In my last post, I addressed the problems of solitary confinement, violence and corruption in prisons. Initally, when researching these issues, solitary confinement stood out as the most pressing, possibly because of the moving personal account of Kalief Browder. This past Tuesday, Brenden Beck came to visit our class from Milk Not Jails, an organization that advocates for prison reform. He described their approach using the steps of incarceration. This gave me a new perspective on the problems I was analyzing. I thought by focusing on solitary confinement, I could not only tackle the issues in the “prison” part of the process but also in “re-entry”.
According to a report by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) [1], there are currently 4,500 prisoners in solitary confinement in New York, most of which spend 23 hours a day locked alone in their cells. Such extreme isolation has been shown to cause severe emotional and psychological trauma, even for prisoners with no history of mental illness [1]. The New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (CAIC), states that those with mental illness are disproportionately likely to be put in isolation [2]. By putting vulnerable inmates in cells the size of elevators, their condition – possibly the reason for their “unruly” behavior- is not being addressed, but ignored. Thus the prospect of recovery and, ultimately, a healthy “re-entry” into society is almost impossible. What these prisoners need is rehabilitation and counseling services.
As Mr. Beck mentioned, Milk Not Jails is currently lobbying for the passage of the SAFE Parole Act, which aims to ease up on parole laws, and ultimately minimize incarceration. In the same manner, I feel that changes in solitary confinment need to start with a legislation that reforms the way extreme isolation is both sentenced and carried out. The two solitary confinement-only facilities in New York cost about $76 million a year to operate [1]. By drafting stricter laws on what sanctions officers to sentence solitary confinement, and therefore downsizing the number of beds needed in these facilities, this money could instead be spent on social workers, therapists and other rehabilitation programs for those prisoners.
As far as this legislation, there are several core issues which I believe it needs to address. Although the UN has declared isolation exceeding 15 days as torturous, New York City has no limit on the rules of isolated confinement [2] In addition, the process of getting into solitary confinement is extremely unfair. It often results from an arbitrary decision from prison guards who have no training in how to handle the mental and emotional conditions of the inmates [2]. I propose a solution in the following; an increased budget for rehabilitation of these prisoners, along with legislation that not only limits the amount of time in solitary, but also looks to extreme isolation as a last resort. In this way, not only are prisons being reformed but the inmates have a much higher chance of a healthy and productive reintegration into society.
Sources:
[1] http://www.nyclu.org/files/publications/nyclu_boxedin_FINAL.pdf
[2] http://nycaic.org/facts/
