Solitary confinement

For other uses, see Solitary confinement (disambiguation).

Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner and has been cited as an additional measure of protection from the criminal or is given for violations of prison regulations. It is also used as a form of protective custody and to implement a suicide watch.

Solitary confinement is colloquially referred to in American English as the 'hotbox', the 'hole', 'lockdown', 'AdSeg' (Administrative Segregation), the 'SHU' (pronounced 'shoe')—an acronym for security housing unit, or the 'pound'; and in British English as the 'block' or the 'cooler'. In Canada they are known as a Special Handling Unit.

Use

The practice is used when a prisoner is considered dangerous to oneself or to others, is suspected of organizing or being engaged in illegal activities outside of the prison, or, in the case of a prisoner such as a pedophile or witness, is at a high risk of being harmed by another inmate. The latter example is a form of protective custody. Solitary confinement is also the norm in supermax prisons where prisoners who are deemed dangerous or of high risk are held.

Solitary Confinement in the United States

In the US Federal Prison system, solitary confinement is known as the Special Housing Unit (SHU), pronounced /ˈʃuː/. California's prison system also uses the abbreviation SHU, but it stands for Security Housing Units. In other states, it is known as the Special Management Unit (SMU).

Current estimates of the number of inmates held in solitary confinement are difficult to determine, though generally the minimum held at any given time has been determined to be 20,000.

Criticism

It is considered by critics to be a form of psychological torture when the period of confinement is longer than a few weeks or is continued indefinitely.

The case of Thomas Silverstein has been somewhat critisized, as the first 27 years of his imprisonment have been spent in solitary confinement as a result of him murdering a prison guard in Marion, Illinois. He has spent the longest time in solitary confinement than any other prisoner in the world. He was released from solitary confinement in 2010.

Opponents of solitary confinement hold that it is a form of cruel and unusual punishment and torture because the lack of human contact, and the sensory deprivation that often go with solitary confinement, can have a severe negative impact on a prisoner's mental state that may lead to certain mental illnesses such as depression, permanent or semi-permanent changes to brain physiology, an existential crisis, and death.

Negative psychological effects have been documented, leading one judge in a 2001 suit to rule that “[Solitary confinement] units are virtual incubators of psychoses—seeding illness in otherwise healthy inmates and exacerbating illness in those already suffering from mental infirmities.”

In 2006, the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America, chaired by John Joseph Gibbons and Nicholas Katzenbach found that: "The increasing use of high-security segregation is counter-productive, often causing violence inside facilities and contributing to recidivism after release."

Solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure for prisoners in Europe was largely reduced or eliminated during the twentieth century. In 2004, only 40 out of 75,000 inmates held in England and Wales were placed in solitary confinement cells.

See also

• Single-celling
• The Box (form of torture involving solitary confinement in an overheated room)

External links

• Solitary Watch
• Sourcebook on solitary confinement
• Dr. Atul Gawande: Solitary Confinement is Torture – video report by Democracy Now!