Penn Undergraduate Law Journal
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Masthead
    • Faculty Advisory Board
    • Partner Journals
    • Sponsors
  • Submissions
  • Full Issues
  • The Roundtable
    • Pre-Law Corner
  • Events
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Apply
    • FAQs
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Masthead
    • Faculty Advisory Board
    • Partner Journals
    • Sponsors
  • Submissions
  • Full Issues
  • The Roundtable
    • Pre-Law Corner
  • Events
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Apply
    • FAQs

The Roundtable


Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.


Solitary Confinement

3/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Alexandra Aaron
Alexandra Aaron is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Political Science and History.  

Last year a U.S District Court Judge ruled that 24 hour isolation of prisoners violated their due process rights, and that Virginia’s Department of Corrections would have to review prisoners on a case-by-case basis. The state appealed this decision and on October 28th a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments.

The Virginia prisoner who brought the lawsuit is on death row, where prisoners are often subjected to solitary confinement. Prison officials assert that solitary confinement is necessary for the health and safety of the general prison population, as well as of the prisoners being isolated. They argue that prisoners on death row are more likely to incite violence and cause harm because, ostensibly, they have less to lose. [1] They have also pointed to the increased desperation of death row inmates and the likelihood of an escape attempt. Experts have refuted these claims, contending that years of data have disproved the widely held misconception that death row inmates are more dangerous than other prisoners. [2]

In the past, constitutional challenges to solitary confinement have employed Eighth Amendment claims of cruel and unusual punishment. Proving these claims has been difficult. In Farmer v. Brennan the Supreme Court held that to employ an Eighth Amendment Claim, a prisoner must establish a “substantial risk of serious harm to inmates,” and that prison officials were “deliberately indifferent” to these risks. [3] Meeting this burden has been challenging and in most cases a prisoner must be a juvenile or mentally disabled prior to confinement for an Eighth Amendment challenge to succeed. Generally, prisoners have failed to prove that solitary confinement causes physical damage and courts have refused to recognize psychological injuries as “serious harm.”

Due process claims have been more successful. In Wilkinson v. Austin the Supreme Court ruled that while the Fourteenth Amendment does not protect against solitary confinement in and of itself, there is a “liberty interest” in procedural protections; [4] a prisoner cannot be arbitrarily confined. He or she must be afforded specific procedural protections that ensure his or her liberty. In Wilkinson, the Court held that the Ohio penitentiary system’s procedure of determining the necessity of solitary confinement in their Supermax prison afforded inmates due process. The Court applied the Mathews v. Eldridge three-pronged due process test that requires the Court to consider 1) the interests of the individual in retaining their property, and the injury threatened by the official action, 2) the risk of error through the procedures used and probable value, and 3) the costs and administrative burden of the additional process. The Court found that the state’s interests in adequately punishing and working to rehabilitate prisoners, and, more importantly, the procedural protections the prisons afforded in imposing solitary confinement met Mathews’ due process standards. Ohio’s procedures include allowing prisoners to make oral statements and call witnesses in their defense, as well as explaining to the prisoners what they need to do in order to be removed from solitary confinement. Prisoners in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time must also be regularly examined and their confinement must be reviewed in order to prevent unnecessary isolation and physical or psychological trauma.

In Virginia and many other states, prisoners, particularly those on death row, are vulnerable to arbitrary and often unnecessary solitary confinement. [5] The U.S District Judge ruled that failure to provide prisoners with similar procedural protections to those in Ohio violated prisoners’ due process rights. In many cases prisoners are isolated for years without knowing why they have been subjected to solitary confinement or what they can do to be released into the general prison population. Despite generally unsuccessful Eighth Amendment claims, it has been proven and accepted that prolonged solitary confinement causes severe psychological damage. The hope is that procedural due process claims will prevent the lengthy isolation that causes this damage and protect prisoners who are especially vulnerable to it. Prisoners around the county will have a strong claim for challenging current solitary confinement procedures should the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals uphold this ruling.

