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Emily Martins Research Proposal Proseminar in Criminology Fall 2018 St. John’s University

Solitary confinement is a popular method of punishment uses in prisons. When an inmate is sent to solitary confinement, they are confined in a cell “for all, or nearly all, of the day with minimal environmental stimulation and minimal opportunity for social interaction” (Grassian, 2006).” This type of punishment is supposed to punish the inmate for an offense that they may have committed while incarcerated or to protect them from other inmates if they are targeted for assault. Inmates are placed in solitary for a number of days depending on the reasoning for them being sent there. However, some inmates are placed in solitary confinement for months or even years. Extended periods of time (a month or longer) without contact can negatively affect an inmate’s mental and physical health. Many inmates develop mental issues such as anxiety and depression while others cope with isolation through self-harm. If an offender’s mental and physical health is deteriorated from long periods of time in solitary confinement, they will have a more difficult time reintegrating back into society, which will make them more likely to return to their criminal habits. Many state officials believe that solitary confinement is an effective way of deterring future crime, but in reality, inmates are being set up for failure when they are released.

My hypothesis builds upon research done by Dr. Stuart Grassian on the mental side effects of solitary confinement. Dr. Grassian has had extensive experience in evaluating the psychiatric effects of solitary confinement and is often used as an expert regarding the psychiatric effects of solitary confinement in federal court decisions. Dr. Grassian has found that even after just a few hours in isolation, inmates can descend into a state of mental “fog” where

their attention, alertness, and concentration become impaired. After days or months within solitary, inmates can have anxiety attacks, panic attacks, and start hallucinating.

My hypothesis is also influenced by a study done by a group of doctors that looked at the prevalence of physical harm done to inmates from being in solitary. A dangerous and prevalent form of bodily harm for inmates is self-harm. This study found that only 7.3% of people admitted to prison spent time in solitary confinement, but that “53.3% of acts of self-harm and 45.0% of acts of potentially fatal self-harm occurred within this group” (Kaba, 2014). Many inmates in solitary turn to self-harm as a coping mechanism for being without contact from others or because of mental issues they have developed.

I will also be looking into the likeliness of reoffending upon release for those who have spent time in solitary confinement. Anjali Tsui, a journalist for Frontline, interviewed a former inmate from Maine State Prison named Adam Brulotte. Brulotte was sent to solitary for starting a riot in his cell block and spent a total of 4 months in isolation. During this time, Brulotte engaged in self-harm, pushed feces under his cell door, and flooded his cell numerous times. Once he was released, Brulotte tried to return to his normal life on the outside. However, he found it difficult to do so because he claims that solitary confinement “leaves a scar on you that you won’t forget, and you can’t heal … you get flashbacks and anxiety” (Tsui, 2017). Tsui also gathered data from different correctional facilities across the US and found statistics that showed that “inmates who have spent time in solitary confinement are more likely to reoffend than those who serve their sentence in a prison’s general population” (Tsui, 2017). Inmates who spent time in solitary confinement have a harder time reintegrating back into society because prolonged periods

without social contact and stimuli makes to harder for them to be a productive member of society upon release.

For my research, I will be doing quantitative analysis using statistics and other mathematical relationships between time spent in solitary and likeliness to re-offend. I will be looking at statistics-based research that has been done on inmates that have spent time in solitary confinement. I want to examine how many inmates in solitary confinement leave with mental issues and how long it takes for those issues to develop. I will also look at the reasons why inmates in solitary turn to self-harm or suicide. I will research articles that have interviewed individuals who have been in solitary to see if they have been affected mentally or physically from being in isolation. If possible, I would also like to interview someone who has spent time in solitary confinement and ask them about their experience and if being in solitary has had any effect on their mental health, physical health, and ability to reintegrate into society upon release from prison.

This research is important because solitary confinement is doing more harm than good. It is meant to act as a form of punishment and deterrence, but in reality, solitary confinement is a catalyst for some inmates to re-offend. Mental and physical problems from at least one month in confinement can negatively affect an inmate for the rest of their lives. My opinion on the matter is that solitary confinement is inhumane, which will be a limitation of my research since it is a biased opinion. There are some people, however, that believe that solitary confinement is a successful method of punishment and believe that it should remain in prison systems. I hope that

my research into this topic will help me broaden my knowledge on solitary confinement and help generate a conversation on alternatives to isolation as a punishment in the prison system.

References Kaba, F., Lewis, A., Glowa-Kollisch, S., Hadler, J., Lee, D., Alper, H., … Venters, H. (2014). Solitary Confinement and Risk of Self-Harm Among Jail Inmates. American Journal of Public Health, 104(3), 442–447. http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301742 Leonard, E. B. (2015). Crime, Inequality, and Power. New York: Routledge. Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, 22 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y 325 (2006), h p://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol22/iss1/24 Tsui, A. (2017, April 18). Does Solitary Confinement Make Inmates More Likely To Reoffend? Retrieved September 21, 2018, from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/does-solitaryconfinement-make-inmates-more-likely-to-reoffend/...