December 10, 2008, is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a fitting time to celebrate as well as to reflect on the extent to which the rights affirmed in that seminal document are respected here in the United States. Article 5 of the UDHR states that "[n]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", and the prohibition against torture and abuse is now codified in a number of international and regional treaties to which the United States is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture. The prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is absolute and non-derogable.
Unfortunately, violations of this most prized human right occur routinely in many US prisons and are sanctioned by official policy. I am not thinking here of malicious beatings or sexual violence, which are not daily occurrences in the nation's jails and prisons (although they are far from rare) and are not formally authorized (although some officials tacitly acquiesce to them). Rather, I am thinking of solitary confinement and, more specifically, the solitary confinement of prisoners who are mentally ill.
Although corrections officials do not like the term, the conditions of disciplinary and administrative segregation in US prisons-physical isolation in a cell for 23 to 24 hours a day, with socially and psychologically meaningful contact reduced to the absolute minimum and little to no activity-constitute what the international community understands as solitary confinement. International and regional human rights bodies have strongly criticized extended solitary confinement under harsh conditions of deprivation. Yet correctional systems in the United States continue to rely on prolonged segregation to handle difficult inmates-including the mentally ill, who are disproportionately represented in most segregated units.
Thirteen years ago, a federal district court in California concluded after extensive evidence that placing the mentally ill in prolonged segregation was the equivalent of putting an asthmatic in a room with little air. Since then, the evidence has continued to accumulate that solitary confinement for extended periods is harmful to those with a history of serious mental illness-at worst, it provokes deterioration to the point of decompensation, necessitating hospitalization; at best, it prevents improvement in the underlying illness. The mentally ill in segregation account for many, if not most, attempted and successful prison suicides.
The prolonged segregation of mentally ill men and women contravenes their right to be free of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It reflects a disregard of their fundamental human dignity, which prison officials are obliged to uphold. In a report delivered to the UN General Assembly in October this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment drew attention to the use of and harm caused by solitary confinement worldwide, urging that its use be "kept to a minimum" and that regardless of the reasons for its use, social contacts for prisoners be increased.[1]
According to the Special Rapporteur, "The weight of accumulated medical and psychological evidence, to date, points to the serious and adverse health effects of the use of solitary confinement: from insomnia and confusion to hallucinations and mental illness. The key adverse factor of solitary confinement is that socially and psychologically meaningful contact is reduced to a point that is insufficient for most detainees to remain mentally well functioning." He also cited the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement-adopted in 2007 by an international group of experts at the International Psychological Trauma Symposium held in Istanbul-as a useful tool for States seeking to increase respect for human rights and included it as an annex to his report.[2]
Among other recommendations, the Istanbul Statement calls for an absolute prohibition on solitary confinement of the mentally ill.
Every class action challenging the prolonged segregation of mentally ill prisoners has resulted either in a court order or a settlement prohibiting or greatly limiting the practice. But corrections officials should not wait until litigation forces change. They should signal their commitment to basic human rights by voluntarily ending policies that inflict cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment on the most vulnerable of prisoners.
[1] See http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/440/75/PDF/N0844075.pdf
[2] See http://www.solitaryconfinement.org/uploads/Istanbul_expert_statement_on_...
