“In California prisons in 2004, 73% of all suicides occurred in isolation units” (The Dangerous Overuse of Solitary p5). Surge in numbers of inmates killing themselves in solitary confinement. In the United States, approximately 80,000 inmates are placed in solitary each year. Prisoners are placed in solitary for a variety of reasons. However, nearly every prisoner in solitary confinement end up having a mental disorder and physiological effects. In Haney’s (1993) study of 100 randomly selected prisoners in one of California’s supermax prisons, it illustrates, “mental-health problems caused by isolation, which included irrational anger and confused thought processes (more than 80% of prisoners sampled) …” (qtd in The Health Effect of Solitary
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According to a video “Solitary Nation”, which direct by Don Edge. Adam Brulotte is one of the protagonists in the video. Adam was serving a four-year sentence includes sixty days’ solitary for breaking someone’s jaw in a fight. At the beginning of the isolation, Adam thought he would handle being locked up for 23 hours a day by reading or do push ups. Nevertheless, in the 25th days of solitary, he started a riot and fared worst because he was anxious about his life after prison. He states, “…I don’t know where I’m gonna go, I don’t know where I’m gonna work, I don’t know how I’m gonna get a car…when you settle down in your room and you really just start bang, bang, bang” (qtd in Edge). Adam desired to get a GED for having a better life after prison, but when he realized he would not have it, he starts to lose patience, cut himself, and be destructive. At that time, his mental health was declining. Madlyn Willigan, an author of the website “Solitary Watch”, mentions, “Prolonged isolation may damage the cerebral cortex, which is ‘the part of the brain that makes us most human’” (Willigan). The cerebral cortex comprises a major portion of the brain and plays a critical role in attention, perceptual awareness, language and consciousness. It is part of the brain that people use for reasoning and working things out,
According to a video “Solitary Nation”, which direct by Don Edge. Adam Brulotte is one of the protagonists in the video. Adam was serving a four-year sentence includes sixty days’ solitary for breaking someone’s jaw in a fight. At the beginning of the isolation, Adam thought he would handle being locked up for 23 hours a day by reading or do push ups. Nevertheless, in the 25th days of solitary, he started a riot and fared worst because he was anxious about his life after prison. He states, “…I don’t know where I’m gonna go, I don’t know where I’m gonna work, I don’t know how I’m gonna get a car…when you settle down in your room and you really just start bang, bang, bang” (qtd in Edge). Adam desired to get a GED for having a better life after prison, but when he realized he would not have it, he starts to lose patience, cut himself, and be destructive. At that time, his mental health was declining. Madlyn Willigan, an author of the website “Solitary Watch”, mentions, “Prolonged isolation may damage the cerebral cortex, which is ‘the part of the brain that makes us most human’” (Willigan). The cerebral cortex comprises a major portion of the brain and plays a critical role in attention, perceptual awareness, language and consciousness. It is part of the brain that people use for reasoning and working things out,