Should Inmates Be Allowed To Use Long Term Solitary Confinement?
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Solitary confinement can be defined as the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as punishment (HarperCollins). Should prisons be allowed to use long term solitary confinement? Yes they should, because of one simple question: How can we punish an inmate for inflicting harm on another inmate or prisoner guard? Other than throwing them back into their cells, we cannot be positive that the inmate won’t do the same thing again the next day. Inmates can be thrown into solitary confinement for many reasons, such as committing murder while in prison, assaulting another inmate/guard, initiating a riot, and much more. Inmates can be given between approximately a few months to five years depending on the charges (Bailey, 2001). A few of my key points are as follows: protection for the inmate from the general population, protection for the general population and guards from the inmate, and lastly,…show more content… Typically, high-risk/dangerous offenders can be put into solitary confinement to keep them from committing harm to other prisoners/prison guards. Another view can be to protect inmates from getting harmed. For example, child molesters and ex-gang members can be at a high risk level because of what they have done. Other prisoners can and most likely will harm these two types of convicts. Although they are bad people, there are still security and safety protocols to keep them safe. Another point to this can be that prisons are overcrowded. So “in order to maintain order, these systems have chosen to isolate the most disruptive inmates from the general population” (Stickrath, 2006). It is also believed that supermax prisons may act as a deterrent for the offenders who are prone to disruptive behavior (Stickrath,