Fortin 1

Ashley Fortin

Rachel Newlon

ENG 122 | Argumentative Writing Experience

22 April 2020

Solitary Confinement is Cruel

Cruel and unusual punishments is a hard but popular topic to discussion about. Cruel and

unusual punishments is a phrase that is used to describe punishments that are considered

unacceptable due to suffering, pain, or humiliating to the person that is being subjected.

According to the eight amendment, the federal government is prohibited to impose cruel and

unusual punishments. Some cruel and unusual punishments have been banned in some states in

the US, for example, the death penalty. Unfortunately, to replace some cruel and unusual

punishments, solitary confinement is being used for punishment. Solitary confinement is a form

of imprisonment with little to no meaningful communication with other inmates. Individuals are

put into solitary confinement that are considered a risk to others or either themselves ​to help

prison staff 'manage' certain individuals or to protect the prisoner from other inmates due to their

criminal history. An individual can spend at least 23 hours a day for more than 15 days.

Although the federal government does not see solitary confinement to be a cruel and unusual

punishment. ​Solitary confinement should be addressed as a cruel and unusual punishment due to

it provoking serious mental health problems, physical health issues, and it having too much

freedom to torment prisoners.

 Fortin 2

One major concern is that solitary confinement affects an individual's mental health. It

can cause mental health problems or provoke already existing mental disorders in a prisoner,

causing more trauma and symptoms. As mentioned before, prisoners can spend 23 hours per day

or more spent alone in a cell with little to do and no one to talk to. They can spend one hour per

day or less in a different but not less isolated setting like the shower or exercising cage

(Schlanger 1). These prisoners eat, sleep, and use the toilet inside small cells, which are

sometimes deprived of natural light; the cells contain a bed, a sink and a toilet, and all of the

prisoner’s possessions (Ahalt et al. 41). Solitary confinement imposes severe social deprivation

but can also take away prisoners' access to many other things, including rehabilitative

programming, work assignments, and contact visits with family and friends. Along with access

to lawyers, medical, and mental health personnel are also typically restricted (Cyrus et al. 41).

Thus concluding that a prisoner in solitary confinement has little means to gather help from

others in order to get back on track in the real world. This evidence states that the system doesn’t

provide help for the prisoners who need it the most and all in all could set them. According to

Cherian from the American Criminal Law Review she states, “Stories of prisoners was held in

solitary confinement after even a short confinement fell into a semi-fatuous condition and others

became violently insane, others still committed suicide, while those who stood the ordeal better

were not generally reformed, and in most cases did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of

any subsequent service to the community” (Cherian 28). According to this dramatic statement

even those who did not commit suicide in their cells were quickly met with the realisation that

their mental ability has been stunted and inhibited. This demonstrates how those who are locked

away for long periods of time never fully recover and are never the same again because of the
 Fortin 3

lack of help offered from programs and other resources. Following this further, by restricting

social contact from individuals it causes the development of severe depression, social anxiety,

and suicidal thoughts. In certain states trying to attempt suicide constitutes a disciplinary

punishment by more time in solitary confinement (Keramet 120). This eye-opening statement

sheds light on how solitary confinement pushes prisoners to the edge of suicide and that the

government does not realize the dangers of solitude. Thus demonstrating that the government is

not concerned with the prisoners safety, but rather are willing to throw them back into the one

thing that broke them.

Prisoners' physical health is also known to change over the course of their time in

confinement. The conditions of confinement may improve health outcomes for some but worsen

health conditions for others. Some people view solitary confinement as an effective way to better

an individual's physical health. ​By providing access to health care, guaranteed meals, stable

housing, clean clothes, showers, structured days, and reduced access to substances that they were

previously dependent on (Macmadu and Josiah 33). However, the human mind must be occupied

and since there is a lack of entertainment, some result in self harm in order to cure their boredom

during isolation, like cutting and hitting their head against a wall. Furthermore, an increase in

chronic headaches, heart palpitations, oversensitivity to light, noise stimuli, muscle pain, and

weight loss begin to take effect and further deteriorate their physical health. I am on the fence

that physical health can be helped or harmed during isolation because there are so many pros and

cons. I think that it is a good thing that prisoners in solitary confinement can be helped with

addiction; however it is awful for the individuals to go through extreme physical pains and

weight lost that their bodies become unrecognizable.

