Lawmakers Argue on Rhode Island Solitary Confinement of Inmates

Rhode Island's solitary confinement should be limited to no more than 15 days at a time, according to the lawmakers.  It is part of the national movement that would reform segregation of some inmates into small cells. The legislation had been passed on by lawmakers from Colorado to Mississippi.

Solitary confinement usually separates inmate from the others into smaller cells. They spend months or years there without much social interaction, Seattle Times reports. Rhode Island's solitary confinement bill was sponsored by Providence Democrats Sen. Harold Metts and in the House by Rep. Aaron Regunberg. The legislation aims to protect the youngest and the oldest, as well as the mentally disabled and other vulnerable groups from being isolated into the prison cell.

"It's used for punishment and it's used to break you down," state Sen. Metts said. "If you already have a mental illness, it's certainly not going to help. It'll probably make it worse."

Meanwhile, A.T. Wall, Director of the State Department of Corrections claimed that the state doesn't put prisoners in extreme isolations. He explained that they only use disciplinary confinement as a provisional castigation for a bad behavior. Wall also said that administrative confinement on the other hand is used for inmates who were regarded as threats for other's safety, according to ABC News. Prison officers argued that Rhode Island's solitary confinement would take away their freedom to give punishments to inmates in order to have a safe environment.

"It disassociates you with everybody," said Alan Lowell, a 25-year-old who spent several years moving in and out of the Cranston complex where the state confines all the prisoners. "You don't leave that room for anything. Everything is brought to you and handed to you through a little hole. I remember every single minute of it. You don't forget stuff like that," Lowell said. "It's called corrections, not confinement. It's supposed to help fix us, not bring us down."

In January, Pres. Barack Obama announced forbidding of separating juveniles and low-level offenders in federal prisons. He said that solitary confinement can have devastating, lasting psychological consequences to an inmate, Press of Atlantic City reported. The United Nations had supported such bill that would ban isolation of the prisoners. In December, New York argued on the quantity and the period that prisoners would be isolated. California also supported the move by stopping unlimited isolation of hundreds of gang leaders.

Wall remained firm in claiming that Rhode Island's solitary confinement is still less strict compared in other larger states.  He claimed that prison officials are considering two things in their system, rehabilitation and safety.

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Rhode Island Solitary Confinement, Solitary Confinement, solitary confinement bill, solitary confinement legislation, US inmates

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