Solitary Confinement
Solitary confinement was phased out in the eighteenth century due to negative mental health effects observed yet in the 1960s solitary began to be phased back into the prison system, old discoveries forgotten or ignored and still the effects solitary has on mental health is ignored. Solitary was first used in a prison system by the Quakers in 1790, although medieval writings indicate to what may have been a type of solitary confinement (Smith). In the case of the Quakers it was believed that the silence would help to let criminals “seek forgiveness from God” (Briggs). The practice of solitary confinement was also adopted in Denmark in 1846 (Smith). Germany also took up this method, and German doctors noticed an increase in psychosis in inmates kept in solitary confinement, leading to the German court system condemning the practice of long-term solitary confinement in 1890 (Briggs). Despite this, and the large amount of documentation about the effects of solitary, that ultimately made the US and Denmark mostly drop solitary confinement. Until the 1970’s where Solitary came back with a vengeance. This resurgence has been met by criticized by international organizations, and continues to be proven to be detrimental to inmate’s mental health. Solitary confinement should be decreased and more controlled in the incarnation system due to its classification as a torture method and its negative effects on mental health.

Issues with Solitary
Solitary is characterized by inmates spending between 22 and 23 hours locked in a small cell, usually between 6x9 to 8x10 feet in size. All contact is limited, physical contact is almost nonexistent, and contact with the outside world is sometimes limited to phone calls or video chats. Inmates are rarely allowed access to a radio, TV, or reading materials, all of which can help, but the effects of solitary can and will still occur. The effects of solitary confinement on the human mind can be and often are: depression, paranoia, thought of suicides, hallucinations, anxiety, panic, insomnia, paranoia, aggression and depression. The effects of solitary are also physical, the place inmates are taken for exercise are often not much larger than their cells, making exercising difficult. Also due to the confined space vision can be effected, causing nearsightedness and cataracts as well as panic attacks and increased risk of a heart attack (Landau). People in solitary can find it difficult to get access to necessary medicines, as well as access to doctors or mental help (“Video: Sick Woman”).
Solitary is also extremely costly. Keeping an inmate in solitary costs roughly $78,000 a year, nearly three times what it costs to keep somebody in a regular prison unit (Johnson). There are around 80,000 prisoners in solitary confinement in the United States, costing around $6,240,000,000 a year to keep in solitary confinement (Rodriguez).

Questionable methods and International Outcry
When prisoners of war are held in solitary overseas, it is considered torture. Anyone held in solitary considers it torture. And yet, as the conditions of POWs in solitary is looked on with horror, inmates in the United States prison system spend years held in solitary confinement.

Many people put in solitary are teenagers, where the reason cited is that it is for their own protection. People who are mentally ill are also often put in solitary despite legal concerns about this.

Amnesty International condemned the United States use of solitary, calling it “torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” The group called for all countries to ban solitary confinement, except for in special circumstances, and even then, for as short of a time as possible. Amnesty International also pushed for prohibiting minors or people with mental disabilities from ever being placed in solitary (“Prisoners Held”).
The paradox of solitary comes in getting removed from solitary. The only way for inmates to be removed from an extended solitary sentence and back into the general prison population is to prove that they have changed. In other words inmates who can deal with solitary relatively well are the ones who get released. Inmates who are heavily and quickly affected by solitary are unlikely to ever get released back to the general prison population, meaning that inmates who need help get punished for it.

Solitary confinement makes it difficult for inmates to reintegrate into society once released from the prison system, because going from virtually no human contact in a small enclosed space to, lots of people everywhere in the whole world is a hard transition for the mind to make. This transition is not helped by the fact that prisons offer little to no transition time between solitary and release into the world at large. This shows how far our prison systems have moved away from the idea of rehabilitation.

Alternatives to Solitary
Solitary is likely to cause or increase aggression in inmates, aggression being a main reason cited for using solitary at all. The point of solitary increasing prison violence is made obvious in a Mississippi prison, where mentally ill prisoners were removed from solitary and given treatment actually reduced prison-wide violence (Keim).The idea of solitary confinement discouraging aggression is disproven in other cases such as in the prison system of Britain, where they give prisoners more access to social programs and mental health treatment, as well as allowing them to air grievances and earn more social visits instead of enforcing harsher punishments for bad behavior, they rewarded good behavior. The results have been very positive, there is very little long term isolation used in Great Britain and less violence in the prison system. Other countries in Europe have used this method with similar results (Gawande).

If solitary must be used then the time an inmate is in solitary must be limited. Solitary confinement starts to have ill effects after five to seven days. This should be used as a maximum time limit for keeping an inmate in solitary confinement. There would also have to be regulations on the frequency that inmates could be put in solitary confinement, but no research has been made on this topic yet. However if the United States prison system adopts a method similar to that of the British prisons, then the need for solitary should drop significantly.

Conclusion
Solitary confinement is a broken system that was determined to be ineffective and harmful in the 1800’s and yet is still used today. It does not lower prisoner aggression, in fact it seems to raise it. Amnesty International’s calls for abolishing the practice further highlight the problem. Solitary should be controlled, used less frequently, and for shorter lengths of time. Combining this with using alternative methods first, should be beneficial to the prison system and society as a whole.

Works Cited

Biggs, Brooke S. "Solitary Confinement: A Brief History." Mother Jones. N.p., 2 Mar. 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
Gawande, Atul. "Hellhole - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., 30 Mar. 2009. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Johnson, Carrie. "Solitary Confinement Costs $78K Per Inmate And Should Be Curbed, Critics Say." NPR. NPR, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Kaye, Jeff. "Bradley Manning and the Torture That Is Solitary Confinement." Jeff Kayes MyFDL Diary Site Wide Activity RSS. MyFDL, 22 Dec. 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
Keim, Brandon. "The Horrible Psychology of Solitary Confinement." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 08 July 0013. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Landau, Elizabeth. "Solitary Confinement: 29 Years in a Box." CNN Health. CNN, 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
"Prisoners Held in Extreme Solitary Confinement in Breach of International Law." Legal Monitor Worldwide. N.p.: SyndiGate Media, 2014. N. pag. General OneFile. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
Rodriguez, Sal. "FAQ." Solitary Watch. Solitary Watch, 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2014..
Smith, Peter  S. "The Effects of Solitary Confinement on Prison Inmates: A Brief History and Review of the Literature." JSTOR. The University of Chicago Press, 20 Dec. 2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
"Torture: The Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons." Center for Constitution RSS. CRR Website, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
"Video: Sick Woman Kept in Solitary Confinement for Weeks." Local Broadcast Video Content 28 Nov. 2013: n. pag. General OneFile. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.