Solitary Confinement Case Study

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Solitary Confinement: Problematic to All Who it is Endured By At 25 years old, Stephen was placed in an isolation cell at Pelican Bay State Prison in California for four years after spitting on a prison guard and fighting with a fellow inmate. He thoroughly explained his experience as the following:
I immediately felt despair, confusion. I felt threatened. It was always extremely cold and I was constantly hungry. Not being able to look at the distance also affects your sight and mind. You are stuck in that cell with all your thoughts. And no one to talk to about them. That can easily make you go crazy. I had no proper clothes, no friends, no job, no skills, nothing. The fact that I made it is unbelievable. Even now so many years later, I feel like I cannot connect with people. I have many people helping me with that but it is still affecting me. (“Entombed” 1)
There are numerous occurrences in prisons that are largely similar to Stephen’s experience. Limited to fresh air or light and restricted human contact, it has been reported that approximately 80,000 people in more than 40 US states are locked …show more content…
Though heart palpitations often occur when one undergoes psychological trauma, they are more frightening and bothersome than harmful. An overall lethargic feeling and weakness occurs within the body after being confined, prompting for an inability to participate in everyday tasks. Weight loss due to the lack of a desire to eat, the aggravation of pre-existing medical problems caused by his/her constant immobilization, and insomnia are outcomes of solitary confinement as well. While the physical effects are infrequently deadly to prisoners, they do pose as harmful when attempting to successfully live after being released (Lloyd and Beynon

Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement is a very prevalent punishment for crime. But, some do not realize how morbid solitary confinement really is. Solitary confinement is strictly isolated confinement in a small area away from other individuals. A rather large percentage of people who are sentenced to prison or jail have reported spending various amounts of time in solitary confinement. In 2011-2012, 20 percent of inmates in state and federal prisoners had spent time in solitary confinement (Bureau of Justice…

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Solitary Confinement

The Use of Solitary Confinement on Juveniles and Adults Solitary Confinement is the practice of isolating an inmate for hours or years at a time, while cutting the person off from all human contact, and the outside world. It is a practice that has been used intermittently for the past 200 years. Today’s version of solitary confinement revolves around modern high tech isolation cells that cuts an inmate off from all human contact for varying lengths of time. All cells are designed to look the same…

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FSA Solitary Confinement

FSA solitary confinement essay Solitary confinement is often used in prisons as punishment for those who violate rules. In the article Could This Be the End of Solitary Confinement in Prisons, Su-chin Lee defines solitary confinement as the practice of isolating inmates which involves putting prisoners in twelve-by-eight-foot cells without windows. The punishment is unnecessary and has already been banned from New York due to its inhumanity to its prisoners. Solitary confinement does more harm than…

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Solitary Confinement Argument

English 103 10, March 2017 Argument Essay: Is Solitary Confinement a Humane and Necessary Punishment? The issue of Solitary Confinement and its use in the prison system has been hotly debated. Solitary confinement is when an inmate is locked in a small, windowless, concrete cell for 22-24 hours a day. Those in favor of the issue argue that some prisoners are too violent to be housed in cells with other prisoners. These prisoners are locked in solitary confinement for the safety of the other inmates, wardens…

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The Pros And Cons Of Solitary Confinement

The question is what is solitary confinement? Solitary confinement is generally defined as 22 to 24 hours of isolation ranging from days to decades. In the early nineteenth century, in the U.S a new practice of imprisonment of people was found. Prisoners were held in solitary cells, left without access to any human contact. I was thought that this was a new method of rehabilitation. However, this was disastrous as the result if left prisoners to usually suffer from prolonged severe psychological…

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Solitary Confinement In Supermax Prisons

Solitary confinement is the act of placing a prisoner in isolation as punishment. The practice of solitary confinement or segregation dates back to the 1900’s in the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia (AFSC, n.d.). Solitary confinement is based on the Quaker belief that one could be rehabilitated if one was left alone with a bible so that he or she could repent for their sins (Sullivan, 2006). Quakers believed criminals would benefit from being placed in solitary confinement because it gives…

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MENTAL HEALTH OF PRISONERS IN NORTH AMERICA ESSAY PRINT

common cases as to why people become imprisoned and often the use of drugs and alcohol are involved. It is stated that the occurrence of drugs and alcohol being used is very high. “Alcohol abuse or dependence rates found in eighteen studies ranged from 50% to 66% in one group” 1 Whether or not the uses of these substances were involved, it leads to question what mind state the person was in during the act of the crime. Studies show that people…

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Rikers Island Correctional Facility

addition to periods that the inmates ought to undergo to transform to better people (Tidball & Krasny, 2013). Rikers Island Correctional facility is not a prison by United States terminology as it does house convicts serving longer-term sentences. Study of the environment and issues of concerns in this facility will hence be of great importance…

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Phillip Zimbardo's The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)

this. Internalization conformity, occurs when we want to be like someone else so we change our behaviour. The Experiment: In the basement of Stanford university Zimbardo simulated a prison environment. There were 3 cells, a yard, the hole (solitary confinement), warden’s office and a research room with cameras filming the…

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Incarceration Vs Rehabilitation

treatment. Prisons place many of them in solitary confinement, which results in a worsening of their mental problems. The lack of treatment is responsible for many incidents where mentally ill prisoners are mistreated, causing more mental health damage, or even death. In one example, 19-year-old Kevin DeMott spent four months in solitary confinement as punishment for behavior resulting from his untreated bipolar disorder (Glazer). Another example is the case of 24-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell with schizophrenia…

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