Pros And Cons Of Solitary Confinement

Improved Essays
Prisons around the U.S. have recently increased security, as it may possibly replace solitary confinement, this is a preposterous idea since there are far more prisoners than there are guards. To start with, increasing security would be ineffective due to the fact that prisoners will effortlessly overthrow security guards. In fact, “Inmates reportedly overpowered an officer and took control of one side of the dorm, holding the officer for nearly an hour and a half.” (wach.com) Furthermore, increasing security guards in prisons as an alternative to solitary is vain. To sum up, expanding security in prisons is utterly pointless. Not only is solitary confinement a vital solution to ‘security issues’, it also prevents smuggling of items from

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the United States, the Bill of Rights is regarded as one of the most important documents of our nation’s history. An adaptation to the Constitution, the Bill protects its citizens from the government, giving us the freedom our country is notorious for. In our justice system, imprisonment is the deprivation of freedom, which is one of our essential rights. However, this practice is essential in keeping order in our society, and is necessary in protecting citizens from harm. While there are many flaws in the U.S prison system, one of the most harmful aspects is the use of solitary confinement.…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We had an opportunity to tour the facility where our fellow classmates are serving their sentence. Joseph Harp Correctional Center is a medium security facility that houses a total of about 1,400 offenders. It is the largest medium security facility in the state. This facility is full of diverse groups of individuals. It houses a variety of offenders like the mentally ill and youthful offenders.…

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Our prison systems in the United States seem to be under constant scrutiny and debate in some form or fashion. One specific topic that has been under quite a bit of heat is the discussion of solitary confinement. While many other countries have pulled the plug on this practice, American prison systems seem to be exploding in the opposite direction, increasing the number of inmates we maintain in solitary confinement at an alarming rate. This certainly leads to a rabbit hole of questions, but as we peer deeper into this form of imprisonment and break apart its layers, we can come to more educated opinions on whether or not solitary confinement is necessary, if change is needed, or if we should consider abolishing the practice as a whole.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Solitary Punishment

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    Jeffrey L. Metzner, MD .(Metzner) Humans are naturally social creatures. There are distinct patterns that show we are drawn to others. Even when two people walk together, and don’t know each other, they tend to walk at the same pace, in the same ways. When a person is in solitary confinement they are locked up most of the day and only allowed out for an hour to exercise.…

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

    The purpose of solitary confinement is to correct the corrupt minds and actions of the inmates. Research has shown that once an inmate gets out of solitary confinement, they are more likely to commit another crime, but this time it would be more violent. It really is all inmates, that once they are back in their civilian life they are more likely to commit another crime. So, what is the point of all these levels of prison and extreme conditions if they are just going to turn around and do it again? (Neyfakh, “Ex-cons back in prison”) “A 2001 study of recidivism in Connecticut found that prisoners who had been held in solitary confinement were about 50 percent more likely to be rearrested within three years than those who had not” (Vera, “Ending Solitary Confinement”).…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Obama explains how “Reforming solitary confinement is just one part of a broader bipartisan push for criminal justice reform”. (Barack Obama.) Solitary confinement will need to be a bipartisan push, both parties need to work together in order to amend isolation. According to Reiter “ A year in solitary averages $75,000 per prisoner–about three times the average cost of incarceration”. (Reiter Keramet.)…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Inside of correctional facilities across the world are individuals who continuously break the rules, who cannot seem to conform to societies norms or laws. Unfortunately, some of those same individuals continue to break rules while incarcerated, and what more punishment could there be than losing one’s freedom? Well for some, minor punishments can be administered in the form of being locked in their cell for a specific time, missing some of their recreation periods, or not being allowed visits. But when it comes to the more serious actions, for example staff assaults, there are far more serious consequences. One of these consequences is being placed in an isolation unit with minimal to no human interaction, a bed, a toilet, a sink, and one’s own thoughts.…

    • 2428 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Private Prison Benefits

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Goal of Private Prisons: A Scheme for Profit The operations of private prison show that their success is dependent upon housing the maximum number of inmates. In order to fill beds at private facilities the private corporations lobby for stronger drug and immigration laws along with longer sentences to accompany these laws. These new laws result in the United States having five percent of the world population but housing twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners. (Liptak, 2008)…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Solitary confinement should be removed from the U.S. prison system, due to the severe adverse mental and physical impacts it has on any person subjected to it. Prison is meant not only to keep away the dangerous people in society, but it is meant to reform and rehabilitate those people so they can actually function in society once they’re released. There are over 2.4 million people currently in prison in America, and statistically speaking over 50% of those people will become re-offenders after they are released. According to a report done by the Department of Justice, 404,638 state prisoners were released in 2005. After approximately three years, 67.8% of those released prisoners committed another crime.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    U.S prisons should begin taking steps in changing solitary…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Downfall of Private Prisons The privatization of jails and prisons in the United States are becoming more and more popular with 122 adult prisons and 252 juvenile facilities, capable of holding more than 160,000 inmates for the past 8 years. These facilities have pros and cons however, 32 states contract with private sector prisons and almost 17 percent of adult inmates are held in private prisons. (Allen, Latessa, and Ponder)…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction The main purpose of solitary confinement is to isolate a prisoner in a separate cell as a punishment. When an inmate is sent to solitary confinement there is no doubt that their mental health is affected. The reason I chose this topic is because for many years, solitary confinement has been and continues to be a controversial topic. A common mistake that is often made with the term juvenile is that inmates under the age of 18 are automatically tried as juveniles.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Not only do we follow the ideals set by the founding idea of containing an abusive person, yet we have improved the individual 's experience. As a society, we have increased the benefits of the individuals who are behind bars by leaps and bounds. Comparing the treatment of prisoners today, to prisoners of the past. Many state that our current prison system has been reformed sufficiently, arguing that the implementation of “United Nations standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of prisoners, Universal Declaration of human Rights, code of conduct for law enforcements Officials, and Basic principles for the treatment of prisoners” (“Why Promote Prison Reform?”). Is protecting the prisoners sufficiently.…

    • 1793 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    C. This change allows verbal human contact, preventing an inmate from the mental illnesses induced by the silence of an isolated cell. CONCLUSION 1. The use of solitary confinement must be stopped, the risks outweigh the advantages. A. We must put an end to the torture. B. Solitary confinement has become a dominant weapon in the war on prisoners…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    These individuals, such as rapists, child-molesters or murderers, are more likely to face attacks from other inmates and therefore many believe solitary confinement is a viable option in allowing them to serve out their sentences…

    • 2123 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays