Cruel and Unusual

As you may know, Jen and I subscribe to The New Yorker. It’s a great magazine that we both enjoy reading. In last week’s issue, there was an especially thought-provoking article, which I recommend reading before you continue with the post:

Hellhole, by Atul Gawande

According to the 8th amendment to the US Constitution, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Until I read the New Yorker article, I really had not thought of the 8th Amendment outside the context of how the death penalty may be legally administered. This is really the only context in which this amendment was framed in for me, in high school or in college. I had always accepted solitary confinement as a necessary component in the American prison system, and had never really contemplated the consequences for the prisoner. To me, if a prisoner was breaking the rules of the prison, solitary confinement was their punishment. Solitary also improved the safety of the general prison population by removing the violent individual and the rule-breaker.

But, honestly, I should have known better.

In the article, Mr. Gawande points out that though Sen. John McCain underwent some horrific tortures, the worst part of his incarceration in a Vietnamese prison was the solitary confinement. In my mind, this would not be too hard - the painful and humiliating torture would be worse. But I have never been in an environment like that solitary. Gawande also points out several other cases of prisoners held in solitary confinement - they generally were far less mentally and emotionally stable in solitary, and regained their composure when they were released to the general population. Not only did the prisoner’s mental condition deteriorate, their removal had no effect on the violence or safety of the general population. So, what is the real point, and the effect of solitary confinement? Gawande seems to be leading the reader to conclude that it has no place in a humane, civilized society - which the United States is. What, then, should we do?

After reading the stories of the prisoners held in solitary, I was curious to know how Gawande would propose to fix this situation. He proposes following what the British have done - giving the prisoners more control while in prison. Give them opportunities for work, self-improvement, and social improvement. Initially, this seemed ludicrous to me - isn’t the point of prison to be a form punishment for crimes, and to force control on the prisoners? Then, I thought back to my classes in college for my teacher certification. One of the best ways, I was taught, to handle out of control students, was to give them choices. This was originally proposed by Dr. William Glasser, and it’s called Choice Theory. The person can choose their actions, and be fully informed of the consequences of their actions. This gives them some sense of control over a setting (the classroom) in which students lack control, as well as in their own lives. I tried this in my class while teaching, and in general, it worked.

I thought, why wouldn’t it work in a prison? If you give the prisoners the chance to improve themselves in many areas - education, social, work ethic - won’t they come out as better citizens? If not better, they at least would have the skills to improve themselves. Of course, it would still be their choice as to what they do with the skills they learned. I believe it’s our responsibility as a society to improve everyone’s lot in life - even the extremely violent prisoner. And, on a higher lever, isn’t that what we are supposed to do as Christians - love everyone? Even the violent criminal.

Upon further reflection, I have another problem with the idea of solitary. Once again, in my education classes, we were taught about the theories of BF Skinner, and its criticism. If we apply Skinner’s theories of radical behavioralism to an inmate in solitary confinement, the punishment aspect would be the prisoner’s placement in solitary. According to Gawande’s article, this punishment has the opposite effect for many prisoners - more antisocial behavior. If Skinner was right (and I tend to think he is wrong) then solitary confinement would be widely accepted as a helpful and legitimate punishment tool in prisons the world over. However, to quote from the article, “The use of long-term isolation in England is now negligible. In all of England, there are now fewer prisoners in “extreme custody” than there are in the state of Maine.”

I’d like to close by pointing out the conclusion of the article - the conversation with Mark Felton. Even though he was subjected to what amounts to torture, he still wouldn’t wish it on his former, and corrupt, warden. Telling, isn’t it?

Jason Dean

PS - If you’d like more evidence about the negative psychopathological effects of solitary confinement, check out these articles:
Psychopathological effects of solitary confinement, by S. Grassian
Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and "Supermax" Confinement, by Craig Haney
Death Row Syndrome and Demoralization: Psychiatric Means to Social Policy Ends, by Harold Schwartz