What Are The Ethical Issues Of Solitary Confinement?

The concept of solitary confinement in itself is absolutely inhumane because being subjected to it has long lasting effects. In 2015, after serving a three-year sentence for supposedly stealing a backpack, a 22-year-old Kalief Browder committed suicide. What drove him to suicide was the damaging effects from prolonged isolation (two years to be exact) and the constant beatings he received at the hands of correctional officers and fellow inmates (“Kalief Browder, held at Rikers Island for 3 Years Without Trial, Commits Suicide”). We cannot lose another life because of solitary confinement, now is the time to eliminate solitary confinement and invest in more humane methods of

Four concrete walls, a steel bed, and a sink to soak the unclean clothes in as well as an insignificantly compact restroom. Welcome to solitary confinement where the lights always stay on and there’s always room for just one, you. When we think about solitary confinement we probably think of a killer or rapist getting what they deserve. What we don’t see is another human life being psychologically destroyed. Some of these prisoners have been in solitary confinement from a couple of years to decades. It is true that these are not honorable or peace keeping men, but a human life being tortured by solitude is a torture no one deserves.

The United States of America began experimenting with solitary confinement more than 200 years ago. It is said that the pioneers of solitary confinement were activist reformers who believed that silence and solitude would induce repentance and motivate prisoners to live a devout socially responsible life. With 2.3 million people in prisons and jails, the United States incarcerates people more than any other nation. From 1995

What if something that is supposed to be keeping society safe is actually doing more harm than good? As it turns out, that might be the case with the solitary confinement of prisoners. For multiple days at a time prisoners are locked into a lonely cell as small as a bathroom stall, going days without any human contact or communication. While solitary confinement is expensive to taxpayers, it is costing even more in social terms, as it can debilitate inmates and cause serious mental harm in forms of anxiety, paranoia, and even hallucinations beyond their life behind bars. The argument ‘On the Edge of Humane’ by Keramet Reiter argues that the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement

The Flaws of Solitary Confinement Prisons should abolish the morally dubious and wholly ineffective practice of solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is the isolation of a prisoner from the jail population. Inmates in solitary confinement are treated like pups at an animal shelter, except the prisoners aren’t allowed human contact. Although there are some people locked up for awful things like murder and rape, not everyone is a monster and deserving of such cruelty. Most inmates in jail are related one way or another to drugs rather than violence, which is not deserving of solitary confinement.

When Jacki Murillo entered the juvenile justice system at age 12 she was placed in the innocuously named SHU. SHU, or secure housing unit, is the clever name for solitary confinement. It’s clever because we’re starting to reach a place in our society where we recognize the dangers and inhumanity of solitary confinement, especially for juveniles. However, there is no difference between SHU and solitary confinement. In a SHU, juveniles usually spend 23 hours in a cell. There are two kinds of solitary confinement: administrative and punitive. For example, Jacki was placed in solitary confinement for administrative reasons because California law called for all children under 14 to be removed from and protected from general population. Solitary confinement can also be a punishment. Kalief Browder famously spent 800 days in solitary confinement, mostly as punishment for various infractions. Solitary confinement is not rare for juveniles. Over 33% of juveniles reported spending time in solitary and more than half of those kids reported spending over 24 consecutive hours in solitary.

Many researchers have found that long periods of time in solitary confinement can have negative mental effects on inmates. This is due to long-term confinement because it consists of not only prolonged deprivation of social interaction but also sensory deprivation (Haney, 2003). Medical ethics are also in question about the effects of long term confinement. Medical professionals have to handle a particularly difficult situation because they are required to provide medical assistance to these inmates that may be facing psychological issues. This is a problem because medical professionals are aware that solitary confinement has negative effects on the well-being and mental state of these individuals (Shalev, 2011).

Over the last couple of decades, prison systems have adopted the use of solitary confinement as a means of punishment and have progressively depended on it to help maintain obedience and discipline inside the prison structure. Solitary confinement is a form of incarceration in which a prisoner is isolated in a cell for multiple hours, days, or weeks with limited to no human contact. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the United States represents only 5% of the world's population yet houses 20% of the world’s prisoners (ACLU). Two of the biggest problems with our modern day criminal justice system is the overwhelming number of people that are incarcerated in the United States and the overwhelming number of convicts who return

Solitary confinement has had a long history in the American prison system. America is the first country to adapt solitary confinement into the prison regiment. Pennsylvania had the first special housing units for inmates or “SHU”. When Europeans came to America to look at the new model for prisons in Pennsylvania they wrote reports describing to the European parliament on how prisoners were treated like caged animals. Many of them quickly realized that this was not what prisons were set out to accomplish. The purpose of a prison is to rehabilitate criminals and bring them back into society as an individual that has the best mental tools and skills to make their respective communities better. Putting inmates in solitary confinement for more than 48 hours can only lead to awful emotional pain and mental problems which can result in self-destructive behavior to regain the self-control that is being deprived through this process of isolation and expulsion.

A study conducted in California’s prison system from 1999 to 2004 determined that nearly half of all suicides committed by inmates were because they were in solitary confinement (Breslow, 2014). Although some inmates have failed at their suicide attempts, that does not mean that they have not attempted to end their lives. There is a higher rate of inmates self mutilating while being in solitary confinement than if they were in the general prison population (Breslow, 2014). This means that inmates that are isolated are more of a danger to themselves. Being in solitary confinement also attributes to personality disorders, Breslow mentioned that many inmates lose the ability to communicate with others after being in solitary confinement for a long period of time and thus do not want to leave their cells (2014). It can be argued that having inmates in solitary confinement is a human rights violation. When inmates are isolated, they are constantly being monitored through a camera. The inmates have no form of communication with people and even their food is passed through a slot on the door. Solitary confinement can be considered torture because it has been proven that by subjecting inmates to this they experience mental illnesses such as paranoia, hallucination, panic attacks, and suicidal attempts (Breslow, 2014).

Solitary confinement we all know it is the worst kind of psychological torture. It's a nightmare one may face if incarcerated, solitary confinement destroys people as human beings and comes with a long line of lasting effects after release into society, the individuals are left with extensive behavioral problems like anger, irritability, hostility, poor impulse, violence against themselves, others, and objects. This is not only problematic for oneself but also society because these individuals cannot organize their own lives or find their identity or purpose which makes them irritability about Life. We are social beings and isolation breeds and exhibits anger; moreover, there are burdens that one cannot escape after release into society from solitary confinement.

The United States claims that solitary confinement administers, “…the appropriate balance among prison security, public safety, cost efficiency, and prisoner welfare.” (Bennion, 2015) However, solitary confinement does not exactly take into consideration the welfare of a prisoner as they are sometimes kept in “windowless cement rooms with perimeters the size of a parking space or a king-sized bed for twenty-three hours a day. Their meals may be pushed through slots of large, solid metal doors.” (Bennion, 2015)

Solitary Confinement has become an issue in the United States Prisons. Inmates can be placed in solitary confinement not only for violent acts, but also for acts such as possessing contraband, using drugs, ignoring orders or using profanity. Most inmates in solitary confinement are placed in isolated cells for 23 hours per day. Many of these cells are illuminated only be artificial light and offer no exposure to natural daylight.

When offenders are in a correctional setting severing their sentence, they can feel alone in a dangerous environment that without an outlet

Ethics are moral principles or values that govern the conduct of an individual or a group.It is not a burden to bear, but a prudent and effective guide which furthers life and success. Ethics are important not only in business but in academics and society as well because it is an essential part of the foundation on which a civilized society is built.