Solitary Confinement Research Paper

Words: 1555
Pages: 7

Humans are social creatures; therefore, when they are denied socialization and are instead put in a box of isolation, a myriad of complications occur. Over the years, the idea of solitary confinement has gone by a myriad of names: “Communication Management”. Control Units. The ‘The Hole.’ Intensive Management. Lockdown. The. Protective Custody. Restricted Housing. Security Housing. Segregation. Solitary. The. Supermax” (Adkins 1). However, as put by Amey Victoria Adkins, “a rose by any other name still smells sickeningly sweet” (Adkins 1). Despite its numerous titles, solitary confinement unites all of these ideas under one definition: a small, white cell in which individuals are placed for 23 hours a day and are denied physical contact with other human beings, the ability to work, the …show more content…
Solitary confinement survivor, Candie Hailey, stated in an interview, “Physically, I'm free, but mentally, I still have the thoughts of solitary confinement” (Ari 1). These thoughts can range anywhere from flashbacks to anxiety and feeling constantly on edge, thinking that the social isolation could come back at any time. Just as any severe trauma survivor can have detrimental issues the rest of their life, solitary confinement survivors can be constantly disrupted in their day-to-day life with the pain of what they experienced. Depressingly, solitary confinement is often experienced by people who society least expects. It is widely believed that solitary confinement is reserved only for the extremely dangerous and insane; “[b]ut in fact, many are placed in solitary for nonviolent offenses, and some are not even criminals, having been arrested on immigration charges. Others are thrown into isolation cells "for their own protection" because they are homosexual or transgendered or have been raped by other inmates” (Solitary