What is Solitary Confinement?
In the early nineteenth century, the U.S. led the world in a new
practice of imprisoning people in solitary cells, without access to any
human contact or stimulation, as a method of rehabilitation. The results
were disastrous, as prisoners quickly became severely mentally
disturbed.
Solitary confinement is defined as the placement of an incarcerated individual in a locked room or cell with minimal or no contact with people other than staff of the correctional facility. It is used as a form of discipline or punishment.
Solitary confinement is defined as the placement of an incarcerated individual in a locked room or cell with minimal or no contact with people other than staff of the correctional facility. It is used as a form of discipline or punishment.
Are juveniles exposed to Solitary Confinement in United States?
Every day, in jails and prisons across the United States, young people
under the age of 18 are held in solitary confinement. They spend 22 or
more hours each day alone, usually in a small cell behind a solid steel
door, completely isolated both physically and socially, often for days,
weeks, or even months on end. Sometimes there is a window allowing
natural light to enter or a view of the world outside cell walls.
Sometimes it is possible to communicate by yelling to other inmates,
with voices distorted, reverberating against concrete and metal.
Occasionally, they get a book or bible, and if they are lucky, study
materials. But inside this cramped space, few contours distinguish one
hour, one day, week, or one month, from the next.
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| 13 years old boy held in Solitary Confinement |
"Being locked in a tiny room with almost not human contact has damaging psychological effects even for shorter lengths of times-that's why is so shocking that this practice is use on kids".
How Solitary Confinement Harm Youth
Psychological Harm
The potential
psychiatric consequences of prolonged solitary confinement are well recognized
and include depression, anxiety and psychosis. Due to their developmental
vulnerability, juvenile offenders are at particular risk of such adverse
reactions. Furthermore, the majority of suicides in juvenile correctional
facilities occur when the individual is isolated or in solitary confinement.
Solitary Confinement is stressful. It engenders significant
levels of anxiety and discomfort and young people have fewer psychological
resources than adults do to help manage the stress, anxiety, discomfort they
experience in solitary confinement. For many adolescents in prison,
developmental immaturity is compound by mental disabilities and histories of
trauma, abuse, and neglect.
Because young people are still developing, traumatic
experiences like this one may have a profound effect on their chance to
rehabilitate and grow. Solitary confinement can exacerbate short- and long-term
mental health problems or make it more likely that such problems will develop.
Young people in solitary confinement are routinely denied access to treatment,
services, and programming required to meet their medical, psychological,
developmental, social, and rehabilitative needs.
Some serious mental health problems during their time in
solitary:
- Thoughts of Suicide and Self-harm
- Visual and Auditory hallucinations
- Feelings of Depression
- Nightmares and Traumatic memories
- Uncontrollable anger or rage
- Shifting Sleep patterns
Physical Harm
Given that children are still developing physically, they
need age-appropriate mental health, medical and dental services as well as
nutrition adequate to support growing muscles and bones. The most common
deprivation that accompanies solitary confinement, denial of out-of-cell
physical exercise, is physically harmful to their health, well-being and
growth. Studies have found that most of them suffered with hair loss and in the
women's case, they make present infrequent menstrual cycle.
As an example of physical harm, they can also attempt
against their own life, making self-mutilation.
 |
| Juvenile inmate trying to hurt himself |
Florida.- Ian Manuel spent 15 years in solitary
confinement in adult prison for a crime he committed at age 13. He often cut
himself, and he tried to kill himself at least five times. At Montana State
Prison, Raistlen Katka was placed in solitary at age 17, received
no mental health treatment despite self-mutilation and suicide attempts. Katka
was known to have “twice attempted to kill himself by biting through his wrist
to puncture a vein” before he was removed from solitary.
Juveniles are
frequently held in solitary in local jails before they have even been convicted
of a crime, simply because there is nowhere else to put them.
Social and Developmental Harm
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| Patrick Cochran hugs his 9-years old nephew |
Juveniles in solitary confinement are frequently deprived of
contact with their families, access to education, and to programming or
services necessary for their growth, development and rehabilitation. This brings
as a consequence lack of self-confidence, lack of hope and a progressive
deterioration in the affective area.
Solitary confinement and isolation of children in juvenile
facilities is psychologically, developmentally, and physically damaging and can
result in long- term problems and even suicide. Laws, policies, and practice
must be reformed to ensure that more effective, safer alternatives are utilized
with children in the juvenile system, and that our priority is their proper
protection and rehabilitation.
In the News-
USA TODAY February 25, 2014
 |
| Sen. Dick Durbin |
Citing the country's extensive use of solitary confinement since the 1980s, Sen. Dick Durbin, said the extreme conditions contribute to the gradual deterioration of prisoners' mental health.
End solitary confinement for juveniles
Wn.com March 6, 2014
For obvious reasons,
the voices of children jailed in solitary cells are rarely heard. But there are
signs that government leaders are listening to a rising chorus of voices of
citizens protesting the cruelty of locking up kids in jail cells for nearly every
hour of the day.
Recently,
the state of New York agreed to ban the use of extreme isolation for juveniles
and to limit its use with adults. At the national level, Sen. Dick Durbin,
D-Ill., and other senators called for the end to solitary confinement for
juveniles nationwide. These events are heartening and critical steps forward.
