Kirkland 1

Jameson Kirkland Loreen Bessire English 2010-068 27 August 2013 Criminals Need Therapy Not Solitary Confinement Solitary confinement has been a controversial topic throughout American history. Solitary confinement can be used for the protection of an inmate that is in danger while in prison or as a means to remove dangerous people from the rest of the inmates. Often this would include gang leaders that organize crime while serving their sentence in prison, or a well-known celebrity would be put in solitary confinement to protect them from being hurt by other inmates. Although it was created as a tool that could be used for administrative, protective, and disciplinary purposes only, it has been shown to have some major flaws in how it is administered and how it is upheld. The conditions are often poor because the rooms are windowless, eight foot by ten foot, concrete squares with a toilet and a cot. They spend nearly twenty four hours a day without any social interaction and in some cases, for decades. This deteriorates the individuals capacity to socialize, function, and participate as a human being in society. This has been proven to lead to several problems such as severe mental illness, an inability to adapt to social situations, loss of physical and mental skill and dexterity, and overall corrosion of the psyche. The use of solitary confinement is not only immoral but has expensive consequences, and is detrimental to society because it prevents prisoners from being able to function to their best ability. Therefore, solitary confinement should no longer be used in U.S. prisons. Psychologists have conducted studies to analyze how isolation effects a persons psyche and it was found that most commonly an individual develops post-traumatic stress disorder

Kirkland 2

(PTSD) and a variety of other mood and anxiety disorders while spending time in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is a contributing factor to the development of these mental illnesses. Reports of insanity, delusion, and extreme instability are a common result of prolonged confinement. When the conditions are so poor and there is no social interaction it creates a foundation for severe mental illnesses to develop or if pre-existing they will become more acute than before. These effects have been known but often fall by the waist-side when people look at the use of solitary confinement in our prisons. Government organizations are also well aware of the effects and have conducted research on the affects solitary confinement. The Center for Constitutional Rights has made reports on prisoners during confinement stating: Researchers have demonstrated that prolonged solitary confinement causes a persistent and heightened state of anxiety and nervousness, headaches, insomnia, lethargy or chronic tiredness, nightmares, heart palpitations, and fear of impending nervous breakdowns. Other documented effects include obsessive ruminations, confused thought processes, oversensitivity to stimuli, irrational anger, social withdrawal, hallucinations, violent fantasies, emotional flatness, mood swings, chronic depression, feelings of overall deterioration, as well as suicidal ideation. The reports conclude that confinement has more of a negative psychological effect than initially thought. Human beings have basic needs such as food and shelter, but psychological needs such as social interaction and a sense of purpose in life. A prisoners basic human rights are not being acknowledged. Prisoners often go untreated with a mental disorder and it leaves them more hostile, depressive and dangerous than when they began their sentence. The severe negative effects have been unfairly overlooked and there are other healthier ways to deal with hostile and disruptive prisoners other than solitary confinement.

Kirkland 3

Not only is solitary confinement detrimental to the individuals psyche, solitary confinement is detrimental for society because once prisoners are socially isolated for a longer period of time it can be very difficult to rehabilitate them back to a healthy functioning state. Prisoners are released socially inept and lack the tools to change their lifestyle and therefore it increases the likelihood of a repeated offense and end up back in prison. This causes a vicious cycle where inmates are caught in the revolving doors of the prison system and have a difficult time adapting back to normal life. The organization Crime in America spoke about prisoners stating, Two-thirds of former state prisoners were rearrested for crimes within three years. The prisoners struggle to keep jobs, maintain meaningful relationships, and live a productive life once theyve served their sentence. The United States would benefit by getting prisoners to be able to re-adapt and contribute to society. It does no one any good long term if prisons continue to grow and be overpopulated and the tax dollars spent on maintaining the failing system will continue to grow and lead nowhere. With the approach the government is using nobody wins. In fact according to the Legislative Analysts Office in California, It costs an average of about 47,000 dollars per year to incarcerate an inmate in prison in California. Since the year 2000 it has increased by about 19,500 dollars. This is not helping the economic crisis America has faced for over a decade. The expenses involved are detrimental for society because this money comes from tax-payers. The use of solitary confinement is not sustainable because it is deteriorating to a prisoners psyche they become detached and unable to find jobs and help the economy. We should put prisoners in conditions to facilitate societal contribution and not debilitate them by using primitive punishment and making them unrecoverable, socially inept, and isolated hostages.

Kirkland 4

Prisoners would benefit immensely from psychotherapy and studies have shown that more than half of people showed a significant decline in aggressive and unstable behavior after receiving cognitive treatment. Studies also have noted a significant increase in managing disruptive behavior than participants that didnt receive any treatment. Therapy is proven to be an effective tool in handling people with unhealthy behaviors. Therapy techniques such as rationality emphasis and self-analysis help an individual to control their unhealthy behavior. The system cant ignore it as an option merely because the patients are also prisoners. There have been effective tools developed in the psychology field to help negate unhealthy behaviors such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was recently studied by researchers that gave offenders CBT therapy and states, CBT programs showed recidivism reductions of 20-30%. This gives great insight into how important it is to set up them up for success and facilitate healthy and productive behavior and this method needs to be more respected as an alternative. These prisoners could benefit from reinforcement and structure. Solitary confinement is not an effective tool in prisons. If we are essentially going to take away a persons psychological existence than America should consider reevaluating its morals because that is one of the basic rights of a human being and government shouldnt have the power to take away. That can permanently damage someone on a deep psychological level and is many consider it to be a form of torture. Some have a different perspective about the use of Solitary confinement. Many argue that solitary confinement is an effective tool and see no issue with using it. Donn Rowe is the president of the New York State Correctional Officers and a corrections officer. An article interviewed Donn Rowe which he states, Solitary confinement is a necessary tool for corrections officers and prisoners are put into solitary confinement for a reason: They are

Kirkland 5

dangerous to their fellow prisoners and the staff. He argues that they are not people, they are prisoners. They are pedophiles, rapists, and murderers. While in some cases this is true, solitary confinement can be used inappropriately and unfairly. It can be a form of torture and America should have higher standards than that and psychological torture should not be something America shouldnt condone. It sends the wrong message and we should not be promoting it. We should be promoting positive behaviors and enforcing as many prisoners as possible to start being productive and working on the problems they face. Solitary confinement should not be used and everyone should be focusing more on how to get prisoners to be able to contribute to society and psychotherapy is an answer to that. The conditions are so poor in US confinement cells that it not only reflects poorly on Americas image but is old fashioned and should be if not removed, reformed. The cycle of turning these prisoners into more aggressive and unhealthy when we could find other ways to control violence in prisons and facilitate prisoners to change their behavior is unnecessary and needs to change. This does not mean that very bad people dont deserve the consequences of their actions, it means that long term this routine is consistently coming up with multiple unsavory consequences. Our country should be a place that is thinking of new ways to handle social issues and adapt to what is effective, think progressively, and encourage growth. The use of solitary confinement long and short term is not effective on many levels and emphasis of psychotherapy could alleviate a lot of the reoccurring issues that seem to come up when the topic of US prisons arise. Until a resolution is found to the issues that stand solitary confinement should not be used in U.S. prisons.

Kirkland 6

Works Cited Center for Constitutional Rights. Torture: The Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. Center for Evaluation Research and Methodology & the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Programs for Criminal Offenders. 2007. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Legislative Analysts Office. Criminal Justice and Judiciary. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI Facts Sheet. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. The Take Away Organization. Making the Case: Arguments for and Against Solitary Confinement. Web. 2013. 17. Oct. 2013.