Hellhole
Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, March 30, 2009

Human beings are social creatures. We are social not just in the trivial sense that we like company, and not just in the obvious sense that we each depend on others. We are social in a more elemental way: simply to exist as a normal human being requires interaction with other people.

I have long argued that incarceration should not be used to punish criminals. The goals should be rehabilitation and separation. Prison officials should have a mandate to treat inmates with respect and provide them with a decent quality of life. Solitary confinement should never be used to punish inmates or to keep them safe. It is a cruel practice that has no place in an industrialized, first-world, enlightened society. (more…)

incarceration · isolation · prison · social · solitary confinement · the new yorker · torture