Description
Book SynopsisThe use of solitary confinement in prisons became common with the rise of the modern penitentiary during the first half of the nineteenth century and his since remained a feature of many prison systems all over the world. Solitary confinement is used for a panoply of different reasons although research tells us that these practices have widespread negative health effects. Besides the death penalty it is arguably the most punitive and dangerous intervention available to state authorities in democratic nations. Nevertheless, in the United States there is currently an estimated 80-100,000 prisoners in small cells for more than 22 hours per day with little or no social contact and no physical contact visits with family or friends. Even in Scandinavia, thousands of prisoners are placed in solitary confinement every year and with an alarming frequency. These facts have spawned international interest in this topic and a growing international reform movement, which includes researchers, litiga
Trade ReviewThe authors of this volume argue eloquently and convincingly, from varied disciplines and perspectives, that it is time to end solitary confinement, and they provide a vision of a carceral system devoid of solitary as well as a road map for getting there. Jules Lobel ... was the lead attorney in a historic class action lawsuit, Ashker v. Governor of California [and t]his volume includes chapters by many of the experts who testified in the Ashker litigation ... This volume is unprecedented in the comprehensiveness and rigor of its treatment of the evidence of negative effects of solitary confinement, and the safe alternatives to solitary that are proven and available. The writing is engaging and accessible. The impact of this book, like the impact of the Ashker litigation, will serve to advance the struggle to end the torture of solitary confinement in the USA and, one hopes, worldwide. * Terry A. Kupers, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *
Table of ContentsContributors Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Solitary Confinement-from Extreme Isolation to Prison Reform Jules Lobel and Peter Scharff Smith PART ONE: Two Centuries of Solitary Confinement Chapter 2: Solitary Confinement-Effects and Practices from the Nineteenth Century until Today Peter Scharff Smith Chapter 3: Global Perspectives on Solitary Confinement-Practices and Reforms Worldwide Manfred Nowak Chapter 4: Solitary Confinement Across Borders Sharon Shalev Chapter 5: The Rise of Supermax Imprisonment in the United States Keramet Reiter Chapter 6: Not Isolating Isolation Judith Resnik Chapter 7: Torture, Solitary Confinement and International Law Juan E. Mendez PART TWO: Mind, Body and Soul - The Harms and Experience of Solitary Confinement Chapter 8: Solitary Confinement, Loneliness, and Psychological Harm Craig Haney Chapter 9: First Do No Harm: Applying the Harms-to-Benefit Patient Safety Framework to Solitary Confinement Brie Williams and Cyrus Ahalt Chapter 10: Mythbusting Solitary Confinement in Jail Homer Venters Chapter 11: Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Health Louise Hawkley Chapter 12: The Brain in Isolation A Neuroscientist's Perspective on Solitary Confinement Huda Akil Chapter 13: Use of Animals to Study the Neurobiological Effects of Isolation: Historical and Current Perspectives Michael J. Zigmond and Richard Jay Smeyne Chapter 14: Sharing Experiences of Solitary Confinement-Prisoners and Staff Robert King, Dolores Canales, Jack Morris, Lieutenant Armondo Sosa PART THREE: Prison reform, prison litigation and human rights Chapter 15: The Management of High Security Prisoners: Alternatives to Solitary Confinement Andrew Coyle Chapter 16: Resisting Supermax: Rediscovering a Humane Approach to the Management of High Risk Prisoners Jamie Bennett Chapter 17: Prisoners Association as an Alternative to Solitary Confinement-Lessons Learned From a Norwegian High Security Prison Are Høidal Chapter 18: Colorado Ends Prolonged, Indeterminate Solitary Confinement Rick Raemisch Chapter 19: Reflections on North Dakota's Sustained Solitary Confinement Reform Leann Bertsch Chapter 20: Solitary Confinement in Canada Joseph J. Arvay, and Alison M. Latimer Chapter 21: "Loneliness is a destroyer of humanity." Jesse Wilson, Held in Solitary Confinement at United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado Amy Fettig and David C. Fathi Chapter 22: Litigation to End Indeterminate Solitary Confinement in California: The Role of Inter-Disciplinary and Comparative Experts Jules Lobel
