There was a hearing on the subject of solitary confinement in prisons, with testimony from federal and state law enforcement officials, academics and advocates as well as from Anthony Graves, an exonerated former death-row inmate who spent the majority of his 18 years at a Texas prison in solitary confinement.
Quote: “I lived under the rules of a system that is literally driving men out of their minds,” he said. The conditions were inhumane, my cell was small without access to human interaction or decent medical care. No one can begin to imagine the psychological effects isolation has on another human being.”
A study in the U.S. showed that the number of prisoners who suffer from psychiatric disorders is high. Many of them need some form of psychiatric intervention during their incarceration. They often require costly psychiatric hospitalization or crisis intervention services, and face a heightened risk of suicide.
I wonder whether congress will have time to attend to this issue.
