Persuasive Essay On Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement, or also known as Security Housing Unit, is defined as isolating an inmate from the general population for twenty-two to twenty-three hours a day for months or years. Its main purpose is to punish inmates who break prison rules or endanger prison guards and other inmates. First, let’s take a step back and look at the downfall of solitary confinement. U.S prisons must ban solitary confinement because it causes psychological effects on inmates, it is considered cruel and unusual punishment and doesn't provide any known rehabilitation for inmates. Imagine being in a room the size of a walk-in closet, with cement walls, a four-inch wide window to look outside. Isolation in a small room for twenty-two to twenty-three hours …show more content…
Second, being isolated from social interaction in a small room locked down for twenty-two to twenty-three hours a day is a prime example of cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment is a “phrase describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to it.” Critiques say that,“solitary confinement is akin to torture, violating both international law and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.” Also, very similar words, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” appear in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. “Many become floridly psychotic, or so agitated that they engage in awful, grotesque behaviors: they cover themselves and their cells with feces, they mutilate themselves, they try to kill themselves.” U.S prisons should begin taking steps in changing solitary