Mental Stress In Prisons

Improved Essays
Prisoners both mentally and socially suffer from being disconnected from society. They tend to lose the ability to communicate with others after being separated from others for decades. Once they have been released back into the community, it is a different atmosphere. They would have to re-learn how to interact with others from the beginning. Being a prisoner is stressful, both on the mind and on the body. Most problems start from the mind. Common issues are mental stress, the traumatized memories that were created in prison, and communication complications. When the person is convicted and is taken to prison, their whole perspective changes from a normal life style to the confinement of their jail room. This can cause mental stress on the prisoner since they are restricted and have less freedom. Only allowed to do certain duties in their jail room and parts of the building. “Philosopher Kenneth Burke coined the term scapegoat mechanism, which Rene Girard developed more broadly as a cultural phenomenon that occurs when a person is singled out to be expelled from society, or sacrificed, in order to psychologically reduce tension created by the human desire to have what someone else has” (Looman, Mary, 96-7). Broke and Girard explains that when that person is kept away from the community it is to satisfy another person’s needs. Having this much restriction for long periods of time will cause them to want to go out or find ways to get out. Prisoners would resort to self-infliction because they wouldn’t want to live in the prison for the rest of time till they are released. “One man I knew stopped eating. Another, while serving a maximum 360-day term in solitary, attempted suicide,” said Kate Edwards (Lueders, Bill, 33). Prisons that are “crowded can cause mental stress, misguide them from what is right and wrong, lower their perception, and lower their performance in activities” (Carceral, K. …show more content…
C., 225). This can build up anger because they are not able to handle what they can’t do. “Anger “just boils up,” and an episode of loss of control can gain an inmate like this additional months or years in solitary” (Rhodes, Lorna, 54). If they act out within the prison and broke the rules, this will cause their release to be delayed which causes more problems for the inmate in the near future. These problems can be with them for long amounts of time in their life causing them to go to a psychologist.
Long term mental effects would be being traumatized from being in prison, their frustration on themselves for not being able to socialize, and having to face the quick growing world. They would feel wary with those around them. Questioning wither they should be trusted or not. “Solitary confinement breaks people. It breaks their spirit and breaks their mind” (Lueders, Bill, 33). With that problem they would have a hard time communicating, which then causes their frustration towards them self. “” What also goes along with those two factors is that they would have to face the world that is rapidly growing. “” When the prisoner gets released they do not know what is happening around them because so much time has passed. This would mean that they need to get back on track with the world from where they

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    There is this question we all ask ourselves what is it or why is it that when a prisoner is released from prison they often reoffend and returns to prison? If an inmate has been in prison a long period of time they become immune, adapt, Stockholm syndrome, but the correct word in this case is institutionalization. " Institutionalized Personality Traits are caused by living in an oppressive environment that demands: passive compliance to the demands of authority figures, passive acceptance of severely restricted acts of daily living, the repression of personal lifestyle preferences, the elimination of critical thinking and individual decision making, and internalized acceptance of severe restrictions on the honest self-expression thoughts and…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is obvious that inmates cannot leave the facility in which they are detained in until their prison sentence is over. They are sometimes convicted felons or people who are waiting for judicial action such as trial or arraignment. Basically, inmates consist of a vulnerable population for which extra maintenance is necessary.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Giving up can better be defined as the ceasing of belief that something you wish to happen might be possible. In the autobiography Night written by Elie Wiesel, a Jew during World War II, who was sent to a concentration camp, we witness an example of a prisoner of war giving up. Wiesel has strength until the very end of his journey and right before liberation by the americans he looses hope as his father passes away. In life, many prisoners give up hope because of the fear they will never see their loved ones or old life again, little is done to console them and conditions are often harder and rougher than those of their more privileged prior life and with their lack of freedom it is difficult to adjust to the new normal: their lives in captivity, and hope can be lost because of religious discouragements . However, as a person in bondage having a reliable something or someone to put faith and trust in can be motivation enough to ‘keep hope alive’.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Cold Blood Analysis

