Every day, tens of thousands of American prisoners are locked up in solitary confinement. This is how that looks for those behind bars, and those guarding them.
An inmate can be seen inside a segregation cell at the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont., in 2016.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University and Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Solitary confinement is still a common feature of prisons across Canada and in its most populous province, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a practice that amounts to torture.
The latest data shows structured intervention units (SIU) are a failure.
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While seemingly an alternative to solitary confinement, Structured Intervention Units have been a catastrophic failure, especially for imprisoned people with mental illness.
The federal government says it’s doing away with solitary confinement. But is it just an exercise in rebranding?
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As of Dec. 1, inmates in Canada’s federal prisons can no longer be legally held in solitary confinement. But is it truly just an exercise in rebranding?
Is it ethical to use former prisons, with long histories of death, suffering and wrongful incarcerations, as entertainment venues?
Rockin' the Big House
A historian reminds us that protests in prisons are often followed by retaliation.
Moliere Dimanche would use anything he could scrounge up – pieces of folders, the back of commissary forms, old letters – as canvases.
Moliere Dimanche
From solitary confinement, Moliere Dimanche started drawing on anything he could find. The result was a series of fantastical, allegorical images that depict abuse, racism and profound isolation.
Neuroscience can help incarcerated brains.
Donald Tong
Hollywood pushes a fantasy version of what neuroscience can do in the courtroom. But the field does have real benefits to offer, right now: solid evidence on what would improve prisons.