Solitary Confinement: A Historical and Legal Perspective

Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement originated in 1829 in a Penitentiary in Philadelphia the sentence has evolved, but the base of the concept remains the same. Beginning as form of punishment used by Quakers in order to let criminals Think and spend time alone with the bible the punishment has developed into today's cold, abhorrent, and dark supermax prisons. According to Merriam Webster the definition of Solitary confinement is “placing a prisoner in a Federal or state prison in a cell away from other prisoners, usually as a form of penal discipline, but occasionally to protect the convict from other prisoners or to prevent the prisoner from causing trouble. Long-term solitary confinement may be found to be unconstitutional as ‘cruel

and unusual punishment.’ ” Studies like The Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement on Prisoners in Supermax Units by Bruce Arrigo show the mental repercussion of solitary confinements so how did something that could be considered torture become a staple in The U.S justice system? Many factors have led to it becoming hardwired as a crucial part of the system.The crusade begins in Eastern State Penitentiary where Fred Kellner, The psychiatrist who pioneered the punishment, Adopted it from the Quakers and used against violent criminals in the 1830s. He then saw inmates who went to confinement feel depressed and become non-functioning parts of society but by the time he realized its danger the prison had already seen it’s efficient effects. In the early 1840 when the practice was being abandoned for the inhumanity it was described as a “ghastly punishment and was rarely used outside of the prison that created, and when it was it was only on the most severe and rebellious criminals. But during the drug and gang wars in the 1980s it was deemed necessary and from there it has become a relentless practice in many institution. Considering cost, morality, and psychological repercussions The justice system needs a reform, It has to abolish this archaic, cruel, and unconstitutional punishment. (Timeline: Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons)
A human trapped in a room with no social interaction, Flanked with barren walls around him and the only thing this individual can do is wait till his next meal, this is solitary confinement and we let this torture pass on U.S.

soil.This punishment rapidly overtook the justice the system and in order to understand exactly why The positives must be brought up. With busy schedules and complex social interactions prisoners don’t get much time to contemplate but in small doses solitary confinement can help. Solitary Confinement also adds multiple layers of security in many aspects; the close surveillance prevents prisoners from hurting themselves and the security and isolation stops prisoners from making rash judgements and hurting faculty or other prisoners. Confinement prevents prisoners from involvement in gangs and actively discourages them from ever considering gang related activity while doing time. Lastly if prisoners become deeply rooted in inter prison gang activity solitary confinement may be used as a last ditch preventive measure in order to guarantee the safety of an inmate from outside threats but this is often avoided because it punishes the inmate in confinement even though they did nothing wrong; this can lead to long term psychological damage that is different from the usual damage caused by isolation. Morally these pros should not lead us to believe isolation is a cure. Instead of funding supermax prisons criminals must be observed closely and this leds to a

more general issue in the justice system, not enough focus on healthy reform but instead on just finding ways to get prisoners through jail without positively changing them.
The psychological onslaught caused by solitary confinement is severe and long lasting sometimes even permanent. The damage it causes to each of the 80,000 people housed in confinement every year far outweighs it pros like personal safety and rehabilitation. Being put in a dark cage slightly larger than a king size bed for 23 hours could never be possible for the human psyche. University of Wisconsin psychologist Harry Harlow placed rhesus monkeys inside a custom-designed solitary chamber nicknamed “the pit of despair.” Shaped like an inverted pyramid, the chamber had slippery sides that made climbing out all but impossible. After a day or two, Harlow wrote, “most subjects typically assume a hunched position in a corner of the bottom of the apparatus. One might presume at this point that they find their situation to be hopeless.” Harlow also found that monkeys kept in isolation wound up “profoundly disturbed, given to staring blankly and rocking in place for long periods, circling their cages repetitively, and mutilating themselves.” Most readjusted eventually, but not those that had been caged the longest. “Twelve months of isolation almost obliterated the animals socially,” Harlow found. The same social behaviour is found in Humans, isolation leads to deprivation and deprivation results in mental instability. Even though still cruel solitary confinement could help a little bit as long as the stays were short but some stays can go over a year at which, like the study showed, would cause inmate have to long term mental damage. Isolation can cause hopelessness and depression, and other psychiatric issues specific to the punishment; these specific symptoms are hallucinations, panic attacks, overt paranoia, no impulse control, hypersensitivity; and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory. Some inmates developed weird obsessions.
The morality of the punishment is also questionable .

Having to resort to a form of torture show the place where the justice system is right now, Even if the prisoner was shunned to solitary confinement just because faculty does’nt have the proper motivation. It’s unfair to the people with pre-existing problems like pregnancy and Mental instability. places like it exist in every state, thriving right by the outskirts of our cities, and it’s shameful to have such a thing in country that represents freedom or equal chance. On any given day in the United States, supermax prisons and solitary confinement units hold at least eighty thousand men, women, and juveniles in conditions of isolation and sensory deprivation, without work, rehabilitation, or meaningful human contact of any kind. Take the senator Christie case for example, this new jersey senator vetoed a bill that would prevent kids and pregnant women from going to solitary and would have restricted its use to only extreme circumstances and to no more than 15 consecutive days or 20 days in a two-month period. Sen. Christtie stated that the confinement was necessary and not nearly as bad as the “media” put it out to be. If this country still has peopling defending unnecessary torture there is a need for

reform.