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    If a person is prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced to a certain amount of time in jail, they get a rather hateful mindset of what has happen and more or less plot their escape. This can be drawn to the Capote novel In Cold Blood which shows how Dick, an individual in jail, thought up a plot for murder while being locked up. Some argue that individuals might find jail as an enjoyable experience as they are confined together with like-minded individuals, but that only increases the chances of them committing more crimes as those people continue to treat crime as normal. The closed and confined atmosphere builds up hate in the human mind which is ultimately unleashed on the people who put him in there or individuals in life who they have simply held a grudge against. By giving these individuals a chance to right their wrong-doings through therapy it makes them feel that society is not against them and this love can translate into them having a better state of mind, because in many instances, people who commit crimes simply have not had the proper nurturing from the people around them.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Solitary confinement is so damaging to the human psyche that it is actually where half of the prison suicides take place. Solitary confinement is so unnatural and causes a list of negative effects on inmates. They begin to hallucinate, have panic attacks, paranoia and have difficulty with concentrating, thinking and using their memory. There haven’t been many studies on human subjects regarding solitary confinement because no university will let that happen, but in 1951, a group of students were paid at McGill University to stay in a small room with nothing but a bed, to test sense deprivation. Originally, they were supposed to study these subjects for about 6 weeks, but none of them even lasted one week.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Solitary Punishment

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    This causes behaviors to worsen the longer they are in isolation. Prisons systems use this punishment to “break down” the individual, so they will follow the rules and not feel any empathy for how they are feeling. The sad reality is it actually makes they person worse off in the behavioral area then when they entered. One man actually started freaking out in his cell so the guards would tear gas the…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The 2 most disheartening effects are that prisoners can not mentally adjust to life outside of prison because they have to continuously be afraid and cautious while in jail. After these long sentences it is hard for them to reenter society with a sense of trusting and self worth because of the way criminals have to have their guard up.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    INTRO I. Extended stays in solitary confinement causes inmates to suffer from irreversible mental illnesses. A. Prison is intended to rehabilitate inmates into upstanding citizens but, isolation causes inmates to act out in violence and often times, commit suicide. B. The most commonly reported psychological effects caused by isolation are anxiety, psychotic depression, delirium, schizophrenia and suicidal thoughts. 1.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since research indicates that an inmate’s mental health tends to deteriorate while in solitary confinement, the procedure’s by staff in the prisons are ineffective. To illustrate, Dr. Sharon Shalev, a human rights activist and criminologist, writes in her article “Solitary Confinement and Supermax Prisons: A Human Rights and Ethical Analysis” about the effects of solitary confinement on offenders and the legalities of methods used within Supermax Prisons. (Shalev, 151) Shalev mentions how there are frequent indicators of anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perception distortions, and paranoia & psychosis present in permanently isolated individuals, leading to irreversible damage to the brain. The cause of these mental illnesses stem from the involuntary placement of at-risk inmates into desensitized cells, and harsh treatment from prison guards who facilitate their stay within the…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. What do you think of Piper Kerman? Does she deserve the sentence she received? - Based on the excerpt that I read, it does not take quite long to acknowledge Piper Kerman’s distinctive behavior and personality traits. For starters, she is trying incredibly hard to put up a tough persona, and was failing to maintain it.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The criminal justice system is more concerned with what aspect of solitary confinement causes the worst effects on the prisoner. These aspects could be the isolation from human interactions, lack of windows, or the act of only being let out for one hour a day. Confinement also controls gang activity within the prison. Vicious and aggressive members of gangs can be locked up in order to deescalate certain…

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Illness In Prisons

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Prisons could actually be bad for mentally ill offenders. There are factors in prisons that can have a negative effect on mental health, including: overcrowding, various forms of violence, enforced solitude, lack of privacy, lack of activity, and inadequate mental health services. There is a concern regarding increased suicide risks in prisons that are exacerbated by the contributing factors listed above. Unfortunately, prisons are at times a dumping ground for mentally ill people. This is due to the lack of mental health services and often times linked to substance abuse disorders.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Most of the prisoners develop severe psychological stress that started when they were put into isolation. The majority of those prisoners experience symptoms such as dizziness, heart palpitations, and severe depression. While 41% experience hallucinations and 27% had suicidal thoughts. Isolated prisoners are seven times more likely to hurt or kill themselves than prisoners who are not. Also, a large amount of brain activity is driven by circadian rhythms.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Psychological Issues of Solitary Confinement Along with the ethical issues of solitary confinement, there are psychological issues that inmates develop due to lengthy stay in solitary confinement. “In 1993, Craig Haney, a social psychologist, interviewed a group of inmates in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison, California’s toughest penal institution.” (Weir, 2012)…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ultimately, the correctional system is not designed to be a therapeutic environment; although there is mental health treatment available for some inmates, correctional institutions do not have the adequate staffing nor resources to properly treat the mentally ill at that level…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics