Ouellette 1
Arla Ouellette
Professor Vollaro
ENG1101
May 3, 2017
Editorial Essay
Solitary Confinement Is a Harmful Punishment
Can you imagine yourself spending at least twenty-two hours of the day trapped in a small space
with nothing but your thoughts and infrequent visits from a prison guard to bring meals, Breakfast lunch
and dinner to be exact? This is not just an imagination, but an everyday reality for many some people
who are currently imprisoned all around the world. This is known as solitary confinement, and in my
opinion, it is a health decreasing punishment for prisoners. Solitary confinement has been used since the
1970s and is basically a four-walled room in which you can expect to sit there alone for days at a time.
The use of solitary confinement should not be so harsh as the prisons make it. Over time solitary
confinement has shown to have a mental health and moral stability effect on prisoners all around us.
“Following extensive interviews with people held in the Solitary Housing Unit at Pelican Bay in 1993,
According to Dr. Stuart Grassian, solitary confinement induces a psychiatric disorder characterized by
hypersensitivity to external stimuli, hallucinations, panic attacks, cognitive deficits, obsessive thinking,
paranoia, and a litany of other physical and psychological problems.” Also, reflecting on Rodriguez, “In
states, such as Texas, California, and New York, the rate of suicide among prisoners being subjected to
solitary confinement is significantly higher than the suicide rate of prisoners who are held in general
Ouellette 2
population.” This high rate of suicide can directly reflect on the emotions prisoners have experienced
because of the solitary confinement they are set to do.
Solitary confinement seems to be tearing individual down and destroying both their physical
health and mental health. Solitary confinement can last a period of however long the prison officials see
fit. There should be alternatives to this situation. If we look at the people that are already mentally
unstable then solitary confinement will not damage them anymore then their brain has already
experienced. But think about the families who must suffer when they sister, brother, son or daughter
has come home from prison in a different state of mind because they may have been sent to solitary
confinement for a simple fight in prison! If solitary confinement is how they people plan to detain and
punish prisoners maybe, then can come up with a less health degrading way of doing so. Prisons plan to
house criminals for crimes hopefully influencing them to do better and never return, but what about the
