Special Housing Units

History

Solitary confinement was a common form of punishment in the beginning of the 19th century and was a major component of the reformist ideas of the Quakers. Reformers and prison administrators alike commonly believed that inmates in isolation would reflect on their misdeeds, repent for their behavior, and transform themselves into productive human beings. At that time, prisoners served their entire sentences in complete isolation.

Auburn Correctional Facility in New York State was the first facility to change to a “work by day” and “solitary by night” prison. This new model of prison management arose in response to problems inmates suffered in solitary confinements. Some, after living in complete isolation, committed suicide and self-harmed; many others appeared to suffer from mental breakdowns. Occurrences like these were enough to cause many countries to reject solitary confinement as a form of discipline. Between 1854 and 1909, German studies also showed that psychotic disturbances (i.e., delusions, hallucinations, violent behavior, and amnesia) were associated with the mandatory segregation of inmates.

Even though many facilities abandoned complete isolation for all of its prisoners, solitary confinement continued to be used to segregate specific inmates from the rest of the prison population. In the 1980s, Marion, a federal prison for men in Illinois, became the first prison comprised entirely of SHU inmates. This confinement design then served as a model for all other prison systems.

Research

Most studies have found that solitary confinement has profound psychological effects on the incarcerated. Isolation can lead to anger, hostility, aggression, destructive behavior, high levels of anxiety and tension, lack of self-insight, submissiveness, fatigue, limited ability to communicate and concentrate, difficulty thinking or remembering, violent fantasies, emotional and cognitive impairments, hypersensitivity to external stimuli (overly sensitive to smells and noises), suicidal ideations, paranoia, perceptual disorders (hallucinations and delusions), and other forms of mental illness. Many inmates become totally dependent on the prison structure. They do not know how to set limits for themselves, because they are not allowed to make any of their own decisions. Many are no longer able to initiate behavior of any kind. Inmates may also leave SHU more violent then when they entered. Others may leave more passive but unable to initiate behavior or communicate effectively with others. Solitary confinement has also been found to create abnormal effects on the [Page 914]brain (limited cognitive functioning), the nervous system (increased sensitivity to stimuli), and the endocrine gland response system (an increased biochemical response producing adrenaline, which can cause aggressiveness or anxiety). Similarly, inmates held in SHU are generally more distrustful, selfcentered, manipulative, and socially immature than those who are not placed under these conditions.

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