What we do: the ideological isolation of American prisons and the consequent abuse of human rights

Journal title SICUREZZA E SCIENZE SOCIALI
Author/s Susan Nagelsen, Charles Huckelbury
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2015/2
Language English Pages 18 P. 17-34 File size 131 KB
DOI 10.3280/SISS2015-002003
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The paper provides examples of the systemic abuse endured by prisoners, concentrating on solitary confinement before moving into a discussion of the resulting clinical harm of that abuse. The authors then dissect the ideological and political rationales espoused by the proponents of prolonged isolation and contrast them with accepted definitions of human rights, followed by an examination of the philosophical and existential bases for abolishing the practice.

Keywords: Solitary confinement, human rights violations, U.S. prisons, abuse of prisoners, torture

  1. Amnesty International (2014). Annual Report 2013. Retrieved from Amnesty International: www.amnesty.org/en/news/usa-prisoners-held-extreme-solitaryiconfinement-breach-international-law-2014-07-16. July 16.
  2. Associated Press (2002). Miami Herald News Reports on Frank Valdes Case. Retrieved from Patrick Crusade: --www.patrickcrusade.org/miami_herald_valdes.htm. February 1.
  3. Bentham J. (1781). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Retrieved from BTLC: --www.utilitarianism.com/jeremy-bentham/index.html#one.
  4. Brown v. Plata, 115 S.Ct. 1910 (Supreme Court of the United States May 23, 2011).
  5. CNN. Politics. Retrieved from CNN: --www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/18/rumsfeld/. 18 April 2006.
  6. Dunn J. (2014). The supermax debate. Retrieved from Illinois Issues: --http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/archives/2012/06/supermax.html. August 19. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (Supreme Court of the United States June 6, 1994).
  7. Ferguson R.A. (2014). Inferno. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674369931
  8. Foucault M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books. Retrieved from Michel Foucault: --http://foucault.info/documents/disciplineandpunish/foucault.disciplineandpunish.panopticism.html.August 26. DOI: 10.1215/9780822390169-018
  9. Freeman S. (2014). The Case Against Moralism. The New York Review of Books. Retrieved from: --www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jul/10/case-againstmoralism/.July 10.
  10. Gauen P. (2012). Budget woes end Illinois’ 14-year experiment with super-max prison. Retrieved from stltoday.com: --www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/pat-gauen/budget-woes-end-illinois--year-experiment-with-super-max/article_ad6e1472-9124-5f33-8b9c-a97b11be01b0.html. February 23.
  11. Gibbons J.J., de Belleville Katzenbach N. (2006). Confronting Confinement. Retrieved from Vera Institute of Justice: --www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/Confronting_Confinement.pdf. Goldhill S. (2014). Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity: Art, Opera, Fiction, and the Proclamation of Modernity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI: 10.1515/9781400840076
  12. Goode E. (2012). Prisons Rethink Isolation, Saving Money, Lives and Sanity. Retrieved from New York Times: --www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/us/rethinkingsolitary-confinement.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. March 10.
  13. Grassian S. (2006). Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement. Retrieved from Journal of Law and Policy: --http://law.wustl.edu/journal/22/p325grassian, pdf.
  14. Halpern S. (2014). Partial Disclosure. The New York Times Review of Books. Retrieved from: --www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jul/10/glenngreenwald-partial-disclosure/. July 10.
  15. Hobbes T. (1651). Leviathan: Part 2 Commonwealth. Retrieved from Early Modern Texts: --www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdfs/hobbes1651part2.pdf.
  16. Human Rights Watch (2009). Mental Illness, Human Rights, and US Prisons. Retrieved from: --www.hrw.org/news/2009/09/22/mental-illness-human-rightsand-us-prisons. September 22.
  17. Hunter G. (2014). Sexual Abuse by Prison and Jail Staff Proves Persistent, Pandemic. Retrieved from Prison Legal News: --www.prisonlegalnews.org/(X(1) S(nwotndnan5sejdzxj1sjwkmc))/displayArticle.aspx?articleid=21225&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1. April 30. In re Medley. 134 U.S. 160, 168 (Supreme Court of the United States 1890).
  18. Inside Criminal Justice (2011). Retrieved from The Crime Report: --www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2011-07-maines-dramaticreduction-of-solitary-confinement. July 20.
