Super Max Confinement Case Study

Solitary confinement can affect a person’s physical and mental health simply because it deprives an individual of their need to interact with others on a daily basis. Solitary confinement, which is used to restrain violent and volatile inmates from the general prison population, is done in increments ranging from several months to years. In an article retrieved from the American Psychological Association, ‘Alone, in ‘the Hole’’, the author states that, “for most of the 20th century, prisoners' stays in solitary confinement were relatively short.” This was the standing rule, in which inmates visited what is known as ‘the hole’, for several weeks to months. As time went by, the average length of stay

The world will always have criminals, some of whom continue to be defiant towards humanity-these people will have to be punished, however, it is unambiguous that solitary confinement is an inhumane way of dealing with a difficult person. Now, what Hard Rock went through was horrid and the good news is nobody has to be tortured the way he was. The bad news is that people are continuing to be tortured with solitary confinement. The fact that solitary confinement is still legal is baffling. Fortunately, there might be some “more human” alternatives, however things still look bleak. One way of dealing with troubled inmates is to send them to an “internal clinic where psychiatrists will administer treatment and medicine, and the less seriously mentally

While prisoners may have lost their rights to freedom in the light of their crime and conviction, despite everything, they remain to hold the same constitutional rights as free citizens do, with certain exceptions. The special cases include rights that would cause disagreement with the prison facility and system’s ability to safely, adequately, and proficiently run the establishment, those that would risk the wellbeing of the staff, the public and/or others near. The

For society to understand the negative effects of solitary confinement further research must be conducted. If changes were to be made, then the change should begin with research regarding those confined in solitude. What I gathered was not sufficient to know the exact number of inmates isolated in solitude confinement. If accurate numbers were to be provided, then I’d be able to know how big of a problem suicide is amongst those inmates. Most importantly, having in accurate count of how many prisoners, female or male, make up the solitary confinement population would give me a clear picture of who is experiencing the most cases of suicide and which population is most prone to suicide.

Although the staff may not have to worry about being assaulted as much, they may still develop mental issues by completely separating themselves from the inmates except only in “control” situations (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). It would seem that the staff members in supermax prisons could also get a sense of comfort, which could in turn be very dangerous for them. The staff has complete control over the inmates, and this may make them more relaxed in a place where they need not be relaxed. Overall, supermax prisons can have negative effects on staff and inmates, but they also can have positive effects. The main positive effect would be separating these violent inmates from the general population, and potentially removing key leaders from STG groups. This in of itself can help prevent some of the violence that already occurs in prisons.Supermax prisons are designed for violent criminals who cannot function within the general population of standard prisons (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). These criminals generally display patterns of violent and anti-social behavior, and they are segregated in order to maintain order. If my state were planning to build a supermax prison, I would implement certain programs in order for the inmates to potentially be

The United States is home to half of the world’s total imprisoned population (BBC News). In the nineteenth century, solitary confinement was thought to promote reform in prisoners. However, modern research suggests that locking a human being in a jail cell the size of a handicap bathroom stall for more than 22 hours a day does more harm than good. In spite of these scientific discoveries, prisons in the United States continue to use solitary confinement as a method of incarceration. Due to the negative impact prolonged solitude has on the human mind, solitary confinement should be outlawed as a form of torture.

In the article, Unwinding Mass Incarceration by Stefan Lobuglio and Anne Piehl, they argue that unwinding the mass incarceration “well neither be cheap nor easy, and to be done responsibly will require a new infrastructure of coordinated community-based facilities and services that can meet evidence-based incarceration needs while also ensuring public safety.” Hence, their argument is clean-cut with evidence in the article to back up their argument of unwinding the mass incarceration. Similarly, a solid fill of a concluding statement upon the unwinding of the mass incarceration as stated in the article, “requires much more than stopping current practices or reversing course by mass commutations and early release programs.”

