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| Solitary confinement comes under new scrutiny |
| By bostonglobe.com |
| Published: 05/07/2013 |
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Neil Miller is still haunted by the seclusion, the disorientation, the darkness. During his more than 10 years as a prisoner, Miller spent weeks, months, and once even two years in solitary confinement units, where inmates are kept for as many as 23 hours a day. “It’s a mental game in there,” Miller, now 46, said recently, still reflecting the anger and acting out that repeatedly got him sent to what prisoners call “the hole.” “You’re fighting with your own sanity, trying to keep yourself together.” He was eventually vindicated by new DNA evidence and freed — but not before the time spent alone in a cell had taken its toll. The use of segregation units — where roughly 500 of the state’s 11,000 prisoners are held in Massachusetts on any given day — has come under increased scrutiny over the last year, with state and federal court rulings limiting their use. State legislators have proposed regulating them further. The Department of Correction defends what it calls special management units, saying they are needed to keep unruly inmates in order. Read More. |
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