Solitary Confinement Is Especially Brutal For Teenage Inmates

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http://www.businessinsider.com/the-psychological-effects-of-solitary-confinement-2013-9


This photo was taken by the photographer Richard Ross as part a project to document the treatment of juveniles in America.

While long-term isolation can even make adults lose their minds, its effects on young people can be particularly wrenching.
Prisons and jails across America keep inmates under the age of 18 in solitary confinement, according to a report last year from Human Rights Watch and the ACLU. That means typically 22 hours a day in total isolation, behind a steel door. The confinement can last months.

Many vulnerable young people start to turn on themselves when they're left all alone.

"You're left with your thoughts and all the time in the world," former teenage prisoner James Burns, now 26, told Business Insider. "You think of everything in the world you can think of. After a certain amount of time, it doesn't take long for you to start punishing yourself."



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-psychological-effects-of-solitary-confinement-2013-9#ixzz2ePQQNp1d

[panader0]

1. I had to do 48 hours once

about ten years ago for a DUI. It was lockdown, no leaving the cell at all. I had four different "roommates" during that time, all in for theft.
I would rather be alone.

[Archae]

2. Never says in the article WHY James Burns was in solitary.

It's usually for attacking other inmates or guards.

Gee, we wouldn't want to hurt the thug's FEELINGS, would we?