Have you heard about solitary confinement? Some of you may have heard about it, but some of you may just heard about this term now. For your information, as explained on the Medical News Today site, solitary confinement is a common practice in prisons and jails across the United States and some countries in the world. On that site, it is also explained that this practice involves physical isolation which means that a person has minimal interaction with other people.
Is there any effect of solitary confinement on the physical and mental health of the inmates? Of course, there are some effects physically and mentally to the inmates who experience solitary confinement. What are the effects? You are able to read about the effects of solitary confinement on physical and mental conditions below according to some online sources.
Physical Effects of Solitary Confinement
As explained on the Medical News Today site, most studies focus on the psychological effects of solitary confinement and studies show that social isolation increases the likelihood of death by 26 to 32%.
On the Medical News Today site, it is explained that according to a sourcebook entitled A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement by Dr. Shalev, the recorded physical health effects of solitary confinement are listed below.
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- chronic headaches
- eyesight deterioration
- digestive problems
- dizziness
- excessive sweating
- fatigue and lethargy
- genitourinary problems
- heart palpitations
- hypersensitivity to light and noise
- loss of appetite
- muscle and joint pain
- sleep problems
- trembling hands
- weight loss
If someone lacks physical activity, it may make the person hard to manage or prevent certain health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. If someone also lacks sunlight for a long time, it can cause a vitamin D deficiency where it can result in the risk of fractures and falls.
Mental Health Effects of Solitary Confinement
According to the Medical News Today site, there are a number of researches that show that solitary confinement causes adverse psychological effects and increases the risk of serious harm to people who experience it. On that site, it is also explained that according to an article in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, isolation is able to be as distressing as physical torture.
There is a report from the BJS that approximately 25% of people in prison and 35% of inmates in jail who had spent 30 days or longer in solitary confinement during the previous year had serious psychological distress symptoms.
As a human, we need social contact and over time, the stress because of isolation can cause a range of mental health issues. On the Medical News Today site, it is explained that according to Dr. Sharon Shalev, here are the mental problems which can be caused by the stress of being isolated.
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- anxiety and stress
- depression and hopelessness
- anger, irritability, and hostility
- panic attacks
- worsened preexisting mental health issues
- hypersensitivity to sounds and smells
- problems with attention, concentration, and memory
- hallucinations that give effects to all of the senses
- paranoia
- poor impulse control
- social withdrawal
- outbursts of violence
- psychosis
- fear of death
- self-harm or suicide
On the Medical News Today site, it is also explained that there is a research which shows that both living alone and feelings of loneliness are strongly associated with suicide trials and suicidal ideation. Besides, there are a lot of people who experience confinement and they become not able to live around other people.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative site, it is explained that the effects of solitary confinement on mental health are able to be lethal. Let’s say that people who are in solitary confinement comprise only 6% to 8% of the total prison population. Nevertheless, they account for around half of people who die by suicide. Furthermore, on that site, it is also explained that even if a person does not get into solitary with a mental health condition, it is possible for them to be able to develop a specific psychiatric syndrome because of the effects of isolation. The first person who identified the syndrome is Dr. Stuart Grassian. He notes that the syndrome is characterized by a progressive inability to tolerate ordinary things such as the sound of plumbing; severe panic attacks; hallucinations and illusions; difficulties with thinking, concentration, and memory; problems with impulse control; delirium; obsessive, sometimes harmful, thoughts that won’t go away; and paranoia.
Robert King and Jack Morris spent a combined 62 years in solitary confinement. They found a lot of the above findings at the International Symposium on Solitary Confinement. As explained on the Medical News Today site, Mr. King noted that after a while, he lost his interest in communicating and he also experienced an emotional numbness where it led to a loss of basic skills. Since he was released from prison in 2001, he struggles with simple things, including his sense of direction. Research shows that a lot of issues that people develop while in solitary confinement often persist after their return to the general population or their release.
The Reasons Why Prisons and Jails Use Solitary Confinement
As explained on the Medical News Today site, there is a paper from the criminal justice journal Federal Probation that describes the three types of solitary confinement that US prisons use. Those are listed below.
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- Disciplinary segregation
It uses solitary confinement with the aim to punish a person for breaking the rules of the prison. - Temporary segregation
This is the immediate isolation of a person from the general prison population because of a crisis, for example a physical altercation. - Administrative segregation
This is the isolation of a person who presents a continuous threat to the safety and security of other inmates, staff, or visitors.
- Disciplinary segregation
On the Medical News Today site, it is also explained that there is a 2016 report from the United Nations (UN) that found that most countries that use solitary confinement apply solitary confinement as a punishment. However, you need to note that the actions that prisons and jails punish with isolation are different from one place to another place. In Germany, isolation is only used for serious acts of violence, but there are a number of countries and some states in the US use isolation for punishing minor offenses.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
