NCJ Number
177691
Date Published
1997
Length
91 pages
Annotation
This report examines two prisons in Indiana that exemplify conditions and practices in super-maximum-security facilities throughout the United States.
Abstract
Correctional authorities are increasingly relying on special super-maximum-security facilities to confine disruptive or dangerous prisoners. Prisoners in these facilities spend an average of 23 hours a day in small, often windowless cells, and face years of extreme social isolation, enforced idleness, and extraordinarily limited recreational and educational opportunities. Prolonged confinement in these conditions can be psychologically devastating, especially for the many prisoners who are incarcerated with pre-existing psychiatric illnesses. Two prisons in Indiana are examined that exemplify conditions and practices in super-maximum-security facilities. The two prisons are described in terms of the physical environment, the inmate population, social isolation, security, the use of force, harassment, abuse, the psychological impact of prison conditions, and mental health treatment. Five key issues confronted by correctional authorities in dealing with difficult prisoners are identified: (1) quantity and quality of recreational activities; (2) soundness of classification procedures; (3) use of physical force, including cell extractions and restraints; (4) psychological impact of conditions and length of confinement; and (5) mental health monitoring and treatment. The report concludes that security cannot justify conditions in the two Indiana prisons and in prisons elsewhere in the United States, conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and that warehousing mentally ill prisoners in super-maximum-security facilities exacerbates their illnesses and inflicts torture under international human rights law. 164 footnotes