Supermax Confinement Book Review

The book Solitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We Can Abolish It divides into three parts: “Harsh Prison Conditions,” “The Human Damage,” and “The Alternative to Solitary.” In the first section, Terry Allen Kupers, the author, explores the rises of supermax prisons, the normalization of long-term solitary confinement and throughout, he explores how isolation damages people’s psyches and about what race violence and gender has to do with supermax confinement. In the final section, Kupers requests for a rehabilitative attitude among all prison staff (as well as legislators and the public), a plan to keep individuals with severe mental illnesses out of jails and prisons and enhance methods of dealing with disturbed or disruptive prisoners. A few of Kupers’ recommendations include a massive reduction of the prison population, concurrent upgrading of mental health and
The most eye-opening picture shows a group therapy session at a prison in which each of the individuals is imprisoned in a small cage, in a liner position. Kuper provides verbal descriptions of how prisoners are exposed to maltreatment of all human necessities, especially medical and psychiatric needs. The book present situations in which prisoners are ignored by staff for urgent medical and psychiatric needs to “cell extractions” where officers in riot gear spray a prisoner with immobilizing gas to subdue him. Through these prose and first-hand narratives, Kupers explains how solitary confinement is used disproportionally against vulnerable populations and youth. Within these narratives, Kupers explores the “post-release syndrome” that people undergo after long-term solitary confinement. The book concludes with an alternative strategy for corrections that is centered on quality mental health treatment and a rehabilitative attitude to replace the culture of punishment for the purpose of causing