Solitary Confinement

5. Purposes of solitary confinement

B. Goals of the prison vs. goals of the courts

C. Recent issues raised by solitary confinement

1. As "cruel and unusual punishment"

Isolation or solitary confinement is a policy that has been addressed by law, by reformers of the prison system, and by penologists. The practice is used for different specific purposes, often as an additional punishment for recalcitrant prisoners or as a means of keeping prisoners viewed as "troublemakers" away from the rest of the prison population. Concerns have been raised about the psychological effects of isolation, particularly isolation for long periods of time, and a number of studies have been conducted to determine the effects of isolation on prisoners and on their ability to return to normal life upon release. An analysis of the issue includes a description of the research efforts, applicable laws, and reform movements ba

. . .
e unconstitutional, but the courts have held that certain conditions surrounding the confinement may violate the Eighth Amendment (Luise: pp. 301-302). The primary goal of prison administration is to maintain the internal security of the facility, and prison officials are allowed to implement practices to accomplish this that they deem necessary. Federal courts will generally defer to prison authorities and their institutional policies. The courts also recognize that correctional officials are better qualified than the courts to determine what actions are appropriate for the effective management of a prison. In Sostre v. McGinnis (442 F.2d 178 [2d Cir. 1971] cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1049 [1972]) the court stated that even a lifetime of study in the field "would not qualify as a federal court to command state officials to shun a policy that they have decided is suitable because to us the choice may seem unsound or personally repugnant" (Sostre, 442 F. 2d at 191). Other courts have also expressed reluctance to intervene in prison affairs. However, the courts must intervene when a constitutional right is at issue. The eighth amendment prohibits the infliction of cruel and unusual punishments, a term taken from the English Bi
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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