In order to do this they need to make new centers to help prisoners inside better themselves. In Alabama prisons may soon shut down 14 of its prisons for overcrowding, neglect, and violence in the state’s correction systems. In the prison St. Clair Holman in Alabama the prison system makes prisoners act different. There is no safety, security or supervision. “We have people being killed, sexually assaulted, raped, stabbed on daily basis at St. Clair, Holman, and multiple facilities; it’s a systemwide problem,” said Charlotte Morrison, a senior attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which represents Alabama prisoner.” Within this quote we see that in St. Clair prison, inmates get raped and stabbed. These are reasons why prisons should be reformed. Prisoners shouldn’t be hurt for whatsoever problems. Conversely, Penal Reform International article suggested different reasons to reform prisons one that stood out to reform the particular prison in Alabama was this, Provide a healthy, safe environment. “Spaces that are filled with sunlight, outside views, therapeutic color schemes and normalized materials, encourage inmates’ participation, reduce stress, incidents and assaults and decrease staff absenteeism.” Considering the fact that prisoners in Alabama are brutally hurting each other in their cells, we can conclude that if prisons provided a safe environment bad

Transition to First Main Point: To begin, let’s take a look at what prison overcrowding is.

As we look at supermax prisons they are used to house many violent offenders to mainly keep them away from all other prisoners in solitary confinement like cells for a long period of time and most of them will never be released.  The main issue that Schmalleger and Smykla describe is the fact of a mental illness starting due to supermax confinement and where none previously existed in the past (2015).  The issue with that is it could get them out of a supermax prison, which I believe that is completely ridiculous because they were already crazy enough to commit the crime they did to get in there.  The other ways it does effect the person in prison is that it could lead to a bunch of different symptoms and possibly even suicide from being confined

The criticisms of the supermax prisons are: Deprivation of medical facilities to the inmates as well as the criteria for an accused to inflict which strongly violates the inmates' personal lives. The inmates tend to suffer from mental imbalances as they are being locked away in isolation. According to John (2013), "Solitary confinement as it currently exists in modern supermax prisons is a practice with some serious flaws" (para. 1). Many prisoners that suffer from mental illness are sent to supermax prisons. Therefore, in order to control their insane conduct, they are placed in dark cells, which further deteriorate their mental health conditions. In addition, the supermax prisons do not provide with self-development programs and counseling. Also, the opportunity of getting released on parole is not granted to the inmates. The life in supermax prisons is rather grueling.

The prison system of California has agreed to change the way in which it is decided that an inmate is kept in solitary confinement. This change could decrease the number of solitary confined inmates by more than half. Solitary confinement involves inmates having little to no human interaction for twenty-two hours or more. These hours are spent locked in a cell. In California, the state with the second largest prison population in the nation, the number of inmates currently in solitary confinement is 3,000. Due to an agreement made by their prison system that is slightly more liberal, solitary confinement cases in California are being reviewed, and a possible 1,800 of the 3,000 inmates are expected to leave solitary confinement. The others that

It is well documented that keeping an inmate in solitary confinement for long periods of times exacerbates mental illness, increases the risk of suicide, and creates a sense of hopelessness. In performing my research on this issue, I came across a program that was developed and implemented in Michigan by Warden Catharine Bauman and her staff at Algers Prison.

I agree with the International New York Times editorial staff “Editorial: Solitary Confinement Is Cruel and All Too Common” because the authors states statistics and facts about the outcome of inmates held in solitary for too long. While I understand that this measure is set to punish those who commit cries in society, incarceration should not be longer than a few year

The former director (Morris Thigpen) of the National Institute of Corrections said, “It is imperative that all inmates placed in Supermax be fully aware of how they can work their way out” (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015, p. 458). Remembering these words, I would first ensure all supermax inmates fully understood the behaviors that were acceptable and those that were not. Respect between inmates and staff would be the foundation of the behavior expected. It’s imperative these inmates respect the officers and other staff working in these facilities. Likewise, the inmates should be treated equally with respect from the staff. Following all the rules is obvious, but knowing the consequences is paramount so the inmates will understand why they