I’ve made my views on prisons in the U.S. pretty clear since I’ve been blogging at VL. I don’t think prisons help to solve crime, and 99% of the time, I think they make crime worse. I also think that the prison industrial complex is highly racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, abelist, nationalistic and any other horrible ‘ism it could possibly be. Which leads to not just high rates of imprisonment of legitimate criminals–but high rates of innocent people as well. Far too many black men (for example) “look” guilty and therefor must be. So I’ve definitely got my issues with the U.S. prison system and work towards its abolition.

But while I work towards prison abolition, it’s important to question what prison conditions are like *now* in the real world. Which leads to this question that this organization poses: Is solitary confinement torture?

Again, I’m posed to say yes, without even listening to the arguments for or against–but I must say, after having listened to “pro” arguments, I think even my libertarian next door neighbors would give pause to think about it a little. One of the stories highlighted by the Project was the story of Timothy Joe Souders, a mentally ill man that was thrown into solitary confinement.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Souders, 21, spent most of his last four days naked, without physician or psychiatric care, his arms and legs bound to a steel bed in four-point restraints. He was in a bare, all-steel isolation cell about the size of a walk-in closet.

He went to the cell Aug. 2 because of unruly behavior. He lay in urine — “agitated, disoriented, psychotic” — as the cell felt close to 106 degrees at times, according to a report written by a federal monitor assigned to scrutinize medical care for Jackson prisons.

Souders was found dead on his bed around 4 p.m., two hours after staff had removed his shackles. The death of the severely mentally ill inmate is a glaring example of a troubled state prison health care system, riddled with misdiagnoses, delayed or denied treatment and inadequate accommodations for people with disabilities.

The Jackson prison complex, including the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility where Souders died, has been under federal oversight for more than 20 years.

As his mother says on the National Radio Project, only the nation/state could shackle a human being, leave that person to urinate/defecate on him/herself, offer no food or water, and then call it an ‘accident’ when the person dies. If one citizen had done that to another citizen, it’d be called torture.

But of course, it’s possible to dismiss solitary confinement as “acceptable” and an “accident” because in this society, people believe that when you wind up in prison you “get what you deserve.” Or that prison is “not supposed to be fun.” Which, of course, is based on the very convenient dehumanization of human beings–it’s cheaper, easier, and makes us all feel really self-righteous and good to “stick it to” prisoners. Because there will never ever be a day when *we* are in the position of Timothy Souders, will there? We’re too good for that, right? So let ‘em suffer!

What do you think about all this? Should human beings be locked into solitary confinement? Is there ever a justifiable reason for it?