I think long solitary confinement is necessary some of the time but not necessary the other part of the time. Sometimes, it’s not cool, but other times, some people just need it. Here is why:
First of all, there are the really, really, bad guys that are repeatedly committing crimes. Like, they do it over and over again, no matter how many times you put them in jail. I think you just can’t have this in our communities because then every day would be filled with police, trying to arrest the criminals. I think the bad guys would be thinking, “Oh, the police are going to let me go after some time in jail anyways. Besides, this is kind of fun. I’ll just keep doing it.” That’s why long solitary confinement would be nice. If you could make sure that they get that there are consequences more than just “some time in jail”, then I think there’s a better chance of them not repeating their crimes over and over again. Repeating crimes are really not fun for the police, who are really trying their best to keep everything in order and help keep the criminals at bay. They risk their lives every day and it’s not that fair if they just let the criminals out again every time, forever going in a loop of crime, jail, crime, jail, crime, and jail. That’s why I think longer solitary confinement could be really useful in these cases.
But this long solitary confinement could also be a worse idea than regular jail. For example, a bad guy could commit a crime, get punished to a long time in solitary confinement, and when they get released a long while later, they might, instead of regret, have a need for extreme revenge. While being in their bathroom-sized cell for so long, they could have thought of a really, really, good plan to try following when they get released from jail. I don’t like this idea of criminals being more powerful than ever with their plan and their need for vengeance combined. It would make the police’s job so much harder, too. Instead of a lot of small, easier crimes, there would be a lot less but a lot bigger, harder, and more well-thought-out crimes. Now, if there was a prisoner, they would think, “If I go to jail like right now, I will emerge years later a more experienced, smarter, and more powerful criminal,” So of course they would choose to go to jail! In the bad guys’ minds, jail would not be a punishment anymore, but would rather be a possible gateway to success (In the criminal world)!
But, if that didn’t happen, then this could also be pretty bad. The police officers are also human, after all. Putting another human in solitary confinement for years can be stressful, worrisome, and uncomfortable for the police as well as the prisoner. The prisoner would most likely go crazy from the lack of social relations or lack of communicating. In the Ted Talk from today, the lady said that some prisoners even tried to commit suicide. Some tried to yell to each other through the shower drains. Some started smearing poop on the walls or cutting themselves to keep feeling human and themselves. You see, years of solitary confinement and years of no social interaction can really make you crazy. One guy who experienced being in solitary confinement made artwork depicting what he felt during that time. He couldn’t put his misery into words and he probably couldn’t speak for more than an hour, anyways. Years of not being able to speak to someone else would wear out the prisoners’ vocal cords.
And that’s why I think solitary confinement can be really, really bad… But for the really, really, really, really, really bad guys who really, really, really, really, deserve it, it can still be used. Very rarely, when we meet someone so bad that even jail cannot stop them, then we should put them in long solitary confinement. But other than that, I think it’s very, very sad.