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 them the time to examine themselves, pray, and be cured. Later, it was realized that solitary confinement caused the inmates to go insane, have psychological problems, and even commit suicide. Because of that, the use of solitary confinement was …show more content…
In fact, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that around 80,000 people are in solitary confinement in the United States (Rodriguez, 2012). This number is higher than ever and keeps increasing. At least 44 states and the federal system now have supermax prisons, which mostly consists of solitary confinement cells (Rodriguez, 2012). According to Solitary Watch, “one study estimated that the average per-cell cost of housing an inmate in a supermax prison is $75,000, as opposed to $25,000 for an inmate in the general population” (Rodriguez, 2011). This means that the United States spends more money on inmates and prisons when the number of people being sent to solitary confinement increase. Some other names for solitary confinement are isolation, control units, and the hole (AFSC, n.d.). The United States was the first to use this practice and led the world in using …show more content…
And all of these effects are serious conditions that take over the inmate. Not only is solitary a threat to an individuals mental health, it is also a threat to an individual's physiological health.Solitary confinement provides the individual with heightened levels of negative attitudes (Shalev, p. 15). One of the major negative attitudes is self-injury. Self-injury is easily accomplished by solitary inmates. All of the ‘weapons’, for lack of a better word, that they use, are provided by the guards. These items include razor blades, paper, and plastic spoons and forks (Solitary Nation 2014). Of course these items are not provided to the solitary inmates with the purpose of having them harm themselves, they are items that are provided on a regular basis, for everyday activities or past-times. Some not-so-violent offenders are allowed to shave in their cells, and therefor are provided with cheap razor blades. Some inmates are allowed to have newspapers, or just plain paper for drawing or letters. The plastic spoons and forks are provided everyday with their meals (Solitary Nation 2014). Solitary inmates that do not have access to razor blades, like the mentally ill, or more serious offenders, definitely have ways of getting these items. The solitary inmates have come up with a way to smuggle items between themselves. The way they smuggle these items to other cells is by tying the items to a piece of string, usually from their

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