Solitary Confinement: Is It Wrong?

Prison is not meant to be nice to begin with. Society has rules and you chose to break them and in many cases rather violently. Live with the punishment.

I imaging a criminal thats hard to manage is mentally impaired to begin with. This is a diffucult question!

I agree. Each prisoner has his/her own story, his/her own way of dealing with solitary.

Prison is supposedly not meant to be a punishment, according to some people, just segregation from the rest of the world to protect us from him/her. Now THAT'S a hard one. Punishment? or just a way of protecting the populace?

The harsher the punishment the better.

Sadly the day is long gone when prison officials could beat the tar out of a misbehaving inmate so solitary is the worst they've got. While it is an effective punishment it does not act as a deterrent to inmates who want to act up. While prison's are ever becoming more overcrowded, under funded and under staffed officials have few options. Having seen quite a few documentaries, I think that solitary makes inmates angrier, or drives them insane.

Personally, I'd consider it a reward, not a punishment.

I don't have any sources at hand for this, but I've been told that upwards of 60% of people get severely disturbed if they don't have regular human contact. Like you, I'm in the other third. So there's some more context - what kind of prisoner is this one, regarding need for human contact?

Prisons are nasty. Social interaction isn't much of a social interaction as it is abuse. Just watch The Shawshank Redemption.

Yeah, because if it's on tv or the internet, you know it's true.......

If I were ever in prison, I would WANT to be in solitary. I don't want to interact with other prisoners.

It is definitely appropriate! Man, I've heard about your American jails! Unless you're part of a gang, you get butt-f##ked every day!
If I was ever unfortunate enough to end up in an American jail, I would beg for solitary!! F##k hanging around with other criminals!!

It depends on the reason for the confinement. If it is allowed at the whim of a guard or official then it's arbitrary and wrong. If it is in response to an actual infraction or violation then it is completely appropiate.

I believe it is cruel to put someone in solitary confinement as a punishment, however I am fine with it being used if needed for safety reasons.

Heh, safety for that prisoner? Or for the rest of them? Like the guy above said about "anal rape"...maybe all prisoners should be kept in solitary, then you wouldn't have that. Serve their meals in their cells.

crazy did you call me crazy? i was crazy once and they locked me in a nice dark padded room.

some times it is good for them so they don,t hurt anyone or to proteck them farm harm.

If you don't want solitary confinement, then follow the rules, probably why they're in jail anyway and the initial shock didn't seem to work, turn up the juice........

Violent animals that don't care about anyone but themselves and kill and hurt others. They ought to execute them

Why would anyone want the hard core offenders put in the general population teaching others how to be better deviants and criminals?

I think it should only be for violent offenders and those who cause disturbances in population.. Mental disorders should be treated in a psych hospital.

I think it's interesting that people who focus only on the moment of punishment think of solitary confinement as acceptable; neglect entirely the fact that these people will return to society, and if the punishment has gone beyond what all studies recognize as "brutal--damaging--" to the point that it negatively impacts their mental state upon release. My questions are: 1.) Is it possible that repeat offenders were so badly damaged by the use of solitary confinement, that they are in effect: broken? And can no longer function in society? 2.) Is breaking people the purpose of prison? What happened to punishment concurrent with rehabilitation?

Bravo, well said!!!

Solitary confinement is for the protection of the other prisoners whom cannot escape the actions of the prison offender. This is the most severe punishment that can be given for bad behavior.

Rehabilitation as a function of prisons was abandoned long ago. Shown to be a worthless endeavor .
"On January 18, 1989, the abandonment of rehabilitation in corrections was confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Mistretta v. United States, the Court upheld federal "sentencing guidelines" which remove rehabilitation from serious consideration when sentencing offenders. Defendants will henceforth be sentenced strictly for the crime, with no recognition given to such factors as amenability to treatment, personal and family history, previous efforts to rehabilitate oneself, or possible alternatives to prison. "
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/s...

It also gives groups like ACORN easy access for those few extra votes they need!

