Construing the Legality of Solitary Confinement: Analysis of United States Federal Court Jurisprudence (original) (raw)

2018, American Journal of Criminal Justice

Kennedy warned of the ills of solitary confinement and criticized the use of "isolation cells" (U.S. House of Representatives, 2015). Justice Kennedy also noted in a concurring opinion (Davis v. Ayala, 2015, p. 2209) that some inmates spend decades in solitary confinement in a "windowless cell no larger than a typical parking spot for 23 hours a day…and…when…[let out they are]…allowed little or no opportunity for conversation or interaction with anyone." In fact, since 1890, the Supreme Court has known of "the human toll wrought by extended terms of isolation." The Court warned that isolation cells cause "a further terror and a peculiar mark of infamy" (Davis v. Ayala, 2015, p. 2210, quoting In re Medley, 1890, p. 168), elaborating that a "considerable number of…prisoners fell, after even a short [solitary] confinement, into a semifatuous condition…and others [become] violently insane; others, still, commit[ ] suicide" (Davis

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