Wiiiiilllson!!!!!!

It's a Sunday which means, with my limited cable, I get to choose from all manner of infomercials or religous programming.  None of those choices appeal to me.  So it is off to Netflix I go!

The program I chose is a NatGeo Special on Solitary Confinement.  I think I wrote a bit on this issue before somewhere else but it is a subject that bears repeating again.  The institution that is being observed is Colorado State Penitentiary.  According to the narrator, many solitary confinement programs are modeled on their program.  The practice of solitary confinement has been under some extreme scrutiny for quite a few years now.  While its advocates argue that it plays a role in inmate behavior modification, the reality has shown to be just the opposite.  You can find an interesting article here about the effects of solitary on an inmates mental faculties.  You can find another fact sheet from Solitary Watch here , they are a great resource for issues relating to Solitary Confinement. 

But anyway...I am watching this show and one of the guys in solitary compares his time in solitary to being on a desert island ala Tom Hanks in "Castaway."  With your extremely limited social interaction, you feel like finding a volleyball to talk to just so you can have some conversation...(ala Wilson from Castaway)  I think that is kind of sad...that one must resort to having conversations with inanimate objects just to have a semblance of human interaction.  Is it any wonder that mental illness is usually the end result of extended stays in solitary?

What type of help is available to these inmates once they are removed from solitary? what does one do to help them get their bearings again? what types of psychological services are available to help them with emulating the correct appropriate behavior? I think this country needs to re-examine its relationship with solitary confinement.  I think the mental an emotional anguish of those programs is just way too high.