The Danger Behind Solitary Confinement
In the video above, Discovery News talks about the mental and physical side effects of being held in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is the practice of holding inmates in a single cell for months to years on end. Discovery News’ Jennifer Wilde reveals that the size of the cell for someone being held in solitary is about 1.8 x 3 meters, with only a small bed, sink, and toilet. Prisoners do not get very many opportunities to speak with outsiders while being held in special housing unites (SHU). Wilde also address the many studies that have concluded that solitary can be dangerous for prisoners, mentally and physically.
In a study done by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, being in solitary can lead to inducing anxiety, aggression, and memory impairment. The enzyme 5 alpha reductase type 1 is important for the brains production of a hormone that helps regulate stress, called allopregnanolone. The study continued to look into socially isolated mice, researchers concluded that the production of the 5 alpha reductase enzyme had decreased 50%. Even though this study cannot be tested on humans due to ethical concerns, researchers believe these studies can also be applied to humans being held in solitary.
In an additional study completed by the Journal of Nature & Neuroscience, researchers also found changes in the prefrontal cortex of socially isolated mice. They discovered that the cells in the brain that make white matter made less of the matter after just eight weeks of isolation. White matter is essential for humans because without it, the brain cannot communicate with other parts of the brain to carry out the appropriate behaviors in every day life. The lack of white matter in the mice impacted emotional and cognitive behaviors.
PBS has an article about the effects of solitary confinement and how it effects one’s mental health. With the help of Stuart Grassian, a board-certified psychiatrist and a former faculty member of Harvard, they interviewed multiple prisoners in solitary. “ Grassian has since concluded that solitary can cause a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; diminished impulse control; hypersensitivity to external stimuli; and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory. Some inmates lose the ability to maintain a state of alertness, while others develop crippling obsessions.”
PBS goes on to state that the size of a solitary cell is “smaller than a horse stable”. These cells have no windows, no natural sunlight, etc. The only thing to look at really, is the wall. In an article published by Solitary Watch, Huda Akil, a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan stated that he is confident that solitary and mental abnormalities exist because of the absence of stimulus in the brain. “ The physical lack of activity, the lack of interaction with the natural world… the lack of interaction with other human beings, the lack of visual stimulation, the lack of touch — Each one of those has been studied not just only in humans, but in animal models… And each one is by itself sufficient to change the brain, and change it dramatically depending on whether it lasts briefly or extended. And by extended I mean days, not decades…”
Another PBS article reveals that there is not any evidence that solitary confinement even works on prisoners. “ At the same time, a new report from the Government Accountability Office criticized the use of solitary within the federal prison system. It found that even as prisons place more inmates in solitary for longer periods, the federal Bureau of Prisons has no data on how the practice affects inmates, whether they’re treated properly — or whether the practice even works.”
This practice appears to have more of a negative impact than any positive impacts. We should care about the treatment of these people because they are human beings. We cannot expect these people to better themselves or learn their lesson if they are not mentally healthy enough to even think about the decisions they made that got them in prison in the first place. We need to make an urgent lunge to help figure out ways to help people better themselves in prison, and what resources we can offer that is safe for everyone for prisoners to better themselves and their behaviors.
