EFTA00632561.pdf

From: paul krassner CI To: Dennis Sobin < robert bloom Subject: FYI Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2017 19:58:21 +0000 From: William Berkowitz < Subject: Berkowitz: Solitary--Prisoners Warehoused, Abandoned, Wrecked Date: October 9, 2017 at 7:49:13 AM PDT To: https://www.colorlines.com/articlesil 00000-us-prisoners-are-trapped-isolation-units-solitary-author-and-forensic-psychiatrist 100,000 U.S. Prisoners Are Trapped in Isolation Units. 'Solitary' Author and Forensic Psychiatrist Terry Kupers Explains Why In his stark new book, "Solitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We Can Abolish It," veteran forensic psychiatrist Terry Allen Kupers explores the rise of supermax prisons, the normalization of long-term solitary confinement, and how isolation damages people's psyches. He talks to Colorlines about what race has to do with it and more. Bill Berkowitz Colorlines, Friday, October 6, 2017 -- This work was first published in Colorlines.com -- There are nearly 100,000 people being held in solitary confinement today in America's prisons. They are locked up in cramped, often windowless cells for nearly 24 hours a day. They eat alone. They exercise alone in small fenced-in areas known as cages or dog runs. They are almost completely segregated from the mainstream population and there are no programs available to them. Most aren't allowed to make phone calls to loved ones. And they are often subject to extreme and excessive punishment, euphemistically called "cell extractions." Robert Hillary King, an Angola 3 member who spent 29 in solitary confinement has called this isolation a matter of "moral depravity." Forensic psychiatrist Terry Allen Kupers knows this moral depravity all too well. He has spent 40 years evaluating prisons and jails and testifying in class action suits revolving around prisoners' rights issues such as overcrowding, sexual abuse and the lack of decent mental health treatment. In his new book "Solitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We Can Abolish It," Kupers describes how long-term solitary confinement destroys the minds of those imprisoned. He also explains how prisons became warehouses for the mentally ill, which set the stage for a 30-year boom in supermax prison construction and the placement of a large number of prisoners in solitary confinement. Here, in his first extensive interview since the September release of "Solitary," Kupers discusses private prison practices, the role of race in solitary confinement and why he does this painful work. [Read the full interview @ https://www.colorlines.corniarticles/100000-us-prisoners-are-trapped- isolation-units-solitary-author-and-forensic-psychiatrist] Unsubsaibe@ EFTA00632561 EFTA00632562