Washington State has adopted innovative approaches to treating solitary confinement prisoners more humanely, The Slate Group reports.
The changes spearheaded by Bernie Warner resulted in an almost 50 percent drop in the number of people in segregation, from 612 in January 2011 when the program for violent inmates started, to 286 in March 2015, the story reports.
Warner, head of state prisons, was first exposed to inhumane treatments at Walla Walla State Penitentiary 35 years ago, the story notes.
At any time an estimated 80,000 Americans are being held in segregation units for 23 hours a day, in some cases up to 28 years, The Slate Group stated.
Solitary confinement is reserved for the “worst of the worst – irredeemable monsters with irrepressible violent tendencies that led officials to conclude it was too dangerous to keep them with the prison’s general population,” the article reported.
“Ultimately 95 percent of (those in solitary confinement) will be released into the community,” said Warner.
Inmates who experience extreme sensory deprivation can start to experience hallucinations, chronic depression and suicidal thoughts, according to a research study conducted by David Lovell, then a professor at the University of Washington.
His study found that 25 percent of the inmates who experience segregation were released back into society directly from solitary confinement – meaning they were going directly from total isolation to freedom.
Every prisoner, even the so-called worst of the worst, deserves a chance to improve himself, instead of being left to waste away in a tiny, windowless cell with no human contact for months or even years, Warner said. “How people are treated in the deepest end of the correctional system is what really defines it.”
His program includes behavioral courses offered to inmates administered by correctional staff in makeshift classrooms transformed from a lieutenant’s office and two old food pantries.
“Because the inmates taking the courses are considered extremely dangerous, they are restrained at their desks with shackles but allowed enough room to move around that they can turn toward each other and participate in role-playing activities designed to teach conflict resolution and the social skills required to deal with other people peacefully,” Slate reported.
“In Walla Walla, violent offenders with possible gang ties are coached in suppressing aggression. In the Monroe Correctional Complex, mentally ill inmates with inclinations toward chronic self-harm are put through group therapy and stabilized through medication. In the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, people with nonviolent behavioral issues and impulsivity problems are taught self-control and coping mechanisms,” Slate reported.
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