Feb
19
2007
Are supermax prisons harming prisoners?
Are prisons doing more harm than good?: Photo Library of Congress
A few weeks ago, Time magazine ran an article on supermax prisons – ones where every prisoner is held in solitary confinement. The article noted that sensory deprivation is known to cause mental breakdowns, and asked if these prisoners weren't driving prisoners insane.
Blogger Steven K. Erickson of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation feels the comparison is inapt. The experience of the prisoner in solitary, though boring, is nothing like being sealed in a sensory deprivation tank.
Your Comments, Thoughts, Questions, Ideas
Explore
Recent comments
What is the purpose of museums? To educate the next generation. How are we to be educated when...
We saw a completely white squirrel today on our walk to the end of our street and back. We live in...
I never used to have a fear of heights, either, like a lot of you, but I do now on some things. I'...
I just had steroid injections in my knees about 36 hours ago. I started hiccuping about 4 hours ago...
Subscribe
Connect with Science Buzz on Facebook and Twitter.
You can also subscribe to our RSS feed using any newsreader software.
I agree that the comparison is poor.
I do imagine that behavioral science probably has allot to tell us about how we run our prisons and how to get what we want out of a prison and it's population. Unfortunately I don't think we have any sort of consensus on what the desired results should be:
At times these goals run counter to each other, like in these supermax prisons. Surely rehabilitation or the health of the prisoners is not high on the list in the design of the facilities. Maybe this is how it should be, but quite honestly I think a society that puts an entire population of prisoners in solitary confinement has no interest in these people as humans any longer.
I agree with Erickson, the comparison doesn't make sense and is absurd on its face.
Post new comment