Picture a time where you were alone and snowed in at your house. Initially, you enjoy the relaxation, sleep, and peacefulness until you develop cabin fever and mild claustrophobia. Now imagine how you would feel after spending months, or even years trapped in this environment. That is what prisoners endure when they are placed in solitary confinement. The only difference is that they are trapped in a windowless concrete room. Since 1980, the number of incarcerations in America has more than tripled and the amount the nation spends to maintain these facilities is six times the annual budget for our education system (Gopnik, 2012). Due to overcrowding and the high density of these prisons, certain inmates cannot be held in the general population
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The push for reformation is gaining support rapidly in America as advocates are joining with think tanks to research and raise awareness to the innumerable issues in the American penal system. Activists are not limited to sympathetic citizens but include politicians, philanthropic institutions, even former and current prisoners (Bryan, 2015). Politician Newt Gingrich is pushing the social media driven movement #cut50 which pushes the agenda of reducing prison population be half within the decade. Former and current prisoners experienced the horrors of isolation firsthand and are advancing the prison reform movement as seen in the 2011 and 2013 hunger strikes. The strikes were initiated in California’s Pelican Bay Penitentiary and quickly radiated across the country. The goal of the strikes were to “end long-term solitary confinement, [receive] adequate food, and expand programming and privileges for indefinite prisoners” (Herzing). Many theorists agree with this particular set of demands. Rod Morgan, a penal policy expert, argues that the effects of solitary confinement can be reduced if you have a program of segregation with approximation. The purpose of prison undoubtedly remains as punishing a criminal, but if the inmate has the chance to rejoin society he needs conditions that approximate free society in order to distinguish segregation from slavery (Morgan, 1999). This reduces the problems prisoners face when readjusting to society while strengthening the humanity of their
The push for reformation is gaining support rapidly in America as advocates are joining with think tanks to research and raise awareness to the innumerable issues in the American penal system. Activists are not limited to sympathetic citizens but include politicians, philanthropic institutions, even former and current prisoners (Bryan, 2015). Politician Newt Gingrich is pushing the social media driven movement #cut50 which pushes the agenda of reducing prison population be half within the decade. Former and current prisoners experienced the horrors of isolation firsthand and are advancing the prison reform movement as seen in the 2011 and 2013 hunger strikes. The strikes were initiated in California’s Pelican Bay Penitentiary and quickly radiated across the country. The goal of the strikes were to “end long-term solitary confinement, [receive] adequate food, and expand programming and privileges for indefinite prisoners” (Herzing). Many theorists agree with this particular set of demands. Rod Morgan, a penal policy expert, argues that the effects of solitary confinement can be reduced if you have a program of segregation with approximation. The purpose of prison undoubtedly remains as punishing a criminal, but if the inmate has the chance to rejoin society he needs conditions that approximate free society in order to distinguish segregation from slavery (Morgan, 1999). This reduces the problems prisoners face when readjusting to society while strengthening the humanity of their