In 1993, Craig Haney, a social psychologist, interviewed a group of inmates in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison, California’s toughest penal institution.
He was studying the psychological effects of isolation on prisoners, and Pelican Bay was among the first of a new breed of super-maximum-security prisons that states around the country were beginning to build.
Twenty years later, he returned to the prison for another set of interviews. He was startled to find himself facing some of the same prisoners he had met before, inmates who now had spent more than two decades alone in windowless cells.
“It was shocking, frankly,” Dr. Haney said.
Few social scientists question that isolation can have harmful effects. Research over the last half-century has demonstrated that it can worsen mental illness and produce symptoms even in prisoners who start out psychologically robust.
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9 comments:
So are we supposed to feel sorry for those in solitary confinement?
Commit the crime....do the time!
12:40pm That is a very callous and inhumane way to look at this. One could call it psychopathic. You are free. You probably think that solitary confinement is relaxing. You have a very narrow view of the world and you should think before you speak.
1:20 I agree. It is not the nature of humans to live a solitary life. This is actual cruel and unusual punishment and serves no real purpose.
Your absolutely right !! It is cruel and I think you should call that prison immediately and have those poor souls transferred to your house and adopt them...
Bet if you're loved one was brutally raped and murdered you'd feel differently.
More treatment for psycho behavior at a younger age is better than spending a fortune for free housing in the end. Try getting a child into a therapist if you have no money. Screw you parent. Parents KNOW when they are raising a child with a mental disorder and they know that if something isn't done to change things they will end up killing....BUT there is NO AFFORDABLE HELP. And once that child is 21 you have no say in the matter except for picking up the phone and warning the police that your child will be a killer and you know it. A horrible fate for a parent.
For the bleeding hearts commenting above.
No one is sentenced to solitary; they 'earn' that status because they can't even function in the general population of criminals within the prison.
I didn't click the rest of the article so it's unclear if they had been in solitary continuously or just happened to be there both times he visited. Something more than a bad haircut got them there.
If the crime is that bad take them out back and shoot them. We do not have a right to torture them physically or emotionally. It is inhumane.
And another thing, if they should ever get release, these people will be eligible for SSID due to a mental health issues with tax payers forced approval.
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