national geographic and solitary watch
Tonight's episode of National Geographic's Explorer takes up the "science of solitary confinement." Solitary Watch is skeptical, however, especially about an experiment purporting to offer a live window into the solitary experience. Holing up for a few days in an 8X10 room might be unpleasant, but it really doesn't approximate solitary confinement when the subjects can get up and leave whenever they want. Solitary Watch also points to a few of the differences between real solitary and faux-solitary, as described by a former prisoner:
1) Being surrounded by other mentally ill inmates howling and banging on doors and walls, resulting in sleep deprivation.
2) Viewing or rather listening to the brutality of prison guards reacting to these outbursts.
3) The uncertainty of when, or if, you will ever be released and the hopelessness that this feeling of loss of control over your own destiny instills.
posted by christopher uggen @ 12:16 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
It's interesting to think about the varying levels of harm in different versions of solitary confinement. I'm convinced that true isolation - such as some supermax prisons proudly proclaim - literally drives inhabitants crazy, but it's less clear what effects shorter-term and semi-isolation may have on inmates.
I recently went into the isolated wings of a state prison for a research project and spent a very brief amount of time talking cell-front to men in the disciplinary segregation unit, the intensive management unit, and administrative segregation.
Although physically a more pleasant space with at least some natural light and prison bars on the doors rather than headache-causing metal-on-metal mesh, the administrative segregation unit is the one that sticks in my mind. The men are there because - for various reasons - it is literally not safe for them to be out in the general population (it's similar to the idea of protective custody). They will likely spend their entire sentence in that wing; they probably will not have the opportunity to earn their way to general population with good behavior the way that those in IMU and DSU have.
The cells are double-bunked, share walls, and have somewhat open, barred fronts, so sound definitely travels. My escort and I happened to be there at meal time, so the guys were eating their meals off of their prison trays in their cells, reminding me that they have almost no time out of their cells and virtually no contact with anyone other than those in that wing.
It's probably impossible to fully understand the prison experience, and especially the varying harm caused by different levels of segregation/solitary confinement without having lived it, but that shouldn't stop us from studying it and learning what we can. It must be completely terrifying to spend your entire sentence in the relative isolation of administrative segregation and to then try to make it in the free world.
There are a couple of types of segregation, those used to protect the inmates (often at their request) and those that are used to protect other inmates and staff (yes, some offenders will jump others without provocation). There is a bunch of time spent on classifying offenders into apppropriate housing and this is revisited on a regular basis.
As to being confined - we typically think of local jails having shorter stays, but it's not that unusual for offenders to spend 100's of days awaiting trial. There is much less freedom in these facilities, limited programing and recreation; typically you are confined to a single unit for your entire stay. Offenders brought into a local facility from prison for a new charge much prefer the prison environment. Often probationers who violate the conditions of probation are sent back to jail for a few days to do what is euphemistically called "a tune-up." A mental punishment with food purchased from SYSCO and cooked by "trustees" (OK, kitchen workers). I think you could ask Denny Hecker about time in a local facility, he released his assets after three days of incarcaration.
I think I'd prefer to be sentenced to labor under the open sky. The closed environment was the hardest adjustment to make when working in a jail.
Thanks, Michelle. I was going to cross-post this one on pubcrim, but you beat me to it.
Brad, thanks for reminding me to think about jails as well as prisons. I shared your view of the Hecker story.
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