This morning, the CNN website features a piece by psychiatrist Terry Kupers from the Wright Institute regarding Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning’s imprisonment conditions. Terry, author of Prison Madness (reviewed here by Psychiatric Services), argues that keeping Manning in solitary confinement is cruel and counterproductive to the goal of preserving Manning’s safety and sanity.
Thank you; I’m Safe
I was so moved to receive emails from blog readers inquiring after my safety in Hawai’i. Thank you so much for your concern. I am safe and on high ground. We’re waiting for sunrise to see the damage.
For-Profit Institutions: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
The debate over privatized correctional institutions is, for the most part, a non-debate. Institutions owned, funded, and directed by such entities as the Corrections Corporation of America are a fact of life, and Californian inmates hare subjected to privatized out-of-state institutions as well as to privatized operations within state prisons. The jury is still out on whether private institutions produce higher or lower recidivism rates (this Florida study suggests no significant differences between private and public institutions; here’s a good lit review from the study of previous projects in the same vein). But beyond the issue of long term gains, privatized institutions provide problematic opportunities for profit making that end up in corruption. And corruption comes in many forms.
Impact of Juvenile Facilities Closure on Adult Criminal Court Filings
Panel on Isolation Units
Almost once a week I receive mail from inmates or family members concerning the solitary confinement conditions at the SHU unit in Pelican Bay. We have previously blogged about the discontents of solitary confinement and behavioral modification here and here. Now, the Center for Constitutional Rights is organizing an upcoming panel about the conditions in isolation units.
- Dr. Terry Kupers, M.D.
- Alexis Agathocleous, Staff Attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights
- Zahra Baloo, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-San Francisco Bay Area
- Keramet Reiter, JD, PhD Candidate Berkeley Law