Question

Case Analysis What impact does long-term solitary confinement have on inmates? What impact does working in a supermax facility have on staff?

Answer 1

• Confined inmates often experience various physiological symptoms, even after a short amount of time in confinement. Isolated inmates often report symptoms similar to those of hypertension, such as chronic headaches, trembling, sweaty palms, extreme dizziness and heart palpitations.
• Inmates also experience trouble with their eating and digestion, especially within the first three months of solitary confinement. A lack of appetite and drastic weight loss is often accompanied with irregular digestion, particularly diarrhea. Inmates in isolation may also have difficulty sleeping, and some may experience insomnia. Consequently,, inmates report feelings of chronic lethargy
• Confined inmates experience a multitude of psychological effects, including emotional, cognitive, and psychosis-related symptoms. Solitary confinement is considered harmful to the mental health of inmates because it restricts meaningful social contact, a psychological stimulus that humans need in order to remain healthy and functioning. Longer stays in solitary confinement are associated with greater mental health symptoms that have serious emotional and behavioral consequences.
• Isolated inmates also experience symptoms of depression, such as hopelessness, mood swings, and withdrawal. These depressive symptoms may even escalate to thoughts of self-harm and suicide.
  
• Another confinement related psychological symptom that inmates may experience is disrupted thinking, defined as an inability to maintain a coherent flow of thoughts. This disrupted thinking can result in symptoms of psychosis.
• In extreme cases, inmates have become paranoid to the point that they exhibit full-blown psychosis that requires hospitalization.
• Some researchers have even compared confined inmates to victims of torture or trauma because many of the acute effects produced by solitary confinement mimic the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
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