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Summary Of Hellhole By Atul Gawande

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In Hellhole by Atul Gawande, the idea of solitary confinement as a means of punishment has been looked upon as more a form of torture. Gawande explains that the human rights of prisoners have been violated by means of solitary confinement. For the reason that it is in our nature to socialize with other people and by taking that away, it strips one of their rights as a human being. Mainly Gawande provides examples that relate to how solitary confinement is considered a form of torture. As in one experiment that involved monkeys, some monkeys were placed with fake mothers of wire and of cloth to figure out why they seemed disturbed. The experiment showed how vital it is to be physically surrounded by others than not to as it can have lasting …show more content…

Terry Anderson, one of the hostages, and a journalist in Beirut was held at gunpoint in his car by three men and he was tied up with tape around his wrists and was questioned on the names of other Americans. They did not beat him but instead confined him to a closet space enough to fit a mattress. Anderson's words of what had happened to him were explained as “The mind is a blank. Jesus, I always thought I was smart. Where are all the things I learned, the books I read, the poems I memorized? There’s nothing there, just formless, gray-black misery. My mind’s gone dead. God, help me” (Gawande 3). Based on Anderson's experience, it’s needless to say how he felt as if his brain had been dead from the isolation from others and being in a small room. Anderson reflected during his time there and discusses the dangers of 3 years in isolation had done to him and felt as though he was losing his mind that he snapped and ended up injuring …show more content…

Solitary confinement could last years as specified and is a brutal form of torture and can be seen as inhumane. Not many believe it to be a form of torture, even when presented with stories such as these that are real-life examples of what can happen to someone when they are socially isolated with no human contact. It continues to occur because the American public would never vote on being less harsh on inmates. Inmate violence is unchanging even when putting prisoners in solitary confinement and as mentioned, “the result has been unprecedented overcrowding, along with unprecedented idleness -- a nice formula for violence. Remove a few prisoners to solitary confinement, and the violence doesn’t change” (Gawande 10). Given this, the main reason it continues to be in place and people justify its use is due to believing it helps prevent further violence when it doesn’t and is also due to this unprecedented

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