The Unseen Horrors of Solitary Confinement

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“The isolation of solitary confinement – getting away from the shouts and chaos of the general inmate population – is almost a relief, for about the first 20 minutes. Then you realize that the horror-film cliché “no one can hear you scream” has come true.” (Bozelko, 2016). The cruelties of solitary confinement in prisons has affected inmates for over a century. The Pennsylvania prison system was the first use of solitary confinement in the United States and was responsible to introducing this practice on the world. Since its inception, solitary’s horrific effects on inmates became evident, and its ethics questioned by the hoi polloi. Despites the practice being abandoned and considered inhumane, solitary confinement has not only reentered prison …show more content…

(Cockrell, 2015 para. ).
Solitary has numerous side effects that pose a major concern and has been shown to have horrid effects on inmate, and this information has been evident since solitary’s beginning. From this time on, many Americans have developed a negative response towards the use of solitary confinement, and most Solitary practices dwindled in response to the impact of solitary on the psychology of the inmates until the early …show more content…

Solitary confinement is classified as torture. My position quote “dead to everything but torturing anxieties and horrible despair.… I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain, to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body.” http://news.berkeley.edu/2010/12/07/supermax/. a. Solitary confinement is nothing short of inhumane. Ineffective, costly, overused, and cruel this for of punishment has no place in our judicial system. It has been proved over again that, the conditions of psychological treatment of these inmates are unconstitutional if it is shocking to the conscience of a reasonably civilized people (Holt v. Sarver), and if medical needs are being ignored (Estelle v. Gamble). In addition, if it is sufficiently serious and poses a substantial risk of serious harm (Wilson v. Seiter), and when officials are indifferent to harm and treatment inflicted (Farmer v.

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