Supermax Prison Effects

The effects of permanent solitary confinement can potentially take a big toll on inmates mentally. Jeffrey Ian Ross states in his article on Supermax prisons, “Supermax residents often develop severe psychological disorders, though, unfortunately, we do not have specific psychological data, per se, on individuals kept in these facilities”(Ross, 2007). Many inmates at these Supermax prisons are suffering mentally. An inmate being held at a Supermax prison was there for a year, which was enough time to have a large effect on Brian Nelson’s mental state. He stopped sleeping; he paced for most of the day, causing him to get many blood blisters on his feet. He would count how many steps he took everyday (Tietz, 2012). After being let out, he still …show more content…
In the United States, two-thirds of the states have Supermax prisons (Ross, 2007). The cost to keep an inmate at a Supermax prison is nearly 61,522 dollars a year. It costs 22,000 dollars to keeps other prisoners in confinement (Tietz, 2012). The federal system does not close down Supermax prisons because the politics in the prisons are difficult. Politicians wanted to show the United States how tough they were on lawbreakers. They opened these prisons so people would be afraid of going there forcing them to follow the law. Over the years these prisons became progressively more powerful making it tougher to close them down all together (Sullivan, 2012). There are also many unions against closing them down, because they are built in small …show more content…
Some circumstances followed at Alcatraz that could really benefit Supermax prisons are following a convict code to see who is doing well and who is continuing to not obey to the rules. This could be useful when choosing whom to punish rather than punishing the whole prison. Alcatraz also had more interaction with people compared to the Supermax prisons where there is very minimal if any interaction between inmates (Ward & Kassebaum, 2009). Interaction between inmates could help greatly with the mental problems inmates are leaving the Supermax prisons with. The inmates at Alcatraz left the prison and succeeded in their life after imprisonment (Ward & Kassebaum, 2009). With the Supermax prisons, there is no chance for success later in life. Since inmates are not allowed access to educational materials, they will not be able to keep up with what they should be learning in they were in the society and are instead being put behind which leaves these people at a disadvantage when it is time to reenter