IDOC moves to reform solitary confinement rules
Thursday, Oct 20, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More like this, please…
Acknowledging that in the past, inmates have too often been housed in segregation, the Illinois Department of Corrections is proposing new restrictions on the practice.
“This is going to be a culture change, frankly, for the Illinois Department of Corrections,” department attorney Nancy Vincent said Wednesday in Springfield during a public hearing on the proposal. “And we also want the public to understand that this is just the first step, both in that culture change and in how we administer discipline and segregation.”
Among other changes, the proposal would require that mental health professionals play a greater role in determining whether segregation is an appropriate disciplinary measure for inmates who have committed offenses while in prison. For example, if an inmate is determined to be “seriously mentally ill,” the recommendations of a mental health professional would have to be considered if an inmate has committed an offense for which segregation is a possible punishment.
The department also proposes allowing inmates in segregation to shower and shave at least three times per week rather than just once and requiring that segregated cells “provide visual access to natural light.”
The rules also would require that a mental health professional make rounds in each segregation unit at least once a week and that a chaplain make weekly visits as well.
* Solitary confinement can drive people insane…
In the largest prison protest in California’s history, nearly 30,000 inmates have gone on hunger strike. Their main grievance: the state’s use of solitary confinement, in which prisoners are held for years or decades with almost no social contact and the barest of sensory stimuli.
The human brain is ill-adapted to such conditions, and activists and some psychologists equate it to torture. Solitary confinement isn’t merely uncomfortable, they say, but such an anathema to human needs that it often drives prisoners mad.
In isolation, people become anxious and angry, prone to hallucinations and wild mood swings, and unable to control their impulses. The problems are even worse in people predisposed to mental illness, and can wreak long-lasting changes in prisoners’ minds.
“What we’ve found is that a series of symptoms occur almost universally. They are so common that it’s something of a syndrome,” said psychiatrist Terry Kupers of the Wright Institute, a prominent critic of solitary confinement. “I’m afraid we’re talking about permanent damage.”
And then we let those insane people out of prison where they too often can’t get the help they need, and then we all act surprised when more bad things happen.
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 11:52 am:
Solitary only makes sense when it is for the safety of the guards and other inmates, and even then it should only be imposed for a reasonable amount of time.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 12:00 pm:
Happy about the access to chaplain suggestion. That being said I hope that IDOC chaplains are board certified or at least CPE trained (Clinical Pastoral Education). This way they are not local pastors trying to proselytize but rather “providing for their own (faith) but caring for all”. This could be a comfort to those confined. Someone proselytizing might exacerbate the feelings of isolation and despair.
- Federalist - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 12:02 pm:
“Happy about the access to chaplain suggestion. That being said I hope that IDOC chaplains are board certified or at least CPE trained (Clinical Pastoral Education). This way they are not local pastors trying to proselytize but rather “providing for their own (faith) but caring for all”. This could be a comfort to those confined. Someone proselytizing might exacerbate the feelings of isolation and despair.”
Good Point!
- Bible - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 12:47 pm:
I would suggest actually reading me. A good place to start would be 1 John chapt 4.
- weltschmerz - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 12:52 pm:
“Thank God, for the penitentiaries.” Richard Pryor.
- milkman - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 12:55 pm:
Reform of solitary confinement started before he came to power like the closing of the state super max which I still don’t think was a good thing. Not sure why he’s trying to take credit now. Must be a slow news week.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 1:23 pm:
Torture in the service of “corrections” is Orwellian.
- Cubs in '16 - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 2:25 pm:
Nature tells us humans are not hardwired for social isolation. Look at people who were deprived of social contact and stimulation as infants. The “syndrome” is classified as a mental illness. And I would agree that solitary confinement for long periods of time is a form of torture.
- FirstTimer - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 2:40 pm:
In spending over 20 years working at an Illinois prison, segregation is a tool in the operations and when used correctly a necessary tool. Problem with IDOC and especially the SuperMax it was a “lock em up and forget them” type of attitude by the administration. If there was an inmate who pissed-off the right Warden or the Director they could be sent to Tamms. If they were gang bangers and didn’t want to play the way the administration wanted them to play, send them to Tamms. Some inmates where there for their own protection! Others just too dangerous to be in general population. The administration never came up with a plan for inmates to work themselves out of Tamms.
The only reason we are really dealing with these issues today in Illinois is due to the approved settlement in the Rasho case against the IDOC. If the IDOC does not take this reduction in segregation time serious look for many more millions of dollars spent in staff assaults and perhaps even deaths of employees within the walls of our prisons. This is serious and should be dealt with in the most serious manners. The State of Illinois is not adequately staffed to deal with this today. So I am sending a prayer for the safety of those who work in these facilities and hope the taxpayers are willing to do what is right to keep our women and men in the Illinois Department of Corrections safe.
- milkman - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 3:11 pm:
Hey Firstimer, You know what the Administration always said. If it ain’t on paper it didn’t happen.
- anon - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 3:34 pm:
Better late than never. Those who opposed Tamms have been saying prolonged segregation causes harm for years.
- State worker - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 5:54 pm:
It’s true. If you think this is a step in the right direction, thank Governor Quinn, his admin, and the advocates who dogged him about it. He got a new chief who started reducing use of segregation, brought the Vera Institute of Justice in to study the problem and make recommendations, and closed Tamms, which had no communal spaces!
- milkman - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 6:07 pm:
Anon. Those who oppose solitary confinement have never had to work a Max joint. What do you do with inmates who attack corrections employees or kill or rape their cellmates??? Look up Henry Brisbon.
- Southern Illinoisan - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 8:22 pm:
Limited segregation is worthwhile for the majority of the offender population in IDOC. But does the public really think that the offenders who were transferred out of Tamms are running around in the general population? They were simply relocated to segregation at Pontiac. Not much differnce… And yes there are offnders such as Henry Brisbon that are true predators and are not capable of rehabilitation. They would just as soon kill another person as to look at them . Tamms was built for them and should have remained in operation to house those type of offenders. But like many things in IDOC it was mismanaged and abused. So the solution was to close it and eliminate the problem. But predatory inmates still exist and need to be secured. That’s why seg will continue.
- State worker - Thursday, Oct 20, 16 @ 11:52 pm:
Former Tamms prisoners are in every institution, including medium security facilities, and many are free.