Article Analysis Essay on Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary And "Supermax"

Source Credibility

Social psychological analyst Craig Haney, Ph.D., researches on the utilization and effect of isolation on detainees in super-security, or "supermax," penitentiaries. "There's almost no uncertainty in brain research that authorized disengagement is mentally hurtful and for a few people will be extremely harming," says Haney, a teacher at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Notwithstanding the mutual point of view numerous analysts have about the threats of segregation and social avoidance, less research has been done into the mental effect of implemented isolation. Haney will probably get the information with the end goal to assess whether such imprisonment is unsafe, how much harm it can incur and who is generally helpless.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

In the above article, Craig provides the reader with crucial and well-detailed information regarding the various challenges that inmates undergo in prison and especially in solitary confinement. Maximum security is a segregation housing facility that is utilized by rehabilitation facilities especially prisons for the restricted monitoring of inmates or individuals who are perceived as a threat to the healthy well-being and safety of the people around them. However, in his research, Craig has established that prisoners are undergoing suffering and imminent risk of mental health issues faces them in solitary confinement.

In his view, Haney sees maximum security isolation of offenders to be quite dehumanizing given the adverse conditions that these individuals are housed under. In his article, he is keen to note that in certain maximum-security facilities, the prisoners are housed in virtual segregation cells where they spend all the daily activities including meals in total seclusion. The inmates are allowed out of the cell or only one hour. (Craig, 126)

The book is a vital source of information for a researcher or any other readers inclined towards social studied. The information given is well detailed and collected in first hand from various recollection facilities thereby certifying the authenticity of the information provided. Although the author is known to be inclined towards human rights activism and is opposed to how the prisons execute their day to day tasks, the information provided in his article can be related to other similar works and therefore helps to eliminate any incidents of bias.

Summary

From this reading, the reader can have a deeper understanding of the various challenges and to some extent violation of rights that inmates go through in solitary confinement. As the researcher has indicated, segregation of the prisoners has a significant threat to their mental health wellbeing. If any case, the exclusion from social activities only aggravates the situation and may lead to the observation of more socially unbecoming behavior. There is a necessity to seek alternative correctional measures with less harmful effects.

Analysis

The primary appeal here, in this case, is the mental health of the inmates in solitary confinement. The measure has proven to be detrimental and threatens the well being of the inmate's mental health. The information from this source will be helpful in my research given that the firsthand knowledge gives an individual a deeper understanding of the situation at hand and thereby it will make it possible to come up with better and well-detailed research. Craig is a well-established Psychologist, and the information provided in the article is from a professional's point of view hence building on the credibility of the work.

Works Cited

Haney, Craig. "Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary And "Supermax" Confinement." S3. Amazonaws.Com, 2003.