ACPL Online Book Club discussion

What kinds of conditions are appropriate for violent offenders? Do you agree that long-term solitary confinement is, as judged by Human Rights Watch, inhumane? What about solitary confinement for juveniles, as Larry experienced starting at the age of ten, described in Chapter 15 (“Supermax Kid”)? Question provided by the publisher.

It’s like trying to justify war. All wars are immoral, but if there is no nonviolent way to protect the innocent, the case can be made that it is necessary. Locking people in jail is immoral, but segregating someone who is a threat to the staff and/or the other prisoners may be necessary. The conditions of the confinement ought to be humane. I don’t buy the argument that criminals deserve to be ill-treated. When we do that, we are no better than the criminals.

I think the criteria applied to juveniles ought to be the same as that applied to adults. Solitary confinement can only be justified if there is no less dehumanizing way to protect the staff and the other prisoners. The story in “Supermax Kid” doesn’t tell us why Newton was put in isolation, so I can’t judge.

I have trouble with the concept of solitary confinement. I think that the system needs to rethink the way to handle the more violent offenders.

If we treat prisoners inhumanly, we are guilty of the same sort of offenses they are. Solitary confinement may be needed for the protection of the staff and the other prisoners, but it should be used only when there are no other good options and used for the shortest time possible.

Thanks, Julie for posting.