Assignment #16 Liz Graves Speech

Elizabeth Graves

Logsdon

AP Language and Composition

13 December 2015

            I won’t ask you to close your eyes, but for a moment I want you to picture a fifteen by seven foot cell. The floors are a dank gray concrete. The walls are sterile white cinder block. In the front left corner, as you walk into the cell, there is a shiny metal toilet built into the wall; there’s no seat cover, just an open bowl. Almost directly to the left there is a tall, thin metal cabinet that reaches the top of the ceiling. There is a drain in the middle of the floor. Walk two and a half steps back, and you see a neatly-made-up army cot. You turn around and see that the door is incredible. Standing nearly 8ft tall, it is a solid, steel barricade. It has a massive bolt, about the thickness of three grown man’s fingers, and in the dead center, on the exterior of the door, is key hole. On the left is a small metal handle, which looks ridiculously thin compared to the size of the door, that allows you to slide it into the surrounding wall. There is a small window, about a 18 by 9 inches, and below the window is a similarly sized slot for food to be delivered through.  of fresh, crimson blood cover the floor of the cell. A red, dripping hand smear blocks the light from the window. Several pairs of red boot prints fade as they trek from the front of the door down the hallway.

            This, ladies and gentlemen, is an everyday scene in Maine State Prison solitary confinement.

            Maine State Prison is one of hundreds of penitentiaries around the United States that use solitary confinement-or administrative segregation as it is commonly referred to-as a form of discipline, usually for violent or dangerous inmates, but it’s not necessarily limited to those who exhibit bad conduct. Many inmates have been put in solitary confinement for their own protection. Transgender and homosexual inmates are often put in solitary because they have been raped repeatedly or are being attacked by fellow inmates. The inmates are typically kept in complete solitary confinement anywhere from 22-24 hours a day. Sometimes they are taken out for “recreation” where they’re allowed to walk around for an hour in solitude. Otherwise they experience little to no human contact or conversation in those 22-24 hours (“Torture: The Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons” 2). The total amount of time an inmate spends in solitary confinement largely depends on the severity of the crime he or she commits. While most are in solitary for only a couple weeks or months at most, several inmates in California Pelican Bay prison suffered being cut off from any real human contact for more than a decade (Cannon 1). I want to pause on that. A decade. Ten years. With no conversation, no social stimulation. Most of us in here are 16 or 17 years old. Imagine being cut off from the world 22-24 hours a day for more than three quarters of your life. Not only is this currently legal in the US it is a common occurrence. That is unacceptable.

“They are nowhere restrained from inventing the most cruel and unheard-of punishments, and annexing them to crimes; and there is no constitutional check on them, but that racks and gibbets may be amongst the most mild instruments of their discipline.” --Patrick Henry, on the ratification of the 8th amendment.

            Patrick Henry, along with the rest of the founding fathers, sought to protect the people of the United States from violation of their freedoms by any form government with the creation of the 8th amendment. It is designed to protect every member of society, even convicted criminals, from torture or excessive punishment. The eight amendment to the US Constitution states “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Stevenson, Stinneford 3). There is, of course, some ambiguity to the last clause of this amendment. What defines cruel? What defines unusual? Dr. Bryan Stevenson and Dr. John Stinneford attempt to explain how the U.S. government interprets the 8th amendment today by employing the 14th amendment. They say, “Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states from abridging ‘the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States’ and from depriving ‘any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,’” and go on to explain that any violation of the 14th amendment can also be argued to be in violation of the 8th amendment. There have been several law suits in the past couple of decades over the issue of solitary confinement. In May of 2012 the issue of prolonged confinement in the Pelican Bay prison was brought to California Supreme Court, and is supposed to reach the US Supreme Court this month, December 2015. Virginia State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy recently ruled solitary confinement is unconstitutional based on the cruel and unusual clause of the 8th amendment (Field 1). Peoples v. Fischer challenged many policies about solitary confinement in New York, ruling this form of punishment cannot be used on inmates under 18 years of age (New York Civil Liberties Union 1). Many more lawsuits like this have been brought to court in the past decade, but why just now?

