Post by Logan on May 14, 2016 9:44:27 GMT -6
Colorado Department of Corrections Executive Director Rick Raemisch spent 20 hours in solitary confinement – only a blip compared to most prisoners' stays.
His time in a cell and the subsequent piece he wrote for the The New York Times about the experience made one thing clear to him: If solitary confinement cannot be eliminated, it must be greatly reduced.
"Knowing that 97 percent of inmates are ultimately returned to their communities, doing anything less would be both counterproductive and inhumane," he wrote.
Two decades ago that would have been an unusual thing for a prison chief to say.
Colorado – like most states – built its first "supermax" prison in the early 1990s for the purpose of housing dangerous offenders in single cells for 23 hours a day. As time went on, it became more acceptable to also house inmates with non-violent infractions in these facilities.
Read more: www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2016/05/13/colorado-prison-chief-spends-night-solitary/84278312/
His time in a cell and the subsequent piece he wrote for the The New York Times about the experience made one thing clear to him: If solitary confinement cannot be eliminated, it must be greatly reduced.
"Knowing that 97 percent of inmates are ultimately returned to their communities, doing anything less would be both counterproductive and inhumane," he wrote.
Two decades ago that would have been an unusual thing for a prison chief to say.
Colorado – like most states – built its first "supermax" prison in the early 1990s for the purpose of housing dangerous offenders in single cells for 23 hours a day. As time went on, it became more acceptable to also house inmates with non-violent infractions in these facilities.
Read more: www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2016/05/13/colorado-prison-chief-spends-night-solitary/84278312/