And the laaaaaand of the freeeeeeeee…
Murica! I love what you do, and the way you do it!
[note sadly the sarcasm]
“Enhanced Confinement”
Barbaric crime against human dignity, and an opportunity for an ambitious psychologically thrilling short-story.
Let me clear about something:
When American prisons do this, then if you’re American, you do this. It’s done in your name and paid for with your tax dollars. You kill people and afflict them with unjustifiable misery.
(Side note: I’m American too.)
And so goes the jaw-dropping reversal of who and what are truly “criminal.”
It’s all looking more and more “of a piece.” The current psychotic election campaign. The surging mobs of hate-filled morons and bigots yowling vile things at rallies. The black-hearted souls now being let off their ethical leashes to spew their darkest malevolent rants without censure…in the name of free speech, no less. Politics and social venues increasingly dominated by opportunistic assholes and sociopaths.
Who cares about those nasty convicts being treated worse than animals. Even better if some “corrections” profiteer can harvest more money from it.
Murica !!!.
“Solitary”
I’m not okay with solitary confinement, but I’d pay into a kickstarter that promised a program delivering a slap upside the head of every Warden and/or civil servant, legislator that did this or allowed this to happen.
So long as the dictionary used is at least 5 pounds and open to the page with the word “Solitary” on it.
[quote=“doctorow, post:1, topic:75874”][J]ust lock two angry prisoners, possibly with untreated mental illnesses, in a cell so small they have to take turns standing up, for 23 hours a day.
[/quote]
I’m not a Constitutional scholar so could someone please explain to me how this doesn’t violate the Eighth Amendment?
I won’t hold my breath waiting for an answer.
Wait, Solitary confinement with two people? The fuck?
Doubling people definitely robs solitary confinement of its appeal.
A boot stamping on a human face, forever.
That’s a very underhand method of reducing the prison population. 
“They’re killing each other, damnit, it’s not our fault …”
I might have been nine or ten when I read Animal Farm, I read it so early because of this scene at ~2:02:
I quickly followed it up with 1984. Perhaps because it’s referenced so frequently and readily I’ve forgotten how much it affected my worldview. That line, about a boot stamping on a human face? I swear it haunted me for at least a week.
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted in its most recent revision by the General Assembly on 17 December 2015, states
“Where sleeping accommodation is in individual cells or rooms, each prisoner shall occupy by night a cell or room by himself or herself. If for special reasons, such as temporary overcrowding, it becomes necessary for the central prison administration to make an exception to this rule, it is not desirable to have two prisoners in a cell or room. Where dormitories are used, they shall be occupied by prisoners carefully selected as being suitable to associate with one another in those conditions”.
“All accommodation provided for the use of prisoners and in particular all sleeping accommodation shall meet all requirements of health, due regard being paid to climatic conditions and particularly to cubic content of air, minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation”.
“Every prisoner shall, in accordance with local or national standards, be provided with a separate bed.”
… granted, these are non-binding recommendations, but if the US doesn’t give a damn about these, why should e.g. North Korea?
Make America great again: implement 21st century humanitarian standards!
Wouldn’t you have to start by slapping every voter who elected representatives who favored “tough on crime” 3-strikes laws or “tough on crime” drug sentencing legislation? All this overpopulation is a natural result of the huge incarceration rate.
When reading about the practices of American prisons with regard to solitary confinement, my response was, “This is the worst.” Well, you proved me wrong, prisons!
Solitary confinement in the usual sense is still proven to be essentially inhumane torture. I cannot fathom doing the same with 2 people in the same amount of room or less, which to me is just absolutely monstrous. I can’t even comprehend how awful this must be, how can this happen in today’s world? (the question is mostly rhetorical).
The solution is clear… Use the “extra space” in Solitary for a deportee – not exactly a person and the prison complex still profits.
Because no court has said it does during a case brought before them?
