Is isolation torture?

[exploited]

[Dylan]

Definitely torture after X amount of time. I dunno what X is.

[John Galt]

it's unable to meet the standard of "cruel and unusual" because it's not unusual. more people are in solitary than are executed, and execution is not unusual. i will say it is cruel though. languishing like that, which is what many people who decry capital punishment think should happen to terrorists like Tsarnaev (who, remarkably, apologized yesterday, before formal sentence of death). no, treat them like a human being and cut off their head quickly.

you want to know something funny? rick perry of all people closed three prisons in texas under his watch. i think we need to see more of that. yet, if america released all non-murderers and non-rapists today, we'd still have a higher incarceration rate than germany. personally i would like to see those people executed, but alas, we have to make do with what we have. what does one do to punish someone who is not acting in accordance to how a prisoner should act when they are already in prison for life? whipping? (i don't think whipping is appropriate for prisoners as i wouldn't want guards with that kind of power, it's an appropriate punishment in lieu of prison though)

[Dylan]

[jimmyz]

I like the Devils Island model with no guards just security patrol offshore to prevent access by boat. Set them there to fend for themselves and think about things. Fishing tackle, fruit trees and vegetable growing supplies, wild pig-goat-cow-chickens roaming. I'd do a stretch there myself just for the relaxation aspect.

[Spider]

[Spider]

There was a Frontline a bit back on this topic. Basically, the end result in that prison is that inmates start clawing at the walls within a few weeks, and then start painting everything with blood and feces until they get dragged down to the medical center and patched up. Of course, the result is more time stacked on in solitary, to the point where some are there for years. Just becomes a big insane cycle. Most inmates just follow the rules and get released back into the population, however.

They insist on repetitively doing the thing that gets the more time in solitary...as a method to get out of solitary. The definition of insanity would apply here.

This other guy that's been in there for years flatly explains in no uncertain terms that he will murder inmates and guards unless he is removed from solitary or transferred or whatever. Also definitive insanity: Lets do the thing that got me thrown into solitary in order to get out of solitary. Hard to be sympathetic of stupidity.

Yeah, I could agree that its torturous in some cases. On the other hand...what do you do with people who insist on randomly brutalizing/murdering others when allowed to mingle with them?

[The Comrade]

yes it is torture. isolation has been used as an interogation technique since forever.

[exploited]

[Spider]