Description
The use of solitary confinement in prisons became common with the rise of the modern penitentiary during the first half of the nineteenth century and his since remained a feature of many prison systems all over the world. Solitary confinement is used for a panoply of different reasons although research tells us that these practices have widespread negative health effects. Besides the death penalty it is arguably the most punitive and dangerous intervention available to state authorities in democratic nations. Nevertheless, in the United States there is currently an estimated 80-100,000 prisoners in small cells for more than 22 hours per day with little or no social contact and no physical contact visits with family or friends. Even in Scandinavia, thousands of prisoners are placed in solitary confinement every year and with an alarming frequency. These facts have spawned international interest in this topic and a growing international reform movement, which includes researchers, litigators and human rights defenders as well as prison staff and prisoners.This book is the first to take a broad international comparative approach and to apply an interdisciplinary lens to this subject. In this volume neuroscientists, high level prison officials, social and political scientists, medical doctors, lawyers and former prisoners and their families from different countries will address the effects and practices of prolonged solitary confinement and the movement for its reform and abolition.
Table of Contents
ContributorsAcknowledgmentsChapter 1: Solitary Confinement-from Extreme Isolation to Prison ReformJules Lobel and Peter Scharff SmithPART ONE: Two Centuries of Solitary ConfinementChapter 2: Solitary Confinement-Effects and Practices from the Nineteenth Century until TodayPeter Scharff SmithChapter 3: Global Perspectives on Solitary Confinement-Practices and Reforms WorldwideManfred NowakChapter 4: Solitary Confinement Across BordersSharon ShalevChapter 5: The Rise of Supermax Imprisonment in the United StatesKeramet ReiterChapter 6: Not Isolating IsolationJudith ResnikChapter 7: Torture, Solitary Confinement and International LawJuan E. MendezPART TWO: Mind, Body and Soul - The Harms and Experience of Solitary ConfinementChapter 8: Solitary Confinement, Loneliness, and Psychological HarmCraig HaneyChapter 9: First Do No Harm: Applying the Harms-to-Benefit Patient Safety Framework to Solitary ConfinementBrie Williams and Cyrus AhaltChapter 10: Mythbusting Solitary Confinement in JailHomer VentersChapter 11: Social Isolation, Loneliness, and HealthLouise HawkleyChapter 12: The Brain in IsolationA Neuroscientist's Perspective on Solitary ConfinementHuda AkilChapter 13: Use of Animals to Study the Neurobiological Effects of Isolation: Historical and Current PerspectivesMichael J. Zigmond and Richard Jay SmeyneChapter 14: Sharing Experiences of Solitary Confinement-Prisoners and StaffRobert King, Dolores Canales, Jack Morris, Lieutenant Armondo SosaPART THREE: Prison reform, prison litigation and human rightsChapter 15: The Management of High Security Prisoners: Alternatives to Solitary ConfinementAndrew CoyleChapter 16: Resisting Supermax: Rediscovering a Humane Approach to the Management of High Risk PrisonersJamie BennettChapter 17: Prisoners Association as an Alternative to Solitary Confinement-Lessons Learned From a Norwegian High Security PrisonAre HøidalChapter 18: Colorado Ends Prolonged, Indeterminate Solitary ConfinementRick RaemischChapter 19: Reflections on North Dakota's Sustained Solitary Confinement ReformLeann BertschChapter 20: Solitary Confinement in CanadaJoseph J. Arvay, and Alison M. LatimerChapter 21: "Loneliness is a destroyer of humanity."Jesse Wilson, Held in Solitary Confinement at United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, ColoradoAmy Fettig and David C. FathiChapter 22: Litigation to End Indeterminate Solitary Confinement in California: The Role of Inter-Disciplinary and Comparative ExpertsJules Lobel
