About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

7 Vienna J. on Int'l Const. L. 415 (2013)
Torture in US Jails and Prisons: An Analysis of Solitary Confinement under International Law

handle is hein.journals/vioincl7 and id is 417 raw text is: ICL Journal I Vol 7 | 4/2013 | Articles Torture in US Jails and Prisons: An Analysis of Solitary Confinement Under International Law Anna Conley* Abstract: One of the most serious human rights violations today is occurring throughout the US. In US jails and prisons, individuals are held in solitary confinement for weeks, months and even years. Solitary confinement can cause significant psychological damage, including cognitive delays, increased suspicion and paranoia, increased anxiety, fear, ag- gression and hostility, heightened feelings of helplessness and depression, and increased thoughts and attempts at self-mutilation and suicide. Many prisoners held in this severe form of isolation are juveniles or individuals with serious mental illness, to whom it is par- ticularly damaging. Although solitary confinement is common in the rest of the world, no- where is it more prevalent as a long-term prisoner management tool than in the United States. US courts have found that solitary confinement is a violation of the Eighth Amend- ment to the US Constitution in certain situations, yet the practice persists. As a global movement against solitary confinement grows, the United Nations and re- gional human rights tribunals have spoken out against the practice. A robust body of inter- national case law has defined the contours of when solitary confinement is cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the instances in which it is torture. International bodies pro- hibit solitary confinement for juveniles, prisoners with mental illness, and prisoners on death row or with life sentences. International tribunals generally find solitary confinement for all prisoners contrary to applicable law where it constitutes incommunicado detention, where it is unnecessarily prolonged without justification, and where the totality of condi- tions of confinement cross a threshold into unacceptable cruelty. As international law prohibiting solitary confinement crystallizes, the practice in the United States may be curtailed through reliance on international law by US judges. Further, the US executive may take an increased interest in curbing solitary confinement to avoid repu- tational damage among the global community. Keywords: solitary confinement, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, prison, incarceration. 'I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There is no end and no beginning; there is only one's mind, which can begin to play tricks. Was that a dream or did it really happen? One begins to question everything. I. Introduction The incarceration of thousands of prisoners in solitary confinement in US jails and prisons, many of whom are juveniles or mentally ill, is a large-scale human rights viola- * The views expressed herein are the author's alone, and do not reflect the policy of the ACLU or the ACLU of Montana. 1 Nelson Mandela, The Long Walk to Freedom (1994) 47 @ Verlag Osterreich 415

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most