The United States still has the highest number of inmates in the world, with more than 2 million people behind bars. For a segment of this population, spending weeks, months, or even years in solitary confinement is very much a reality. We speak with two criminal justice experts about the lasting effects of solitary confinement and the mental health crisis plaguing prisons.
Guest Information:
- Dr. Keramet Reiter, Professor, Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California – Irvine.
- Tracy Velazquez, Manager, Public Safety Research, Pew Charitable Trust.
Links for more info:
- Keramet Reiter – UCI School of Social Ecology Faculty
- Meet the Team – Pew Charitable Trust
- The research is clear: Solitary confinement causes long-lasting harm – Prison Policy Initiative
- ‘As Corrections Officers Quit in Droves, Prisons Get Even More Dangerous’ – The Marshall Project: Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice
- ‘Groups put pressure on Biden to fulfill campaign pledge to end solitary confinement’ – NBC News
- Psychological Distress in Solitary Confinement: Symptoms, Severity, and Prevalence in the United States, 2017–2018 | AJPH | Vol. 110 Issue S1
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