Imagine being a child who has been sent to his room or perhaps to a 'timeout' chair in the corner. You are alone in one space for an hour or two with nothing to do. Think about staying in a cell just a little bit bigger than a king-sized bed almost all day and night. How does that make you feel? Now, take that and imagine yourself being forced to stay there for years. Solitary confinement, a method of punishment or protection for criminals, has been in use throughout human history. However, upon closer look, it has its many flaws. Simply put, solitary confinement, specifically among the mentally ill, is bad. It needs to be revised as soon as possible. Research suggest that the overuse of isolation can do more harm than good, infecting not only
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Currently in the U.S., there are about 80,000-100,000 incarcerated persons held in some form of isolated confinement (Casella and Rodrigues). To accommodate the vast numbers of prisoners kept in this, a new kind of prison emerged. So-called 'supermax' prisons hold entire prison populations in extreme isolation and are currently operating in fourty-four states and the federal government (Paying the Price). Prisoners live with extensive surveillance and security controls, absence of ordinary social interacton, abnormal environmental stimuli, and little, if any, educational, vocational, or other purposeful activites (Solitary Facts). Breslow states, "Today, it is not unusual for inamtes to spend years at a time in solitary. Supporters say the practice helps keep prisons safe, but according to the medical literatures, solitary confinement can also take a heavy mental toll." …show more content…
Because of their reliance on single-cell confinement and enhanced security technology, these facilites can cost two or three times as much as conventional facilities to construct (Paying the Price). "Not only do solitary confinement units cost more to build than the average prison, it also costs significantly more to house someone in isolation than it does to hold someone in the general prison," Casella and Rodriguez remarked (Casella and Rodriguez). Johnson and Chappell say that it costs about 78,000 dollars a year to house someone in isolation, which is approximately three times as much as it is to house someone in a regular unit (Johnson and Chappell). Despite this, in the words of Metzner and Fellner, "individual therapy, group therapy, structured educational, recreational or life-skill-enhancing activites, and other therapeutic interventions are usually not available because of insufficient resources and rules requiring prisoners to remain in their cells." They later state, "Correction health care professionals struggle with construction resources and large caseloads that limit the services they can provide their patients." (Metzner and
Currently in the U.S., there are about 80,000-100,000 incarcerated persons held in some form of isolated confinement (Casella and Rodrigues). To accommodate the vast numbers of prisoners kept in this, a new kind of prison emerged. So-called 'supermax' prisons hold entire prison populations in extreme isolation and are currently operating in fourty-four states and the federal government (Paying the Price). Prisoners live with extensive surveillance and security controls, absence of ordinary social interacton, abnormal environmental stimuli, and little, if any, educational, vocational, or other purposeful activites (Solitary Facts). Breslow states, "Today, it is not unusual for inamtes to spend years at a time in solitary. Supporters say the practice helps keep prisons safe, but according to the medical literatures, solitary confinement can also take a heavy mental toll." …show more content…
Because of their reliance on single-cell confinement and enhanced security technology, these facilites can cost two or three times as much as conventional facilities to construct (Paying the Price). "Not only do solitary confinement units cost more to build than the average prison, it also costs significantly more to house someone in isolation than it does to hold someone in the general prison," Casella and Rodriguez remarked (Casella and Rodriguez). Johnson and Chappell say that it costs about 78,000 dollars a year to house someone in isolation, which is approximately three times as much as it is to house someone in a regular unit (Johnson and Chappell). Despite this, in the words of Metzner and Fellner, "individual therapy, group therapy, structured educational, recreational or life-skill-enhancing activites, and other therapeutic interventions are usually not available because of insufficient resources and rules requiring prisoners to remain in their cells." They later state, "Correction health care professionals struggle with construction resources and large caseloads that limit the services they can provide their patients." (Metzner and