The NYTimes this weekend had a piece on on solitary confinement. One of my favorite quotes from the piece was this:
Mr. Epps, who is also president of the American Correctional Association, likes to say prison officials started out isolating inmates they were scared of but ended up adding many they were simply “mad at.”
The United States has the world's highest prison population. In recent years, we've also been using solitary confinement for smaller and smaller infractions, which, studies show, leads to much more harmful outcomes for the individuals. We are so focused on "punishing the bad guys" that we forget that the "bad guys" will eventually need to stop being punished and return to society. Solitary confinement especially seems like something so damaging, and incredibly unnecessary for the majority of the prison population. This article details some horrific things that can happen to people psychologically in isolation- and prison guards are poorly equipped to understand or handle the situation.
Mr. Epps, who is also president of the American Correctional Association, likes to say prison officials started out isolating inmates they were scared of but ended up adding many they were simply “mad at.”
The United States has the world's highest prison population. In recent years, we've also been using solitary confinement for smaller and smaller infractions, which, studies show, leads to much more harmful outcomes for the individuals. We are so focused on "punishing the bad guys" that we forget that the "bad guys" will eventually need to stop being punished and return to society. Solitary confinement especially seems like something so damaging, and incredibly unnecessary for the majority of the prison population. This article details some horrific things that can happen to people psychologically in isolation- and prison guards are poorly equipped to understand or handle the situation.
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