Consequences Of Isolation In Prisons

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. In this paper, I am going to describe the characteristics of isolation, the goals we intended to accomplish with the implementation of isolation, the effects it has on inmates, and some potential alternatives or alterations we can make to lessen the negative effects while not placing other parties in physical danger. For those who are not aware of what isolation is, it is the act of locking an inmate in a cell anywhere from …show more content…
Some of the factors of this study that could have caused the researchers inability to find anything could be their sample size which was relatively small, only about ten individuals, or the fact that the time frame of which they were given simply may have not been long enough for those specific individuals to begin to have mental health changes. Some of the negative effects of isolation that were recorded throughout most of the studies include: self-mutilation, suicide and suicide attempts, hallucinations, panic attacks, paranoia, as well as difficulties in thinking, concentrating, and