And if you’re not swayed by moral and constitutional arguments against solitary confinement, there’s also the fact that it costs three times as much per prisoner.
Isolation changes the way the brain works, often making individuals more impulsive, less able to control themselves. The mental pain of solitary confinement is crippling: Brain studies reveal durable impairments and abnormalities in individuals denied social interaction. Plainly put, prisoners often lose their minds. … And remember: Most persons now in solitary confinement will someday be back on Americas streets, some of them rendered psychotic by what are called correctional institutions.
Bravo, George Will. There’s still a spark of good in you.