence other prisoners or even people outside of prison. Some of the inmates are incredibly violent and dangerous, therefore, placing them in solitary confinement is the only solution to prevent them from hurting others (Shalev, 2009). Prisons are constantly attempting to maintain security and high levels of order, therefore, they believe that they will meet success if they isolate those who are difficult or pose a threat to the prison staff. It is believed that by having inmates in solitary, they will be forced to reflect and face punishment, which will hopefully stop the prisoners from repeating their actions in the future. Overall, the reasons that solitary confinement could be perceived as a positive security measure is due to the protection it provides for prison staff and other inmates. The result would be the dissolution of prison gangs and activities, the maintenance of prison order, and the mere fact that the prisoners will hopefully learn from their actions.
Solitary confinement has been shown to change the way that the human brain works. People become more impulsive and therefore less able to locate their inner control. When solitary was first opened, the prison officials soon realized that a large portion of these inmates went insane, committed suicide, or were not able to function in society (Sullivan, 2006).The inmates start to mentally and physically deteriorate, which leads to violent behaviour, ranting, babbling, and the inability to respond to directions (Sol, Keri, Wachtler, Bagala 2013). A large part of functioning and developing as a stable human being stems from the frontal cortex of the brain, simultaneously forming social interaction skills, which are known to be crucial for survival. When humans have been isolated in solitary confinement, many alterations occurred in one’s mind like the following: hallucinations, confusion, lethargy, anxiety, and panic attacks. (Lee, Bandy X., Prabhu, Maya 2015) In addition, suicide, self- mutilation, insomnia, and paranoia are commonly seen in prisoners in Solitary Confinement (Herzing, 2015). Although humans are resilient, the way isolation damages one’s mental health can vary, for most, the effects of being trapped in a dark, small space are extremely significant. In certain situations, it is found that isolation is harder to weather than physical punishment. Mental health research from human rights organizations states that sustained and long-term imprisonment in solitary confinement is considered torture. The impact that isolation has on the human brain is exceptionally negative, and isolation in any length of time will very often harm an individual’s mental health, which has an everlasting effect. Some prisoners request to be in solitary due to a fear of other inmates, but they do not realize the effect that being isolates has on them is worse the fear of other inmates. A study performed by Henrik Steen Andersen, Dorte Sestoft, Tommy Lillebæk, Gorm Gabrielsen, Ralf Hemmingsen and Peter Kramp found that the amount of 28% of prisoners in solitary confinement had developed psychiatric disorders. They concluded that “the surplus of incident disorders among [solitary confinement] prisoners is related to [solitary confinement], which may act as a mental health hazard.”(Andersen, Sestoft, Lillebæk, Gabrielsen, Hemmingsen, Kramp, 2000) Overall, isolation negatively impacts one’s brain and studies that focus on the brain demonstrate that there are impairments and abnormalities in individuals that are denied social interactions. When prisoners are released from solitary and put back into the general prison population or society, they are often psychotic as confinement can lead to mental illness which in turn then leads the individual to re-offend (Herald, 2013). In 2013, Kalief Browder, who was arrested at the age of 16 and placed in solitary confinement for two years, told CNN that, “Prior to going to jail [he] never had any mental illness.” After leaving solitary confinement and jail, Browder attempted to commit suicide numerous times and took his life in 2015 (Reiter, 2016). Many believe that solitary confinement constitutes as torture, as it violates the eighth amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment (United States Constitution, 1791).
A reform needs to occur in order to properly rehabilitate inmates, so that their mental health is kept intact, while ensuring the safety of the prison staff and other inmates. In 2011, 12,000 prisoners across the state of California went on a hunger strike in order to demand prison reform, which included the abolishment of long-term solitary confinement. These protests set the congressional hearings regarding solitary confinement into motion, however, as of 2015, the conditions still have not improved. In order for prison reform to have a positive effect on the prisoners, conditions such as visitation rights, dietary changes, access to education, and an improved living space need to be implemented. This will ensure that prisoners are able to survive and come out mentally unscathed from solitary confinement. Furthermore, staff working in solitary confinement need to have access to proper training in order to set educational programs into place and be able to properly handle a dangerous prisoner that is not in a healthy state of mind. Finally, and most importantly, solitary confinement cannot be a permanent solution, as prisoners who are in solitary and then eventually released onto the streets do not have any rehabilitative programs, mental health treatment plans or educational services to support them. Therefore, life after prison can be extremely difficult for many, which could possibly lead to re-offense or self-harm in the future.
I would like you to imagine twenty-three hours a day, seven days a week with no human contact, no sunlight or even an adequate meal. How would you respond to this situation? Solitary confinement needs to humanize ways inmates are treated versus breaking down and ultimately destroying one’s mental health. The psychological effect of solitary confinement is detrimental and there needs to be a new bill that will benefit all the stakeholders in this issue.