Unit 9 quiz Wednesday
Units 1-9 quiz Friday
Final draft of the argument paper due Friday
Students can use Quizlet to study for Friday's test. I made a test using 50 of the words from the nine units using Quizlet.
We are examining a student sample of the argument essay in class.
This essay is "Competent" on the Argument Rubric
- In other words, it is a solid B.
- The introduction has a hook, background, counterclaim, claim, and sort of 1,2,3
- The paragraphs could be better organized to clearly and logically present the details.
- Good length. Length matters because the reasons have to be explained with evidence.
- The conclusion is too long and brings in new information. That is a no no.
- As is, I would be satisfied. Some improvements will help.
- I did not really discuss the bibliography. I am planning to.
- (I hope this helps you know how I will use the rubric to score the essays.)
Solitary confinement
consists of being locked in a cell alone for 23 hours a day in a small concrete
cell with limited if any human interaction.
Inmates are placed in solitary confinement because of something they did
inside the prison, most because of their involvement in a gang. Some of the world’s most dangerous inmates
are just thrown in a cell for years without ever seeing their friends or family.
Without any knowledge about solitary confinement, it sounds pretty effective
but once you learn the real effects of it, you realize how inhuman this
approach really is. In addition, the cost of solitary confinement doubles to
triples the cost to keep them in jail by approximately $60,000 a year per
inmate. Is solitary confinement the only way to handle dangerous inmates? I
believe that solitary confinement should be eliminated from prisons.
Nobody
enjoys being alone, especially when some inmates are in solitary confinement
for over 5 years and this is harmful to their mental health. The point of solitary confinement is to make inmates
less violent. But in most cases, the inmates
end up going insane and making them even worse. Isolation can have a harmful
psychological effect because they have no sunlight, no books and no music. In the National Geographic documentary, they
go inside the Colorado State Penitentiary and see that placing an inmate in
solitary confinement can cause long term mental problems like paranoia,
depression and anxiety. Their small cell
contains their sink and toile with their meals served through a slot in the
door. They are only allowed one hour of
exercise by themselves and a quick shower. Often inmates pace back and forth in
their cells and have conversations with themselves. In the NPR article, one
inmate says solitary confinement is designed to break you and make you into a
different person, but he said instead it made him spiteful. In “The Bet”, the
lawyer suffered from loneliness and depression during his first few years of
solitary confinement. The story also shows how solitary confinement can cause a
person to lost all hope and go crazy.
The
physical effects of living in solitary confinement with eating, sleeping and
existing alone can be devastating. The
inmates get to a point where they are so desperate for attention that they will
hurt themselves, just to have physical interaction. They don’t care that their
solitary confinement may be extended. An
inmate, Robert King, who served 29 years, the longest solitary confinement
sentence in the country, described his time in a 3-by-6 cell as a “tomb.” He said there was a slab of concrete that was
his bed. In the winter, he froze and in
the summer, he overheated. He saw
inmates that were once very open become very withdrawn over time. In the
NPR article, you learn that the only exercise each day that they get is one
hour to stretch their legs, get some fresh air and maybe walk around. They are not even allowed to have a ball to
play with.
After being in solitary confinement,
an inmate often loses their social skills from being alone for so long In the
National Geographic documentary, interviews were conducted with the inmates and
discovered their social skills had depleted over time since they had nobody to
talk to but themselves. Once
released from prison, 70% of the inmates that had been in solitary confinement
find themselves back in prison within the next few years. In the National Geographic documentary, one
of the inmates interviewed was released and found daily interaction was very
difficult. He thought a man was staring
at him so he yelled at the man and started a fight. Inmates in solitary
confinement forget how to have a simple conversation. The inmate has only the prison staff for
social interaction and is dependent on them for everything. He has nothing to do to occupy his time. An
inmate in the NPR article said that for 6 years, the only physical contact he
had was a pinky shake. A released inmate
in the NPR article did not like going to the grocery store, the movies or even
family parties.
Although
I think that solitary confinement should be abolished, many people disagree. People
believe that taking the most dangerous inmates out of the general population is
a good idea to make the guards and other inmates safer. However, violence continues to increase in
prisons even those that have a high number of inmates in solitary confinement.
People in favor of solitary confinement feel it will bring out the best in the
inmates, causing them to change and make them sorry for what they did. Although,
through my research I have learned that this is not the case. While people believe the inmate is spending
time thinking about what they have done wrong and try to change, often solitary
confinement makes them become more withdrawn as the years go by. Also, when they get into the outside world as
is seen by an inmate in the NPR article, he can’t even make small talk. He took a welding class and when the teacher
asks him a question, he could make no eye contact or answer the teacher’s
questions. People believe that solitary confinement
will reduce the number of gang fights. By having the most dangerous gang
members away from the general prison population, there will be a lower number
of gang fights. On the other hand, In
the NPR article, California is having worst gang problems now with more inmates
in solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement
should be eliminated in prisons. Solitary confinement is very difficult for an
inmate to live through and has been found to be just as bad as being physically
tortured. Just locking that bad inmate
away makes you feel safer for the time being but you are not doing anything to
help that inmate change. In the Natural Geographic documentary, there was study
done on rats. A rat was placed in
similar conditions as solitary confinement.
When he was put back with the other rats, he continued to have the same
routine as when he was alone and ignored them.
He did not know how to socialize.
Taking a human being and putting them in a small space for 23 hours a
day with nothing to do is inhumane. There is growing evidence that solitary
confinement causes mental breakdowns and the Federal Bureau of Prisons is
reviewing their policies on solitary confinement for the first time. “They believed that isolation here was going
to bring about the best of the inmates.
Change them for life. Make them penitent,” says Sean Kelley, director of
public programming at the historic site. “There is a lot of evidence that that
is not what happened.”
Bibliography
Chekhov, Anton
Pavlovich. The Bet. Pymble, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, 1995. Print.
Inside Solitary
Confinement: National Geographic Explorer. National Geographic Digital Media,
2010.
"Journal of the
American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online." Solitary
Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challengefor Medical Ethics.
N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
"Life in Solitary
Confinement." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Staff, NPR.
"Solitary Confinement: Punishment Or Cruelty?" NPR. NPR, n.d.
Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
