Solitary Confinement

The practice of solitary confinement was first practiced in the 19th century when Quakers in Pennsylvania used this method as a new form of public punishments in federal prisons. The reform for solitary confinement did not surface until 2014 when study found a significant amount of similarities between being in solitary and committing an act of self-harm. Thus leading activists to protest and push assembly speakers in New York to pass a bill with a 15 day limit to solitary confinement. The reason for a limit according to the Activists and United Nations “Any period of confinement longer than that amounts to torture.'' Studies have found that prolonged isolation has serious detrimental effects on inmates with and without pre-existing mental illness, and it continues to grow.

We do not have an official number for the present year. We also do not have an official number on cases of released inmates who have suffered with mental illness after serving time in solitary within their incarceration, not including the number of suicides in and out of prisons.

In a ‘7 by ‘12 cell for 23 hours a day, 17 year old bronx resident, Kalief Browder was held in a New York jail complex on robbery charges. His longest duration was 300 days straight, many would argue that due to the small size of the crime this was an unconstitutional punishment for the minor. This impacted the young man in major ways, within his time incarcerated he showed many signs of mental illness or as many call it “suicidal symptoms”. June of 2015, 22 year old Kalief Browder took his own life. In a documentary film about Browder and his time behind bars, Browder makes a comment on his mental state a year before the film was released in 2013: “ you know, I smile and joke a lot but you know deep down I'm a mess because like I'm 21 and on the inside I feel like im 40”.

Thus adding controversy that solitary confinement is one of the leading causes of death for inmates and former inmates who were subjected to this form of punishment.

There's plenty of controversy on the subject, many believe that since it was added as a method of punishment it is well deserved for the men and women in state penitentiary’s no matter the crime.

While on the other hand others find that its too excessive, although solitary is only given to inmates after doing something worth punishing while being incarcerated.

Our criminal justice system is currently facing many reforms regarding what people feel is unjust on our part, although for many years it has worked for our criminal justice systems. Many believe that subjecting inmates to this form of punishment is stripping them of their human rights.

“Reform is necessary to bring the U.S. criminal justice system into compliance with prevailing human rights standards and to ensure that prisoners do not shed all constitutional rights at the prison gate”, this was said at a hearing in June of 2012, same hearing of which Sen. Lindsey Graham who was in attendance said “says a lot about who we are as a nation”. The hearing was held in hopes of determining whether or not solitary confinement is unconstitutional.

In present day, activists are still fighting for a bill to be passed in hopes that putting a limit on solitary confinement will not only reduce the mental illness that flows within the concrete walls of our nations federal prisons and out for released inmates but also be a first step in removing the method indefinitely.