Solitary confinement

===Social===

Some [[Sociology|sociologists]] argue that prisons create a unique social environment that do not allow individuals to create strong social ties inside or outside of the facility. The [[social isolation]] that incarcerated individuals experience is especially acute in solitary confinement, where they may be denied access to phone calls, mail, and visits from loved ones.<ref name=pss/>

The psychological effects of isolation continue long after individuals are released from solitary, affecting society as a whole. Upon their reentry into society, many individuals who have spent long periods of time in solitary report having difficulty adjusting back to life outside the prison walls.<ref name="kupers">{{cite journal |last=Kupers |first=Terry A. |title=What To Do With the Survivors? Coping With the Long-Term Effects of Isolated Confinement |journal=[[Criminal Justice and Behavior]] |volume=35 |number=8 |date=August 2008 |pages=1005–1016 |doi=10.1177/0093854808318591 |s2cid=146474911 }}</ref>  They are often startled easily, and avoid crowds and public spaces. They seek out small, confined spaces because public areas overwhelm their sensory stimulation.<ref name="Goode">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/health/solitary-confinement-mental-illness.html|title=Solitary Confinement: Punished for Life|last=Goode|first=Erica|date=3 August 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=4 December 2016|archive-date=6 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206172251/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/health/solitary-confinement-mental-illness.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Anthony Charles Graves | Anthony Graves]], who spent more than 18 years in solitary confinement on the Texas [[death row]] before being [[exoneration|exonerated]] in 2010, described the lasting effects of solitary in his testimony for the [[United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution|US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights]]: 
<blockquote>
Solitary confinement does one thing, it breaks a man's will to live and he ends up deteriorating. He's never the same person again… I have been free for almost two years and I still cry at night, because no one out here can relate to what I have gone through. I battle with feelings of loneliness. I've tried therapy but it didn't work. The therapist was crying more than me. She couldn't believe that our system was putting men through this sort of inhumane treatment.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Graves |first1=Anthony |title=Testimony Presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on The Constitution, Civil Rights & Human Rights 'Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences' |url=https://solitarywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/anthony-graves-texas-death-row-exoneree.pdf |website=Anthony Believes |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=19 June 2012}}</ref>
</blockquote>

According to numerous studies, any amount of time in solitary confinement can increase the risk of [[recidivism]] after release.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Nguyen |first1=Anh |title=The Determinants and Consequences of Solitary Confinement: Risk Factor, Future Criminal Justice Involvement, and Mortality |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/145805 |publisher=PhD Thesis |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=2018|hdl=2027.42/145805 |type=Thesis }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mears |first1=Daniel |last2=Bales |first2=William D. |title=Supermax incarceration and recidivism |journal=Criminology |date=December 2009 |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=1131–1166 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00171.x}}</ref> A 2007 [[Case-control study|matched control study]] of Washington State prisons found that people in the study cohort who spent time in supermax prisons had a 3-year felony recidivism rate of 53 percent, which was 15 percent higher than that of their counterparts in the general prison population. The recidivism rate was even higher among people who were released directly from supermax into the community, at 69 percent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lovell |first1=David |last2=Johnson |first2=Clark |last3=Cain |first3=Kevin |title=Recidivism of Supermax Prisoners in Washington State |journal=Crime & Delinquency |date=October 2007 |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=633–656 |doi=10.1177/0011128706296466|s2cid=53064653 }}</ref>