2. Isolation Effaces Inmates’ Social Instinct
The primary purpose of solitary is to offer a chance for prisoners to rehabilitate themselves; but in fact, it goes to the opposite way and even go worst, such as destroys the inmates’ social skill. Craig Haney, a professor psychology at the University of California Santa Cruz, points out, “Everyone’s identity is socially created: it’s through your relationships that you understand yourself as a mother or father…. a hero or villain. But after years of isolation, many prisoners change in another way…” (qtd in Gawande). Humans are depending on their contact with other people, through the conversation, they would not only know more about other people but also establishes a sense of “self” and to learn …show more content…
Furthermore, rather than letting prisoners to stay in the incarceration for doing nothing whole day, it is better to let them access to education. In Cal Poly State University, there has a project called Prison Education Project (PEP). This project is formed by the Office of Correctional Education (OCE), the California Institution for Men (CIM) teamed, and Professor Renford Reese on November, 2011. PEP offers education opportunities in 11 California correctional facilities. In addition, it “providing academic, life skills, and career development programing, PEP aims to educate, empower, and transform the lives of incarcerated individuals.” …show more content…
In the new settlement, it clarifies, “The state will create a new unit for prisoners who are deemed too dangerous to return to the general population. There, they will have more privileges than in solitary, including more time out of their cells, small group leisure activities, and some job opportunities and phone calls” (qtd in Lovett). Although this new settlement has not yet implement, it seems to be a good change. Offering more privileges to prisoners such as small group activities and phones calls would be very helpful for the inmates because they would have more chances to socialize with others, express their feelings, and share their stories with other inmates, which has a beneficial outcome on their health and an improvement of their well-being. Most crucially, inmates could keep their social skill stay active; as a result, when they re-enter society they would not feel uncomfortable or
The primary purpose of solitary is to offer a chance for prisoners to rehabilitate themselves; but in fact, it goes to the opposite way and even go worst, such as destroys the inmates’ social skill. Craig Haney, a professor psychology at the University of California Santa Cruz, points out, “Everyone’s identity is socially created: it’s through your relationships that you understand yourself as a mother or father…. a hero or villain. But after years of isolation, many prisoners change in another way…” (qtd in Gawande). Humans are depending on their contact with other people, through the conversation, they would not only know more about other people but also establishes a sense of “self” and to learn …show more content…
Furthermore, rather than letting prisoners to stay in the incarceration for doing nothing whole day, it is better to let them access to education. In Cal Poly State University, there has a project called Prison Education Project (PEP). This project is formed by the Office of Correctional Education (OCE), the California Institution for Men (CIM) teamed, and Professor Renford Reese on November, 2011. PEP offers education opportunities in 11 California correctional facilities. In addition, it “providing academic, life skills, and career development programing, PEP aims to educate, empower, and transform the lives of incarcerated individuals.” …show more content…
In the new settlement, it clarifies, “The state will create a new unit for prisoners who are deemed too dangerous to return to the general population. There, they will have more privileges than in solitary, including more time out of their cells, small group leisure activities, and some job opportunities and phone calls” (qtd in Lovett). Although this new settlement has not yet implement, it seems to be a good change. Offering more privileges to prisoners such as small group activities and phones calls would be very helpful for the inmates because they would have more chances to socialize with others, express their feelings, and share their stories with other inmates, which has a beneficial outcome on their health and an improvement of their well-being. Most crucially, inmates could keep their social skill stay active; as a result, when they re-enter society they would not feel uncomfortable or