Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Alive and Well

The 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Sometimes the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution to figure out how it applies to life in this country. The Supreme Court has never set forth a ruling regarding solitary confinement of prisoners relative to the 8th amendment. What could we possibly do to people that is more cruel than keeping them locked in an 8' by 10' room for 23 out of every 24 hours? Perhaps it is time for the high court to do something controversial that I might actually agree with. That sentence sounds very self-serving. And so it is. I think solitary confinement is the cruelest punishment, worse than death, and it ought to be eliminated from the corrections system. It represents the selfishness behind criminal justice.
Why do we have a criminal justice system? To protect the innocent, maintain order in society and rehabilitate offenders. At least that's what it's usually billed as. Unfortunately, I think the emphasis usually falls solely on the efforts of protecting society and punishing offenders. I believe in the law of consequence, so I'm not anti-punishment, but I do like the idea of not making it cruel or unusual. Of course, I don't really know what unusual means, and I could do without that part of it. I think there are some unusual punishments that are not necessarily cruel and might be rather effective. I digress. I think punishment is acceptable, if it is done appropriately with the correct intention. But I don't think that punishment should be the only focus of society. Why not help people improve their lives along the way?
Sure, it is easier said than done. You can't force someone to change their behavior. Not without seriously damaging their brains. People have to want to change. Someone with tendency towards crime has to want to stop being criminal before they can really stop the deviance. This is what makes involuntary incarceration necessary. Some people are penitent and wish to change, but are still incarcerated, involuntarily. There doesn't seem to be any way around incarceration. I think there are some crimes that shouldn't bring with them a sentence of prison, but that's for another discussion.
Solitary confinement is for the purpose of punishing convicts after they are already in prison. Solitary is the prison for the prison society. My primary concern with the prison system in general is that it tries to teach people to live in civilized society while placing them in a perverted version of society with all new folkways and mores. How do you teach someone to play basketball on a baseball diamond? I think it is difficult, at best, to rehabilitate or properly socialize a person in prison at all. Then when you take them out of all social contact and put them in a small room alone for 23 hours a day, forget about it. Everybody needs somebody. We are social by nature, when the ability to socialize is taken away, the individual suffers.
I like to spend time alone, but the thought of being in a small room all day without any contact with other people makes me feel claustrophobic. I can't imagine being locked up in solitary confinement. Of course, I can't imagine being locked up in prison. On the surface it seems like I'd rather leave the general population to have some respite in solitary confinement, but that is a very superficial thought. The situation would have to be really bad for me to want to leave a community and enter into solitary confinement, even if that community is the prison population.
People act how they are treated, more than we recognize or want to accept possibly. If we treat people like they are good for nothing but to be cast off, and that is exactly the message of solitary confinement, then those people might begin to act that way. Supporters of capital punishment (which I am not) and those who support the tough on crime movements probably have some questions for me. One question might be regarding how I think we ought to treat criminals. I don't think we should pat them on the back and say "you killed that guy really well, good job!" Not at all. I just think we ought to offer some options for a person to truly reform their behavior if they are willing to. You might ask "what's the point?" That is the question to answer. We all have to answer it for ourselves individually as well as collectively. What's the purpose of life? To lock up people who offend us so that they can never offend us again? Is it just so we can make our lives more comfortable? Yes, we all make our choices and reap the consequences, but what of forgiveness, mercy and compassion? Do we just write people off? Who do we write off, and when?
I watched a National Geographic documentary about solitary confinement, which is what got me thinking about this. The way our prisons are now aren't working. It isn't the fault of the correctional officers, administrators and support staff, or really any individuals in particular. Society as a whole is the problem. We are beyond a quick fix for the correctional institutions. The underlying problem lies in the socialization of everyone in this country. It is a big problem, and it needs solving. The answers are available, but we are all too proud and selfish to put them into practice. True story. We are all in this together. How do you feel about that? Let's do something about it.