  19. Joachim D.S. (2014). Senate Panel Votes to Reveal Report on CIA Interrogations. Retrieved from The New York Times: --www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/us/politics/senate-panel-approves-release-of-cia-interrogation-report.html?_r=2.April 3.
  20. Johnson R. (1981). Condemned to Die: Life Under Sentence of Death. NewYork: Elsevier.
  21. Johnson R. (1987). Institutions and the Promotion of Violence. In Campbell A., Gibbs J.J., eds., Violent Transactions: The Limits of Personality. Oxford: Basil Blackwell: 181-205.
  22. Johnson R. (1998). Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process. Belmont: Wadsworth.
  23. Johnson R. (2014). Reflections on the Death Penalty: Human Rights, Human Dignity, and Dehumanization in the Death House. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 13: 11, forthcoming.
  24. Johnson R., Davies C. (2014a). Life under Sentence of Death: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. In: Acker J.R., Bohm R.M., Lanier C.S., eds., America’s Experiment with Capital Punishment: Reflections on Past, Present, and Future of the Ultimate Penal Sanction. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.
  25. and Future of the Ultimate Penal Sanction. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.
  26. Kaku M. (2014). The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind. New York: Doubleday.
  27. Kant I. (2008). Kant’s Moral Philosophy. Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/#HumFor. April 6. Kant I. (2014). Modern Perspectives: Immanuel Kant. Retrieved from Human Rights Theories: --www.mtholyoke.edu/~gerla22f/classweb/Human%20Rights%20Theories%20-%20Modern%20Perspectives.html. July 9.
  28. Kant I. (2014). General Introduction to the Metaphysics of Morals. Retrieved from Steve Palmquist: --http://staffweb.hkbu.edu.hk/ppp/hp.html. August 23.
  29. Kennedy A. (2003). Speech By Justice Anthony Kennedy At ABA Annual Meeting. Retrieved from Pro Publica: --www.propublica.org/documents/item/325931-dcom5. August 9.
  30. Krugman P. (2014). Why We’re in a New Gilded Age. The New York Review of Books: 15-18. May 9.
  31. Lavender, P. (2014). Dick Cheney On Torture: “If I Would Have To Do It All Over Again, I Would”. Retrieved from Huffington Post: --www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/28/dick-cheney-torture_n_5048809.html. May 12.
  32. Mill J.S. (1863). Ulilitarianism. Retrieved from BLTC: --www.utilitarianism.com/mill3.htm.
  33. MIT, Jowett B. Trans. The Crito. Retrieved from MIT Classics: --http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/crito.html.
  34. Obama, President Barack (2014). Address to the Nation. September 10.
  35. Rashid A. (2014). Pakistan: Worse than We Knew. The New York Times Review of Books: 26-29. June 5.
  36. Rodriguez S. (2012). Solitary Confinement FAQ. Retrieved from Solitary Watch: --http://solitarywatch.com/facts/faq/.
  37. http://solitarywatch.com/facts/faq/.
  38. Schulthesis E. (1999). Harry F. Harlow. Retrieved from Psychology History: --http://muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/harlow.htm.
  39. Scientific American (2013). Solitary Confinement Is Cruel and Ineffective.Retrieved from Scientific American: --www.scientificamerican.com/article/solitary-confinement-cruel-ineffective-unusual/?page=1. July 17.
  40. Stanford University (2012). John Rawls. Retrieved from Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: --http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/#JusFaiJusWitLibSoc. September 24.
  41. The New York Times (2012). The Opinion Pages. Retrieved from The New York Times: --www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/opinion/the-abuse-of-solitaryconfinement. html?_r=0. March 15.
  42. United Nations (2014). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from United Nations: --www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/. July 9.
  43. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014). What are human rights? Retrieved from United Nations Human Rights: --www.ohchr.org/en/issues/pages/whatarehumanrights.aspx. July 9.
  44. Vasiliades E. (2005). American University International Law Review. Retrieved from American University: --http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=auilr.
  45. Watkins A., Landay J. S., Taylor M. (2014). CIA’s use of harsh interrogation went beyond legal authority, Senate report says. Retrieved from McClachy DC: --www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/04/11/224085/cias-use-of-harsh-interrogation. html. April 11.
  46. www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/04/11/224085/cias-use-of-harsh-interrogation. html. April 11.
  47. Wood G. S. (2014). A Different Idea of Our Declaration. The New York Review of Books: 37-38. August 14.

Susan Nagelsen, Charles Huckelbury, What we do: the ideological isolation of American prisons and the consequent abuse of human rights in "SICUREZZA E SCIENZE SOCIALI" 2/2015, pp 17-34, DOI: 10.3280/SISS2015-002003