Solitary Confinement and the U.S. Prison Boom

Ryan T Sakoda; Jessica T Simes

doi:10.1177/0887403419895315

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Solitary Confinement and the U.S. Prison Boom

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Solitary Confinement and the U.S. Prison Boom

Ryan T Sakoda and Jessica T Simes

Criminal justice policy review, Vol.32(1), pp.88740341989531-102

12/29/2019

DOI: 10.1177/0887403419895315

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https://open.bu.edu/bitstreams/001c7d0e-de65-48b9-abc7-e39b8393e376/downloadView

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Abstract

Solitary confinement is a harsh form of custody involving isolation from the general prison population and highly restricted access to visitation and programs. Using detailed prison records covering three decades of confinement practices in Kansas, we find solitary confinement is a normal event during imprisonment. Long stays in solitary confinement were rare in the late 1980s with no detectable racial disparities, but a sharp increase in capacity after a new prison opening began an era of long-term isolation most heavily affecting Black young adults. A decomposition analysis indicates that increases in the length of stay in solitary confinement almost entirely explain growth in the proportion of people held in solitary confinement. Our results provide new evidence of increasingly harsh prison conditions and disparities that unfolded during the prison boom.

Details

Title: Subtitle: Solitary Confinement and the U.S. Prison Boom
Creators: Ryan T Sakoda - University of Iowa, Law Faculty
Jessica T Simes - Boston University, MA, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Criminal justice policy review, Vol.32(1), pp.88740341989531-102
DOI: 10.1177/0887403419895315
ISSN: 0887-4034
eISSN: 1552-3586
Language: English
Date published: 12/29/2019
Academic Unit: Law Faculty
Record Identifier: 9984131900802771

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