[1] “Court of Appeals to Review Solitary Confinement Policy for Death Row Inmates,” October 27, 2014, http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/court-of-appeals-to-review-solitary-confinement-policy-for-death/article_a101b136-5dcd-11e4-a000-0017a43b2370.html
[
2] Ibid.
[3] Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S 825 (1994)
[4] Wilkinson v. Austin, 544 U.S 74 (2005).
[5] “Leroy Peoples Lawsuit Renews Debate Over Solitary Confinement,” December 10, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/leroy-peoples-solitary-confinement-lawsuit_n_2272670.html
Photo credit: Flickr user Chris Gray

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    Aaron Tsui
    Akshita Tiwary
    Alana Bess
    Alana Mattei
    Albert Manfredi
    Alexander Saeedy
    Alexandra Aaron
    Alexandra Kanan
    Alexandra Kerrigan
    Alice Giannini
    Alicia Augustin
    Alicia Kysar
    Ally Kalishman
    Ally Margolis
    Alya Abbassian
    Amanda Damayanti
    Anika Prakash
    Anna Schwartz
    Arshiya Pant
    Ashley Kim
    Astha Pandey
    Audrey Pan
    Benjamin Ng'aru
    Brónach Rafferty
    Bryce Klehm
    Cary Holley
    Catherine Tang
    Christina Gunzenhauser
    Christine Mitchell
    Christopher Brown
    Clarissa Alvarez
    Cole Borlee
    Connor Gallagher
    Dan Spinelli
    Dan Zhang
    David Katz
    Davis Berlind
    Derek Willie
    Dhilan Lavu
    Edgar Palomino
    Edna Simbi
    Ella Jewell
    Ella Sohn
    Emma Davies
    Esther Lee
    Evelyn Bond
    Filzah Belal
    Frank Geng
    Gabrielle Cohen
    Gabriel Maliha
    Georgia Ray
    Graham Reynolds
    Habib Olapade
    Hailie Goldsmith
    Haley Son
    Hannah Steinberg
    Harshit Rai
    Hennessis Umacta
    Henry Lininger
    Hetal Doshi
    Ingrid Holmquist
    Iris Zhang
    Irtaza Ali
    Isabela Baghdady
    Ishita Chakrabarty
    Jack Burgess
    Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
    Joe Anderson
    Jonathan Lahdo
    Jonathan Stahl
    Joseph Squillaro
    Justin Yang
    Kaitlyn Rentala
    Kanishka Bhukya
    Katie Kaufman
    Kelly Liang
    Keshav Sharma
    Ketaki Gujar
    Khlood Awan
    Lauren Pak
    Lavi Ben Dor
    Libby Rozbruch
    Lindsey Li
    Luis Bravo
    Lyan Casamalhuapa
    Lyndsey Reeve
    Madeline Decker
    Maja Cvjetanovic
    Maliha Farrooz
    Marco DiLeonardo
    Margaret Lu
    Matthew Caulfield
    Michael Keshmiri
    Michael Merolla
    Mina Nur Basmaci
    Muskan Mumtaz
    Natalie Peelish
    Natasha Darlington
    Natasha Kang
    Nathan Liu
    Nayeon Kim
    Nicholas Parsons
    Nicholas Williams
    Nicole Greenstein
    Nicole Patel
    Nihal Sahu
    Omar Khoury
    Owen Voutsinas Klose
    Owen Voutsinas-Klose
    Paula Vekker
    Pheby Liu
    Pragat Patel
    Rachel Bina
    Rachel Gu
    Rachel Pomerantz
    Rebecca Heilweil
    Regina Salmons
    Sajan Srivastava
    Samantha Graines
    Sandeep Suresh
    Sanjay Dureseti
    Sarah Simon
    Saranya Das Sharma
    Saranya Sharma
    Sasha Bryski
    Saxon Bryant
    Sean Foley
    Sebastian Bates
    Serena Camici
    Shahana Banerjee
    Shannon Alvino
    Shiven Sharma
    Siddarth Sethi
    Sneha Parthasarathy
    Sneha Sharma
    Sophie Lovering
    Steven Jacobson
    Suaida Firoze
    Suprateek Neogi
    Takane Shoji
    Tanner Bowen
    Taryn MacKinney
    Thomas Cribbins
    Todd Costa
    Tyler Larkworthy
    Tyler Ringhofer
    Vatsal Patel
    Vikram Balasubramanian
    Vishwajeet Deshmukh
    Wajeeha Ahmad
    Yeonhwa Lee

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    September 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.