I think all prisons should go to this,

Solitary confinement is NOT PUNISHMENT, and shouldn't be considered a punishment. Prisoners already get free TV, education, Wifi/computers, and food out of hard working people's tax payments. What happened to the good old days when prisoners WORKED HARD to get privileges like air conditioning and TV!! And in solitary confinement you don't have to share or put up with anybody...they should at least have to put up with Cordell's farts
Make them dig railroads like this or do SOMETHING besides having a vacation, because that's what it is...

...though I'd like to see them offered a dose of hemlock as an alternative.

and provides the only true "escalation" mechanism available to prison officials. Normally only utilized in case of violent dangerous persons, who would injure other inmates, and most often for a predetermined amount of time, based on the situation.

Prison should be a place where you do not want to be, it should be a place where only your basic needs are met daily, where when you are released you would rather live in a cardboard box and dumpster dive than return to. You should never come from prison physically stronger than you went in. You should never exit prison with a degree in law paid for by the tax payers.

You should exit prison into a program designed to get you a job, something to pay your way. You should have available counseling services to help you adjust.
Three strikes and you’re out for violent crimes only – you commit three (DUI should be included) felonies where someone is injured, use a lethal weapon in commission of crime more than once or molest a child in anyway one time– you will die in prison.

Let everyone of the users of marijuana out of jail/prison now. Let everyone who did not commit a violent crime serve thier time in maintaining parks, sweeping sidewalks, planting communities gardens or some other locally decided way that does not involve the tax payer feeding them three meals a day and providing a home.

If ever I wound up in prison, I would prefer solitary confinement. At least those prisoners don't stand the risk of becoming a "bitch".

Believe me, I used to work for the state penitentiary here in this state. You do not want convicted felons to be set loose on parole. As far as solitary confinement is concerned, if I were ever to be tried and convicted for a crime sufficient to land me in state prison, you can be sure that I would do whatever I had to do to get solitary confinement, up to and including killing another convict or guard. It's that bad in dormitory style lock-up. I'm not going to have some great big fat ass horny bastard slob for a cellmate who wants to call me sweetie by God. Hell no.

Especially if some prisoners are considered threatening.

And for many who should have been executed this is a good thing, discourages others from behavior which might lock them under same conditions, But then if they were interacting properly, they would not be there in the first place.

Why do we send them to prison at all? There, they're rewarded with big screen TV & cable; computers of their own in their cells if they wish; free education & degrees; conjugal visits from their spouses; used to get free cigarettes; all the free books they want; day passes for some; .......the list goes on. They seem not to go there to be punished at all. Rehab is important but not often possible as they wind up back in prison a short time after release. Now there's some kind of debate as to whether or not solitary confinement is a nice way to treat them??? Many people outside of prison are subjected to solitary confinement against their wishes who have done nothing wrong.......elderly folks; handicapped.......and many others by their own choice. As with everything that's been "fixed" or "improved" from conditions of the past, this is another example of one that's gone much too far overboard to the point where it's the exact opposite of what it was. No wonder so many of them commit crimes after being released so they CAN get back into prison. It's not a half bad place for them to be.......all their buddies are there and there's free accommodation, food, clothing and entertainment. Getting out of prison is nothing, they have nowhere to go anyway and don't really want to with no desire to work or earn their own living.

Ummm....it IS ...prison~

Didn't they earn it? Frankly I think I'd prefer it a good part of the time. Quiet....solitude...peace...no Bubba....

Sometimes it's necessary because of the nature of the criminal --sometimes even for their own protection. Seems like theire are worse things that can happen in prison. However I'm not sure solitary means that pristine picture there... throwing people in "the hole" for whatever reason sometimes in extreme temparatures and midieval conditions is wrong. If their crime says they go to jail fine, but that doesn't mean anything goes while they're in there.

We are talking about criminals here. I can't believe that anyone actually cares about the so called rights of some of these monsters. I care more about the victims and their families. I believe in capital punishment and the castrating of pedophiles and rapists. We have gangs in prison, rapes in prisons, drugs and murders in prisons. Who's running the damn prisons?