The major issue addressed by the documentary is the state of inmates who are placed under solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is a prison within a prison meant to isolate inmates that are not well behaved and therefore cannot socialize well with other inmates. The documentary describes solitary confinement as an instrument of punishment for unruly prisoners in the United States penitentiary system. The state highlighted by the documentary implies that such kind of isolation is detrimental to the social saneness of an inmate. Once they go through the process, they become mentally incapacitated to socialize with others let alone the society once they are released.
The primary individuals focused on by the documentary are inmates. Hardcore inmates whose behavior of antisocialism and violence is managed by using solitary confinement. Alongside them are the officers tasked with keeping them in line.
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Inmates are incarcerated for crimes they have committed in society. The incarceration process is a reformatory journey to help them change and be integrated back into society. It is also a punishment wager for the wrongs they have done. Firstly, the punishment is put in place to make them realize that they have done wrong. The punishment is in the form of taking away some of their freedoms and rights. Once realization is achieved is when inmates can commence their journey of reformation. But while in prison, there are laws that inmates need to abide by. Without following the rules there is some form of punishment that is taken upon by those managing the units. Since the 1980s, solitary confinement was brought back to bring order in prisons ever so riddled with riots. The documentary brings to light the detriments of solitary confinement. The way the documentary has been formulated is biased towards the inmates. It tries to suggest that solitary confinement worsens the behaviors of inmates instead of reforming them. However, it fails to quantify the fails against the successes in the form of numbers. Numbers or data would have brought out a clearer picture of solitary confinement. It is also biased against offering an alternative solution to solitary confinement. As it is, if segregation was to be abolished in prisons, other inmates and prison workers would get injured or attacks would end up fatal. Another bias is the predicament of the prison workers in facilities. The documentary does not show the kind of psychological torture the officers go through while trying to avoid attacks from unruly inmates.
The documentary cast how segregation is difficult even for the hardcore prisoner. An individual; could be a stone-cold killer but breaks whenever taken to solitary confinement. It may take them a day, a week, or a month but they end up breaking. Inmates resort to slitting their veins, flooding the solitary units or sliding feces through the door just to cheat that they are mental to be taken to a different mental unit as an escape from segregation. It goes to say that the inmates are human and no matter how they act or put themselves across, they should be treated as humans. I also liked the way material is smuggled from one solitary cell to the other. However, it makes you wonder how the materials get to that unit altogether. Where do the prisoners in solitary confinement get the razors, they use to slit themselves? Is it the guards, the cleaning inmate or the prisoners in isolations? Besides, a lot goes into keeping the cells material free that would otherwise harm the prisoner. In the case of Maine prison, the smuggling aspect in the solitary unit can be abolished by closing the gap between the doors and the floor.
The struggle that the guards go through was not highlighted in the documentary. It was particularly unpleasing because they also face a struggle when they are dealing with inmates. Imagine that they have families that they need to go to when their shifts come over and they have to act normal when they have been attacked, threatened or abused by inmates. What kind of pictures goes through their mind when they have just witnessed an inmate to have slit themselves? It could also lead them into psychotic breakdown (Kupers, 2017).
The documentary showed me that confinement is not as easy as it seems. Being segregated from society then further being segregated from fellow inmates deprives an individual of social interaction. With only an hour for outside time and exercise, how it sends one into a psychotic breakdown.
It was unconvincing how inmate could be placed in solitary confinement behind a heavy steel door, with thick glass almost to imply how the inmate is quite dangerous then have a sit down with him in a room full of people without any restraints on them. Or have them interact with a psych doctor and be placed in a room with other mental inmates without harming anyone. The fact seems quite unrealistic for me.
Solitary confinement is necessary for a prison system however, there should be an elaborate management system that can help the prisoner get through it. A prisoner should be made to understand why they are in that situation and what it is meant to do for them. It should not be left to digress into a situation that breaks the inmate psychologically to a state of no return where they are unable to socialize with other inmates or for that matter the society if they are to be released after completion of their time in prison. It is not an instrument for breaking inmates, it’s a tool for breaking and mending inmates to become better versions of themselves. Solitary confinement is a quest that can work if used correctly. There are experiences where inmates have gone in as unbearable but have come out as better versions of themselves. A good example is that of Brian Banks. Brian an upcoming American football star while in school is charged and convicted for a crime he did not commit. Because of poor representation he goes to prison an angry man. Given the history of the penitentiary system in the US, Brian would have associated with the downtrodden and become one of them. Broken even when released to society. However, he met a mentor who guided his journey while incarcerated. The mentor’s message came into play when Brian had time to think in solitary confinement and that gave him guidance on becoming a better version. Let prisoners be able to elaborate by themselves why they are in the situation they are in. If good behavior is genuinely exhibited then a reward should be given. For instance, take away some days in their confinement days.
If any improvements were to be made on the documentary was to include every aspect about prison to give the viewer a comprehensive perspective into the problem. The documentary should highlight the guard’s side, successes and failures, and the inmate’s side to have a clear view of what is happening. Once all aspects have been captured, it is easy to understand the extent and gravity of the issue.
Reference
Kupers, T. A. (2017). Solitary: the inside story of supermax isolation and how we can abolish it . University of California Press.
