Over the objections of its three liberal justices, the Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition from a prisoner confined for years without the chance to exercise outside his cell.

    • Encode1307@lemm.eeEnglish
      812·
      1 year ago

      I don’t know anything about this guy, but I’m not sure what alternatives there are to solitary in some cases. When an inmate is so violent that they can’t be around other people without hurting them, what do you do? I’ve encountered a handful of inmates like that.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        332·
        1 year ago

        Isolating a prisoner and putting them in solitary are two entirely different things. In solitary, you are given absolutely no stimulation. Often not even a bed to sleep on. The lights never turn off. Prisoners scream through vents at each other just to hear another human voice. It’s absolutely torture.

        • Encode1307@lemm.eeEnglish
          712·
          1 year ago

          I’ve been in a lot of prison segregation units around the US and that’s not what I’ve seen. They have beds and they can talk to people in adjacent cells. They have beds unless they’re disassembling them to hurt themselves or others. The only times I’ve seen people truly isolated, it’s because they’re the ones screaming and aggravating the other inmates on the unit, and sometimes throwing shit and piss at them. They absolutely have lights turned off unless they’re on suicide watch and can’t be left in the dark without harming themselves.

          I’m not defending it, I just don’t know what the solution is. Whenever I hear people proposing eliminating solitary confinement, I’m like “ok what then?”. The ones who are seriously mentally ill should be in hospitals, but they’d be segregated there too. The ones who aren’t, I have no idea.

          Edit: I should add, I haven’t seen people put in those conditions just for punishment, but that probably wouldn’t be a part of a regular tour. If that happens, it definitely needs to stop.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            201·
            1 year ago

            Yeah it’s not part of the tour. It’s what’s reported by prisoners who have been in solitary.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        71·
        1 year ago

        Leaving someone in solitary for a few months tends to do that to people.

        But the answer is as it always was. 100 foot by 100 foot cage to exercise in and talk to other inmates through the fence.