Abstract
Solitary confinement is proven to have detrimental psychological effects on inmates in prisons. These effects are directly related to the conditions in which the inmates are held, the time spent in segregated housing, and the violation of basic human rights. These effects can be worse in inmates who have been previously diagnosed with a mental illness. Evidence of the negative effects on the mind are found across the globe starting from when solitary was first introduced. Conditions of solitary have been overlooked for decades and, when questioned by opposing parties, often times the rules are slightly altered to seem more humane but overall remains the same. Treatments for this problem are dependent on the specific case but tend to involve release from solitary with some sort of rehabilitation and mental health care. There are few solutions to end the segregation of inmates all together but by having the court system work together with other systems of the government the abolishment of solitary can be possible.
Representing the Many
For decades the justice system has been working to reduce crime and violence by making and enforcing laws. When these laws aren’t followed, punishment is the result. As perfect as the system seems, it does have flaws. A major pitfall is when a person is charged for a crime they didn’t commit. With limited evidence sometimes the smallest coincidence can cause a guilty verdict. When sentenced to prison an innocent mind can quickly be poisoned by negative thoughts. A confused person who was falsely accused and thrown in prison can often have anger toward the justice system and eventually act out. This person is now given a minor infraction and gets segregated from general population into a private cell for months at a time. This person went from a sane level headed individual to a mentally ill person incapable of reintegration.
This example isn’t a specific person but represents the many people who spend time in solitary confinement. To outline this idea, Sam Mandez will act as an example. This man, now 34, has served about 16 years in solitary confinement after being falsely accused for the murder of an elderly woman. After being sentenced to life in prison at the age of 18 he committed a few minor infractions while in general population (GP). He was then assigned to solitary confinement and his mental health started a steady decline. Mandez went from a social, respectable young man to a mentally insane man who has schizophrenia and psychotic delusions (Moffeit, 2006). The conditions of solitary confinement put people at risk of psychological effects everyday.
Conditions of Confinement
In order to punish inmates who are violating the rules they can be placed in a segregated housing unit, known as the SHU or solitary confinement, to maintain further control over them (Arrigo & Bullock 2008). According to Hinds and Butler (2016), some rule violations include “tattooing or possession of tattoo equipment, possession of money without authorization, participation in gambling, and participation in a strike or work stoppage.” Cloud, Drucker, Browne, & Parsons (2015) show that minor infractions such as, talking back, smoking, or having an excess amount of postage stamps, can also lead to spending time in the SHU. The solitary cells are typically six by eight feet with steel doors and no natural light. Inmates are kept in these cells for 22-23 hours per day, only allowed out to shower and exercise, and are offered little mental stimulation (Arrigo & Bullock, 2008). According to Richmond (2015), involving the topic of solitary confinement the Supreme Court stated “A considerable number of the prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane; others still committed suicide; while those who stood the ordeal better were not generally reformed, and in most cases did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent service to the community.” It’s no secret that the effects of solitary confinement can seriously effect a person.
As defined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, outlined in the article written by Bassett (2016), humans have four levels of basic needs that must be fulfilled in order to reach self-actualization or the feeling of having a meaning to live. The first two levels of needs are basic, physical meaning food and water, and safety. The inmates are fed, given water, and are kept from being a harm to others or being harmed by others so these needs are generally met in solitary confinement. The next two levels are psychological and this is where the need of belonging comes into question. While in solitary confinement inmates are alone for most of their sentence besides seeing guards when being transported to the showers or the exercise room (Bassett, 2016). This causes inmates to feel like they don’t belong in society or even in GP. Without this need being fulfilled a person cannot reach self-actualization and therefore can find no meaning in life. The thought of feeling worthless can lead to other psychological effects (Bassett, 2016).
Effects on the Body
As stated before, as humans we have certain needs that have to be met in order to live a fulfilled life. When our needs aren’t met we will often do anything to get where we think we need to be. Bassett (2016) outlines the idea that prisoners who don’t feel like they belong will seek any sort of human interaction even if it’s negative attention. By trying to seek that attention inmates often receive less human interaction when indeed they need more. It has been proven that inmates deteriorate mentally with long-term confinement and less mental stimulation (Bassett, 2016). Chadick, Batastini, Levulis, & Morgan (2018) used a pre-pose design to study the mental health level of inmates from GP and inmates who served some time in solitary confinement. They found that the inmates who had been in the SHU had higher levels of stress, PTSD, depression and overall distress.
According to Arrigo and Bullock (2008), humans rely on social interactions to validate what they believe is real and what is not. When people are separated and not receiving social contact they become sensitive and often fearful of social interactions (Arrigo & Bullock, 2008). This shows that after being segregated for long periods of time it makes reintegration more difficult which can result in acting out and in turn receiving more time in the SHU. Inmates who are sentenced to long-term isolation often are later diagnosed with SHU syndrome which includes problems with impulse control, concentration & memory and often experience hallucinations, and distortion of perception and are hypersensitive to external stimuli (Arrigo & Bullock, 2008). All of these inmates had no prior issues with mental illness and had most of their symptoms subside after being released from segregation (Arrigo & Bullock, 2008).