 Fortin 4

On the other hand, prisoners can be put in solitary confinement for a number of reasons

which can lead to many hours of isolated time which should be controlled by strict guidelines.

To start, there should be a decrease in time spent in isolation because this can help reduce mental

and physical health. Others can do this by allowing more free time outside the cell with engaging

activities as well as more controlled social interactions, thus decreasing suicidal intentions,

anxiety, self harm, and depression. By restricting prisoners from attending rehabilitative

programming, work assignments, lawyers, medical, and mental health personnel will eliminate

an individual's will to become better with other inmates and good behavior. These problems can

be fixed by reversing such issues allowing the prisoner to gain access to needed materials to

further prepare for services in the community. All in all, humans are social creatures that need

interaction and by denying the rights to socialize for an extremely long amount of time can

negatively impact them.

Solitary confinement should be addressed as a cruel and unusual punishment due to it

provoking serious mental health problems, physical health issues, and it should be altered in

order to follow strict guidelines. Depression, social anxiety, and attempts of suicide are examples

of mental illness that are obtained from solitray confinement and lack of communication. By

restricting prisoners from resources that could be offered to them, for example, rehabilitative

programming and work assignments, can cause a decrease in good behavior and help.

Individuals from the opposition see nothing wrong with solitary confinement​ ​because they

believe that solitary confinement can help individuals, I however, am on the fence because I

believe that solitary confinement can help with addiction but can cause serious distress. More

physical issues can come from isolation like chronic headaches, oversensitivity to light, muscle
 Fortin 5

pain, and weight loss. With all these problems with mental health and physical health issues

should lead to stricter guidelines that must be put into place like less isolation time. Even though

the government does not consider days of pure isolation as traumatic to numerous prisoners

throughout the United States as an extremely cruel and unusual punishment is a heartbreaking

and inhumane thought. It is our job as a community to help one another to get those in need on

track and ready to step back into the everyday world.

 Fortin 6

Works Cited

Ahalt, Cyrus, et al. "Reducing the use and Impact of Solitary Confinement in Corrections."

International Journal of Prisoner Health​, vol. 13, no. 1, 2017, pp. 41-48​. ProQuest,​

doi:​http://dx.doi.org.arapahoecc.idm.oclc.org/10.1108/IJPH-08-2016-0040​. Accessed 22

April 2020.

Cherian, Merin. "CRUEL, UNUSUAL, AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL: AN ORIGINALIST

ARGUMENT FOR ENDING LONG-TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT."​ The

American Criminal Law Review​, vol. 56, no. 4, 2019, pp. 1759​. ProQuest,​

https://arapahoecc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.arapahoecc.idm.oc

lc.org/docview/2239637590?accountid=39001​. Accessed 22 April 2020.

Macmadu, Alexandria, and Josiah D. Rich. "Correctional Health is Community Health."​ Issues

in Science and Technology​, vol. 32, no. 1, 2015, pp. 26-36​. ProQuest,​

https://arapahoecc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.arapahoecc.idm.oc

lc.org/docview/1774763701?accountid=39001​. Accessed 22 April 2020.

Reiter, Keramet. "Response: Retaking the Archive of Knowledge about Solitary Confinement."

Social Justice,​ vol. 43, no. 4, 2016, pp. 118-122​. ProQuest​,

 Fortin 7

https://arapahoecc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.arapahoecc.idm.oc

lc.org/docview/1923997968?accountid=39001​. Accessed 22 April 2020.

Schlanger, M. “Regulating segregation: the contribution of the ABA criminal justice standards

on the treatment of prisoners.” ​The American Criminal Law Review, v​ ol. 47, Issue 4,

2010, pp. 1421. ​Proquest,

https://search-proquest-com.arapahoecc.idm.oclc.org/docview/861831971/4534125B13C

74FC8PQ/1?accountid=39001.​ Accessed 22 April 2020.