All this week we’re talking about incarceration in America. Yesterday we looked at juvenile justice, and whether life-without-parole sentences for teenage murder convicts violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Today, we’re talking about super-maximum-security prisons and the effects of solitary confinement. According to the United Nations, the U.S. has more inmates held in solitary confinement than any other democratic country. Last week, we spoke with Juan Mendez, a UN special rapportuer on torture, about the UN’s investigation into the treatment of Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking confidential documents to Wikileaks. Manning was in solitary confinement 23 hours a day for 11 months.
States across the country have isolated difficult prisoners in Supermax prisons for decades. But new research on the effects of isolation – and the enormous cost of running supermax prisons in an economic downturn – has changed the way many states think about incarceration.
Joining us is Daniel Mears, an expert on prisoner isolation and professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, and Christopher Epps, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.