Along with mental effects, solitary confinement can have physical effects on the body. According to Williams (2016), inmates who spend a long time in solitary will show signs of decrease in overall health including, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, as well as decrease in vision and hearing all caused from sensory deprivation. These effects as well as vitamin D deficiency are especially adamant in older inmates (Williams, 2016). Coupled with decreased mental stability and sensory deprivation comes the risk of self harm. In order to feel something, as a way to escape the pain, or in order to get out of solitary inmates will harm themselves by any means necessary including, overdose, cutting, or swallowing a foreign object (Kaba, Lewis, Glowa-Kollisch, Hadler, Lee, Alper, & Venters, 2014). Over 50% of all self-harm cases involve inmates who have spent some time in solitary confinement (Kaba et al., 2014). According to Cloud et al. (2015), prisoners who have spent time in solitary are more likely to self-harm, more likely to re-offend, and less likely to be able to be integrated back into society. Cloud et al. (2015) explains how inmates who either have prior mental illness or have developed a psychiatric issue should be transported to a place that can better suit their needs. In either scenario inmates with mental illness need to be kept in mind when talking about solitary confinement as a punishment.
Mental Illness
Not only can a person develop a mental illness when having a prolonged sentence in solitary confinement but sometimes an inmate comes into prison with a pre-diagnosed mental illness. Clark (2018) found that inmates with a pre-diagnosed mental illness are more likely to engage in misconduct and more likely to receive solitary confinement as a punishment because they have reduced coping abilities and higher aggression levels. Putting inmates in solitary simply because they are mentally ill, or for any other reason besides having too many infractions or being sentenced by the administration, is against the law (Clark, 2018). This research proves that it happens anyways. According to Cloud et al. (2015), more mentally ill people live in state prisons than in psychiatric wards and are often sentenced to solitary as a way to not deal with their difficult personalities. Mentally ill people are more sensitive to the effects of solitary confinement so their conditions can worsen immensely over time resulting in self mutilation or suicide (Cloud et al., 2015). However, the use of solitary confinement on mentally ill people as a way to deal with them is a clear violation of human rights.
Human Rights
As outlined by Bassett (2016), our basic human rights are included in the eighth amendment of the constitution where no cruel or unusual punishments are to be inflicted on another person. As pertaining to mental illness, Richmond (2015) shows that lack of prison medical care doesn’t count as depriving someone of their basic human rights because they are in prison and therefore have less rights. In the case Estelle v. Gamble on the topic of “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain”, it shows that a prisoner must be able to prove that a guard knew about their health issue and disregarded them and made no effort to get the issue resolved (Richmond, 2015). This often happens with inmates with mental illnesses that are put in solitary and are given little to no health care (Arrigo & Bullock, 2008). There are two ways to show an inmates rights have been violated, Richmond (2015) states “First, an inmate must prove that they are incarcerated under conditions that pose a risk of serious harm. Second, is that the prison official showed “deliberate indifference” to a substantial risk of serious harm to prisoners.”
Once more inmates prove misconduct more attention will be brought to the issue of solitary confinement. Rubin and Reiter (2017) show times in history where prison administrators, when under scrutiny, would simply change the name or structure to continue the use of solitary confinement and please the critics. According to Hinds and Butler (2015), the courts have brought the issue of solitary to the news and media but with the help of scientific research and real life cases proving the psychological effects and violation of human rights this can get the attention of the legislative and executive branch of the government. These branches are needed to truly make a change on the policies and practices of the justice system.
Conclusion
Segregated housing units are used to have full control over the inmates and completely strip them of their rights. They are treated unfairly and inhumanly by stripping them of any social interactions or brain stimulation. Without these things, not only are their basic human rights being violated but, a cycle of negative effects are put into place when sentencing an inmate to solitary. The mental and negative effects are detrimental to their survival and rehabilitation back into society. Solitary makes it almost certain that they will never be normal or sane again. Inmates must be treated equally, fairly, and humanly. The legislative and executive branch would need to come together to put changed in effect and rewrite the policies involving solitary confinement.
References
- Arrigo, B., & Bullock, J. (2008). The psychological effects of solitary confinement on prisoners in supermax units: Reviewing what we know and recommending what should change. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52(6), 622-640.
- Bassett, Lindley A. (2016). The constitutionality of solitary confinement: Insights from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Health Matrix, 26, 403.
- Chadick, C., Batastini, A., Levulis, S., & Morgan, R. (2018). The psychological impact of solitary: A longitudinal comparison of general population and long‐term administratively segregated male inmates. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 23(2), 101-116.
- Clark, K. (2018). The effect of mental illness on segregation following institutional misconduct. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(9), 1363-1382.
- Cloud, D., Drucker, E., Browne, A., & Parsons, J. (2015). Public health and solitary confinement in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 105(1), 18-26.
- Hinds, M., & Butler, J. (2015). Solitary confinement: Can the courts get inmates out of the hole? Stanford Journal Of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 11(2), 331-372.
- Kaba, F., Lewis, A., Glowa-Kollisch, S., Hadler, J., Lee, D., Alper, H., & Venters, H. (2014). Solitary confinement and risk of self-harm among jail inmates. American Journal of Public Health, 104(3), 442-7.
- Moffeit, M. (2006). Flawed investigation, cloudy truths greeley police seek new crime-scene analysis for 1992 killing in which teenager was convicted four years later. The Denver Post, pp. A-12.
- Richmond, C. (2015). Toward a more constitutional approach to solitary confinement: The case for reform. Harvard Journal on Legislation, 52(1), 1-16.
- Rubin, A., & Reiter, K. (2017). Continuity in the face of penal innovation: Revisiting the history of american solitary confinement. Law & Social Inquiry. doi: 10.1111/lsi.12330
- Williams, B. (2016). Older prisoners and the physical health effects of solitary confinement. American Journal of Public Health, 106(12), 2126-2127.