            The damaging effects of solitary confinement go largely unnoticed because they are not physical. It’s extremely difficult to convince a jury of the severe injuries an inmate has suffered when those injuries are not plainly visible. That of course doesn’t mean the damage is nonexistent. In fact, “researchers have demonstrated that prolonged solitary confinement causes a persistent and heightened state of anxiety and nervousness, headaches, insomnia, lethargy or chronic tiredness, nightmares, heart palpitations, fear of impending nervous breakdowns and higher rates of hypertension and early morbidity. Other documented effects include obsessive rumination, confused thought processes, an oversensitivity to stimuli, irrational anger, social withdrawal, hallucinations, violent fantasies, emotional flatness, mood swings, chronic depression, feelings of overall deterioration, as well as suicidal ideation” (“Torture: The Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons” 1). Prisoners are suffering very real physical pain and chemical imbalances from extended solitary confinement. According to the same researchers, this psychological harm is irreversible. Even when inmates are reintroduced to the normal prison population, their symptoms do not subside, and many are in need of medical attention and psychological therapy (“Torture: The Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons” 2). By any standards, this is in violation of the 8th and 14th amendments. Prisoners, even after serving their sentence, will face the life-changing psychological damage, which could very easily prevent them from becoming productive members of society. Why on earth then is solitary confinement still legal?

            So here is my call to you. You’ve been presented with the facts. Solitary confinement is not effective; it will not make prisoners less violent, it is not a safe way of protecting inmates from violence from others. Solitary confinement is cruel; it has been proven to cause extreme psychological harm, and it leaves inmates with debilitating mental illness that make it extremely difficult, if not impossible to become functional members of society. Talk to your congressman, to your district councilmen, to your family and friends, spread awareness. One of the most beautiful qualities of the United States of America is that ordinary people have the power to effect change, to call for reform and to be successful in their protests. By voicing the injustices inmates face in the current prison system, you are giving a voice to people that are either too beaten down simply unable to speak for themselves. Criminals, like you and me, are just people. Granted, people that have made mistakes, and yes even sometimes inexcusable ones. But that in no way justifies the torture, yes, torture, that those in solitary confinement are currently subject to. We have an obligation, a moral duty, to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, especially those who have been cast off as societal rejects. We are members of a new generation, one that should set an example by saying that no one is worth giving up on. Absolutely no one deserves to be cast off. So stand with me, because I fight for the constitutional rights of everyone in this nation. 

Works Cited

Butterfield, Fox. "Mistreatment of Prisoners Is Called Routine in U.S." The New York Times n.             pag. The New York Times. 8 May 2004. Web.

Cebula, Jan, and Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoners Series. "U.S. State and Federal Prison             Population, 1925-2012." Global Sisters Report. N.p., n.d. Web.

Edge, Dan, dir. "Frontline: Locked Up in America." Frontline: Locked Up in America. Public             Broadcasting Service. 22 Apr. 2014. Television.

"Inside the Landmark Court Case That Will End Indefinite Solitary Confinement in California."             Mother Jones. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Peoples v. Fischer (Challenging Policies Governing Use of Solitary Confinement in New York's             Prisons) | New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) - American Civil Liberties Union of             New York State." Peoples v. Fischer (Challenging Policies Governing Use of Solitary             Confinement in New York's Prisons) | New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) -             American Civil Liberties Union of New York State. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Pike, Georgia. "Yoga Lowers Inmates' Aggression and Anxiety." Scientific American Global                 RSS.             N.p., 1 Mar. 2014. Web.

Stevenson, Bryan A., Dr, and John F. Stinneford, Dr. "Amendment VIII Excessive Fines, Cruel             and Unusual Punishment." National Constitution Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

            "Torture: The Use of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons." Center for Constitutional             Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Tsai, Tyjen, and Poala Scommegna. "U.S. Has World's Highest Incarceration Rate." U.S. Has             World's Highest Incarceration Rate. Population Reference Bureau, Aug. 2012. Web.

Vazquez, Eva. "Solitary Confinement Is Cruel and Ineffective." Scientific American. N.p., n.d.             Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Virginia Case Could Send Solitary Confinement to the Supreme Court." Constitution Daily.             N.p., 15 July 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.