Attitudes about the treatment of inmates in America are shifting away from the use of “The Hole,” according to the Editorial Board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Punishment that consists of endless isolation is barbaric,” say activists and legal scholars working to end solitary confinement.
Growing numbers of mental health experts consider it torture and often it is the severely mentally ill who are subjected to this form of custody.
“Of the 1.5 million people housed in state prisons, about 66,000 are in some form of restricted housing,” according to the newspaper.
Due to a legal settlement in Pennsylvania, by mid-2016 the state must stop sending seriously mentally ill inmates to restricted housing, the Post-Gazette editorial noted.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but Pennsylvania – and the nation – must work on getting rid of The Hole for good,” the editorial stated.
