Mahmoodi 1

Nadera Mahmoodi
Rogers
Government 4
October 16, 2016
Solitary Confinement Act of 2017
In August of 2005, police arrested a man named Stephen Slevin for driving under the
influence. Three days after being detained, officials moved Slevin to a padded cell where he
would remain for the next 22 months. The neglect and abuse Slevin received was atrocious, to
the point where he had to pull out his own tooth because the prison officials did not grant him
access to proper dental care. This was all before he even saw a judge. Americas criminal justice
system is far from perfect. People who are subject to it are often stripped of their humanity and
churned back out into the world hollow shells of their former selves. One tool that helps in this
process is solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is loosely defined as the isolation of a
prisoner in a cell for up to 23 hours a day. Wardens may keep prisoners in the cells for anywhere
from days to years (with or without proper cause.) The Solitary Confinement Act of 2017 should
be passed because solitary confinement violates inmates basic human rights, damages them
physically, and destroys their psyches.
Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states No one shall be subjected
to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Well, take a look at what
Mr. Slevin had to go through; does that not fit the exact description? According to Tracy Hresko
lack of due process protections for inmates in the U.S. has led to what one scholar has deemed
overclassification: a phenomenon of low-risk inmates being subjected to solitary confinement
for extremely weak and unsubstantiated reasons (Hresko). Women and men are left to the
mercy of corrupt, power-crazed prison officials who administer ridiculous punishments for so

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much as looking at a guard wrong. Even though a recent study found that exposure to shortterm disciplinary segregation as a punishment for initial violence did not deter incarcerated
people from committing further violence in prison (Shames). Obviously, solitary confinement
does more harm than good. Using this method of punishment provides no benefit whatsoever to
the rehabilitation of prisoners, and that is the primary focus.
Solitary confinement can also lead to immediate physical harm. 1980 is the last time the
nations Supreme Court dealt with solitary confinement directly. While deciding the fate of a
death row inmate, the judge on the case said many prisoners fell ,after even a short
confinement, into a semi fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them,
and others became violently insane; others still committed suicide (Crockell). Inmates often go
to extreme measures to capture the attention of the guards in their dire situations, much like
Stephen Slevin. For everyone (including criminals) social contact is crucial for forming
perceptions, concepts, interpreting reality and providing support (Shalev). Cutting off ties with
other human beings can be detrimental to the prisoners ability to grow and be properly
rehabilitated.
Lastly, but most importantly, solitary confinement negatively impacts a persons
psychological health. The American Psychiatric Association reported that up to 20 percent of all
prisoners were actively psychotic at any given moment (Smith). Note that that fact does not
specify in solitary confinement. So if the general population has such unhealthy mental states,
imagine what numbers and percentages would look like in the SHU (Solitary Housing Unit.)
Similarly, At midyear 2005 more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health
problem, including 70,200 in Federal prisons (James). The numbers are staggering. With so
many poor men and women in need of professional help, whos going to give it to them?

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Many people say solitary confinement is a necessary evil because it helps control
inmates. It does not; what it does do is rip apart their minds and souls. Prisons justify using
solitary confinement by saying it is a tool to manage gangs, isolating people for simply talking to
a suspected gang member (Shalev, Sharon). However, this practice has done little to limit gang
activity. Building Solitary Units costs taxpayers more money than general housing units.
However, there are indications that the use of segregated housing has grown substantially in
recent years (perhaps as much as by 42 percent between 1995 and 2005) (Shames). Building is
on the rise. Instead of using this worn out practice, it is much more beneficial to implement
rehabilitation programs that build vital, real world skills.
In a perfect world, we could all live peacefully and have no cruelty. Unfortunately, we do
not. In reality, many of the prisoners subjected to isolation, which can extend for years, have
serious mental illnesses (Metzner). We are putting people in need of serious medical help into
isolation, which only magnifies the problem. If we only reinforced positive punishment instead
of negative, we would see the number of people heading back to prison within 3 years of release
decline. Solitary confinement not only limits freedom, but also increasing practice of
condemning those prisoners which state or federal officials consider very dangerous to very long,
indefinite, or even permanent confinement in supermax prisons is inhuman (Lobel). If you
support the humane treatment of our fellow citizens, vote to pass the Solitary Confinement Act.

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Work Cited
Metzner, Jeffrey L., and Jamie Fellner. "Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in US Prisons:
A Challengefor Medical Ethics." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the
Law Online 38.1 (2010): 104-108.
Lobel, Jules. "Prolonged solitary confinement and the Constitution." University of Pennsylvania
Journal of Constitutional Law 11.115 (2008): 2009-19.
Hresko Tracy, In the Cellars of the Hollow Men: Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons
and Its Implications Under International Laws against Torture, 18 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 1
(2006) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol18/iss1/1
James, Doris J., and Lauren E. Glaze. "Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates."
PsycEXTRA Dataset (n.d.): n. pag. USDJ, 14 Dec. 2006. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
Shalev, Sharon. A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement. London: Mannheim Centre for
Criminology, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2008. Web. 10 Oct.
2016.
Shalev, Sharon. Supermax: Controlling Risk through Solitary Confinement. Cullompton, UK:
Willan, 2009. Print.
Crockell, Cathy. "Probing the Haphazard Rise of Harsh Supermaximum Prisons." Research UC
Berkeley. N.p., 07 Dec. 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2016
Smith, Peter Scharff. "The Effects of Solitary Confinement on Prison Inmates: A Brief History
and Review of the Literature." Crime and Justice 34.1 (2006): 441-528. Web.