Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Words: 505
Pages: 3
Open Document
Solitary confinement should never be used as a punishment against inmates of any degree. There are many inhuman crimes that are committed by people daily, and those criminals deserve to be held accountable for those actions, yet the punishment of solitary confinement is only adding fuel to the fire. Many of the criminals are already psychologically impaired and depriving them of true help to isolate them will only lead to harm. Although the severity of the crimes vary, the jail sentence will incarcerate them no matter what. Everyone who is human must be given a punishment suitable for a human. One psychologist, named Craig Haney, from UC Santa Cruz did research on how solitary confinement affects prisoners, and Haney states, “"We are all social …show more content…
The effects of solitary confinement deteriorate the human decency of criminals, therefore; The punishment only causes them to become more vengeful, angry, scared, and aggressive than there were before. The way people in jail are treated already makes them feel abused, and that little interaction being their only communication with other humans only adds to their damage. People who have experienced prison compare it to hell and only imagine how solitary confinement would be beyond traumatizing. Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, a man who was in solitary confinement and on death row, is one of the people who compared prison to the underworld and while explaining his experience he pleads, “This place ruins people. Some of it makes me insane. Some, like [him], it forces them to go so deep that they aren’t ever able to crawl back out again. Some people get so hard that discipline simply can’t ever imprint on them again.The irony is that they built these places to house a theoretical super-predator that didn’t really exist at the time, and ended up actually building that very individual.[The men on death row] have seen through that to the truth, that it’s just one group applying power over another, and this just makes them laugh”(Qtd.
Show More

Related Documents: Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement is a very prevalent punishment for crime. But, some do not realize how morbid solitary confinement really is. Solitary confinement is strictly isolated confinement in a small area away from other individuals. A rather large percentage of people who are sentenced to prison or jail have reported spending various amounts of time in solitary confinement. In 2011-2012, 20 percent of inmates in state and federal prisoners had spent time in solitary confinement (Bureau of Justice…

Words 1469 - Pages 6

Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement should not be used as a punishment for prisoners because it does not help prepare them to return to society, but instead just hurts them even more. Putting a person in solitary confinement can diminish their mental state and make it harder for them to be able to improve as a human being. Cesar Francisco Villa is a man who has been in solitary confinement for eleven years. Sitting in solitary confinement did not help him, as he explains, “By the third week, I found myself squatting…

Words 318 - Pages 2

Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Solitary Confinement Punishment Solitary confinement should not be used on inmates unless they have serious mental issues. The effects of solitary confinement are too dangerous to be used on every inmate, “People have to be able to look at this and say this just isn’t right”. Unless you can justify this craziness, you just have to stop it”(Interview with Nick Trenticosta). Solitary confinement makes people go crazy. Hint that roughly 13 of solitary confinement inmates are psychotic. Solitary confinement…

Words 229 - Pages 1

Arguments Against Solitary Confinement

Solitary confinement should not be used as a punishment since it destroys the minds of those who submit to it. Thomas Silverstein spent thirty years in solitary confinement. He shares his story stating “Shortly after I arrived, the prison staff began construction, adding more bars and other security measures to the cell while I was within it.It is hard to describe the horror I experienced during this construction process. As they built new walls around me, it felt like I was being buried alive” (Qtd…

Words 245 - Pages 1

Hellhole By Atul Gawande Summary

United States prisons frequently put prisoners in long term solitary confinement for offenses ranging from violence to cursing at a guard, and research shows that such punishment results in extreme psychological abuse. Atul Gawande explores the history, policies, and consequences of solitary confinement as well as the alternatives to solitary, in Hellhole, a 2009 article in the New Yorker. Gawande uses strong emotional appeals to evoke compassion from the reader, and backs up those pathos with evidence…

Words 1828 - Pages 8

Pros And Cons Of Solitary Confinement

worse than solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is being confined to a small room for 23 hours a day and capital punishment is a fancy way of dieing with the government approval. Which of these would be worse? Both have been around for centuries and both of these punishments have their cons and pros. These two punishment have been given to many criminals and have been showed true consequence to the crime world changing the way we call justice. First as stated before Solitary confinement had been…

Words 1495 - Pages 6

Sex Offender and Different Sexual Predators Essay

throughout the United States, some are very frightened by the discussion of this topic, but why? In the United States, an estimated 19.3% of women and 1.7% of men have been raped during their lifetimes. (Breiding, Matthew) There are many different arguments that are placed on this specific topic, some people believe that certain individuals dress inappropriate with revealing clothing which give predators the impression that the victim desires more than a friendly conversation. Studies show that once…

Words 1890 - Pages 8

Essay on Sociology and Common Sense

Key Points Humans are, at their very core, social animals- more akin to pack or herd animals than to individualistic cats. (Pgs 4-5) Humans were not made to be solitary creatures; although there are introverts, extraverts, and we all enjoy some alone time we also crave both physical and mental stimulation from others. In the book we are given an example about a boy who decided to sail alone around the world and stated that he learned a lot about people by doing so. He was able to take the time…

Words 1398 - Pages 6

Arguments Against Torture

We are in the 21st century and yet we hear stories quite often of terrorist suspects who are still being tortured in prisons. The main argument against torture is that it mitigates a suspected terrorist's rights as a human being. Can this torturous behavior ever be justified? In my opinion, terrorists should not be tortured because the torture may cause them to lie in their confession in order for the torturing stops. According to a publication on The Huffington Post, respondents in a new Reuters/Ipsos…

Words 708 - Pages 3

John Greenwald's Argument Analysis

celebrated President Obama’s decision. In a recent NPR interview with Rachel Martin, Greenwald delivered his case as to why Manning deserved clemency and how other whistleblowers, such as Edward Snowden, deserve to be pardoned by the state. Through his arguments surrounding the unfair treatment of Manning, the…

Words 1213 - Pages 5