SOC 214 Lecture Notes - Lecture 99: Maine State Prison, Solitary Confinement, Decision-Making
5 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Solitary Confinement
a) How many inmates across the US are in solitary confinement
a. 80,000
b) What is the difference between the general population (gen pop) and solitary
confinement at Maine State Prison?
a. Gen pop: allowed out of their cells every day and can interact with other inmates
b. “olitar: priso ithi the priso
i. 23 hours a day in cell
ii. 1 hour of exercise in cage
iii. No interaction with other inmates
c) Why do inmates get sent to solitary confinement?
a. Judged too dangerous to be around others in gen pop
b. Some for their own protection
c. Punishment for bad behaviour
d) What is the punishment for self-harm while in solitary confinement?
a. More time in solitary
e) When did the US begin to use isolation as punishment? What happened?
a. ’s as a progressie eperiet to see if isolation would reform criminals
b. “oo largel aadoed eause prisoers did’t refor the lost their
ids
c. I ’s, solitar reeerged as a a to eliiate priso iolee
d. US now has more inmates in isolation than any other western country
f) What is the status of isolation in the US? What about Maine?
a. Solitary is overused all over the US
b. Prisons across the country are beginning to rethink solitary confinement
c. Maine State Prison began to send fewer inmates into solitary confinement and
sent those with serious mental illness out of the unit
g) What is the difference between the isolation unit and the mental health wing?
a. Most inmates have serious mental illness
b. This unit is about treatment instead of punishment
c. Aim is to reform, become social
d. Some still kept separate from other inmates, but has regular meetings with
therapist
h) How do inmates transition from solitary to gen pop?
a. Step down unit for prisoners transitioning from solitary
b. Inmates are allowed out of their cells for a few hours every day
c. Required to take more classes
d. Can interact with other inmates when out of cell
e. Eventually move to a unit with fewer restrictions, work their way back down to
general population
f. They get to do this by:
i. Participate in classes eg. Decision making and good behaviour aim is to
make them less violent
ii. Presenting good behaviour in cell for a month
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