Last month, Obama made an announcement banning solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prison. Along with that, he also said that the longest amount that a prisoner can be charged with solitary confinement for the first offence is 60 days instead of the original 365 days.

According to the Washington Post, this affects about 10,000 inmates currently in prison out of the estimate 80,000-100,000 currently in solitary confinement.

Solitary confinement is a type of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated in a separate cell for 23 hours. The reason why Obama made this decision is because of all the health risks associated with solitary confinement. Leaving a prisoner alone in a cell for over 20 hours can harm them in a number of ways.

Their brain can develop many different types of illnesses like schizophrenia, claustrophobia, anxiety and depression. It can also cause the brain to hallucinate and lose its grip to society.

According to PBS, research was done at McGill University in which they paid male students to stay in small rooms, only letting them leave to use the bathroom.

Although the research was planned to last for six weeks, none of them could last longer than one. Almost all the students lost their ability to think clearly and some began to develop hallucinations.

The National Institute of Mental Health found that a teenager’s brain develops at the age of 20. University graduates, who are typically 22 years old and above, can’t last more than a week in solitary confinement without hallucinations based off of the research at McGill University.

If this is the case, then how does the government expect juveniles to remain sane when young adults can barely manage?
Another problem with solitary confinement is that it’s not just limited to lucid people. In fact, it was said in a Human Rights Watch that 20-70 percent of prisoners in solitary confinement have some form of a mental illness.

This is a serious problem considering that putting these prisoners in solitary confinement would worsen their mental illnesses rather than treating it.

A further study done from 1999 to 2004, found that prisoners put in solitary confinement committed nearly half of suicides.

In fact, 63 percent of suicides occurred among inmates locked in a special housing status, such as solitary or psychiatric seclusion cells.

With all the deaths happening in the world, the government should be reducing the risk of suicide instead of increasing it, especially when it comes to teenagers who have their whole life to live.

An alternative to violence is communication. Many juveniles are being put in solitary confinement due to them being violent or dangerous to the other prisoners. Teaching them how to channel their anger or referring them to phycologists will be a healthier method than putting them in solitary confinement. The same goes for prisoners struggling with mental illnesses.

Communication is a big part in a mental illness. However, if a prisoner is just too dangerous to be around people, locking them up in cells where they are able to communicate to other prisoners without touching them will be another alternative.

No matter what mistakes we make in life, we all have the right to be treated like human beings. We need to encourage prisoners to make a better life for themselves.

Having them talk about their problems to a psychologist, having them know that it isn’t too late for them to make a change for themselves, is much better than trapping them and dehumanizing them.

If a prisoner is just too dangerous to be around others, they could be put in a cell with bars to be able to communicate with others rather than being confined in a closed space alone.

Solitary confinement needs to end and Obama’s ban is a right step in that direction.