Several years ago, a court in Mississippi ordered the state’s Department of Corrections to review its use of solitary confinement, also known as isolation or segregation. The department’s commissioner and a group of high ranking corrections officials created a detailed profile of the type of prisoners they believed should be held in solitary. The profile reflects that, like most Americans, the officials believe that segregation is for the worst prisoners, those who create violent disturbances in the general prison population, active gang leaders, and the like. But as it turns out, 80% of Mississippi’s isolated prisoners do not fit this profile, according to this New York Times article.
Research from all over the country confirms Mississippi’s discovery: correctional officers segregate prisoners for a myriad of reasons, many of which are questionable. Minor rule infractions or even talking back to guards can lead to solitary confinement. Barely substantial or sometimes utterly groundless accusations of gang affiliations can have the same result. Prisoners frequently cannot face their accusers or even hear the charges against them, let alone present a case in their own defense. Moreover, for the lack of better alternatives, wardens often put prisoners who have mental health problems in solitary confinement, as well as those who need protection from other prisoners. Inmates placed in solitary for minor or groundless reasons are not treated very differently than those who are in isolation for bad behavior.
But many ask, “Who cares? We’re talking about criminals. We don’t need to protect them from punishment.” Well, as the Washington Post editorial board recently explained, you can only take that view if you also don’t care about reducing government spending or decreasing violence in our communities. The upkeep of prisoners in isolation is three times as expensive as that of the average prisoner. Additionally, as studies have clearly demonstrated, isolated prisoners are far more violent when returned to the general prison population, and more likely to recidivate by committing violent crimes. (Remember, most of them were not placed in segregation for violence in the first place.) This is at least partially explained by the fact that isolation is both a cause and aggravator of serious mental health problems, which in turn create anti-social behavior, rage, paranoia, anxiety, and hallucinations.
Realizing that their ideas about solitary confinement do not match prison practices, the corrections officers in Mississippi drastically narrowed the circumstances in which prison officials could place a prisoner in solitary. They gradually reintegrated most of their isolated prisoners into the general population in ways that provided psychological therapy and surveillance appropriate to the state of their mental health. Thereafter, Mississippi saw nearly a 70% reduction in prisoner-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-staff violence, and saved millions of dollars after closing an entire solitary confinement unit. The Ohio Department of Corrections quickly followed suit with similar results, and several states are now in the process of reforming their use of isolation.
Most prisoners will return to their communities at some point. To encourage a safe transition, we are compelled to call out for reform in the overuse of solitary confinement. For articles on this trend and a recording of the recent Senate hearing on solitary confinement, visit Justice Fellowship’s page on the topic here.