Is Solitary Confinement Torture Essay Example for Free

Is sole(a) Confinement Torture Essay unsocial Confinement is the act of placing a prisoner in a small cell, usually the size of your average bathroom, for up to 23 time of days a day with one hour reserved for tangible activity. The only contact the prisoner is allowed to score with the outside world is through letters. It sounds horrible, simply is it torture? To answer this we have to define and set up criteria for several(prenominal)thing to be considered torture. I have created such a definition and criteria and have decided that for something to be considered torture it must (a) cause some human body of physical or amiable pain or discomfort, and (b) must have some sort of lasting effect upon the victim. Solitary labor movement is torture because it causes mental anguish and often leaves prisoners with mental disease and other mental problems that stay with them long after their prison term is over. First we have to substantiate if caveman toil does in fact caus e some sort of physical or mental pain or discomfort. According to a Dr. Stuart Grassian, there is a specific syndrome that is persistent among solitary labor inmates with very real and very dramatic effects.Hyperresponsivity to external stimuli, meaning the inmate becomes increasingly sensitive to sounds, movements, etc. is one of the symptoms. You get sensitive to noise the plumbing system. Someone in the tier above me pushes the thrust on the faucet. Its too loud, gets on your nerves. I cant stand it. I start to holler. (qtd. in Grassian 3). some other symptoms complicate perceptual distortions, illusions and hallucinations, panic attacks, difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory, intrusive obsessional thoughts, overt paranoia, and problems with impulse deem. Grassian 3-4) If solitary parturiency truly was torture, it would also need to have some sort of lasting effect on the victims. Since solitary confinement does not cause physical harm, there are no long term physical effects. However, solitary confinement causes severe psychological anguish, and results in long term effects.The studying of P. O. W. camp veterans shows that the laconic term effects of the Delirium-like state regress with time, exactly long term effects begin to mount and become noticeable. Dr.Stuart Grassian says about long term effects of solitary confinement that These not only include persistent symptoms of post traumatic stress (such as flashbacks, chronic hyper vigilance, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness), but also lasting personality changes especially including a continuing pattern of intolerance of social interaction, sledding the individual socially impoverished and withdrawn, subtly angry and fearful when forced into social interaction. (13) He be an identical pattern of change in inmates that went through long periods of solitary confinement years past (Grassian 13).For something to be considered torture it has to meet two criteria. It must (a) cause some sort of physical or mental pain or discomfort, and (b) must have some sort of lasting effect upon the victim. Solitary confinement clearly causes mental pain and discomfort. The psychological effects are so severe that they plain cause inmates to physically mutilate themselves without even being aware of their actions or being able to control themselves. I cut my wrists many times in isolation. Now it seems crazy.But any time I did it, I wasnt thinking lost control cut myself without knowing what I was doing. (qtd. in Grassian 4). Solitary confinement meets the first part of the criteria in that it causes mental pain and also indirectly causes physical pain. Solitary confinement also has a lasting effect on the victim. Since solitary confinement meets the criteria for something to be considered torture, it is, in fact, torture. The Unites States composing protects from cruel and unusual punishment, but solitary confinement is a practice implemented in prisons ev ery day.Since it is torture, and undoubtedly cruel and unusual punishment, it should be stopped. There are more constructive and humane ways to discipline criminals no matter how severe their crime than solitary confinement. If out prison systems have to compensate to torturing its prisoners and calling it discipline then theres a problem. The prison systems in the united States are in serious need or a reform, and outlawing solitary confinement is the first tone that needs to be taken.