Author(s): Andrey Arcidiacono and Kate Mitcham
Mentor(s): Taylor Hartwell, Criminology, Law and Society
This project, completed over the summer of 2022, focuses Restricted Housing Units, known generally to the public as “solitary confinement.” These have been used in the American correctional system throughout history. Our research aims to develop a broader understanding of the effect these living environments have on inmate health. We took this indepth view of Restricted Housing Units and looked at what inmates reported in interviews about their living conditions. It was reported by inmates that it was difficult to maintain their hygiene as well as reports of not receiving food in a timly manner. We hope in future research to broaden the understanding of prison environments by enhnacing research methods for targeted data collection.
Audio TranscriptAndrey: Hi! My name’s Andrey, and this is my partner Kate. We’re undergraduate researchers at George Mason University working with the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence! We’re looking at residents’ perceptions of physical health while living in solitary confinement.
Kate: First, we’d like to start by defining Health, which is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Solitary confinement negatively affects all the aspects of health that I just named physical, mental, and social. Since it’s such an extreme form of confinement, oftentimes, residents have reported that their physical, mental, and social health have deteriorated while living in restricted housing units. This is shown as poor appetite, weight loss, and aggravation of pre-existing medical problems. Actually, in a study of more than 200,000 people, those who had spent time in solitary were 78 times more likely to die from suicide within the first year after their return to the community than those who have been incarcerated but not placed in solitary.
Andrey: Our research question focused on health, specifically what health changes residents perceived after being placed into RHUs. We looked at health in two areas: Physical and mental health. And in our interviews, we looked at how residents perceived mental health services and their physical and mental well-being.
Kate: Our research data was collected in 2017 by a team of researchers that we got to work closely with during the summer. The data was collected between 4 prisons, one female and three male. It was a set of interviews between inmates and correctional officers that ranged between 45 and 60 minutes with a series of pre-structured questions. However, we would like to clarify that our research was just the inmate interviews, not the correctional officers. Ethnographic observations were also part of the data collection.
So what did we find? Some common trends we found over the four institutions were poor mental health, poor Health Services, loss of appetite, and weight loss. And actually, in the women’s prison in institution 3, that was the lowest reported decline in health among the inmates. Whereas institution one had the highest reported decline, 71.4% of inmates reported that their health had declined while in restricted housing units.
Andrey: When it comes to the implications of our research, we first look at our theoretical implications. The prisoners discussed poor appetite and weight loss through their reports and interviews. This data supports the literature and research done by past researchers. This means our findings are similar to those found in past research. Practically, if residents are being affected mentally and physically during their time in restricted housing, our research shows the possible side effects of living in Solitary Confinement. our research will better inform policymakers and other prison decision-makers.
When we look at the limitations of our research, we first have to look at our data collection. Because we were unable to collect the data ourselves and couldn’t go into the prisons ourselves, the data we relied on was collected by past researchers. Those past researchers had their own goals and research questions in mind. This means that we could not target our research to fit our specific research question. In the future, we’d like to address those research limitations by being able to look at our research firsthand, collect data, and ask follow-up questions to pinpoint as specific questions to get specific data. Expanding our research to broaden our knowledge of the prison environment would be very helpful and would not only allow us to look at how the physical environment affects inmates but also how their mental health is being affected by solitary confinement.
Kate: That was our presentation, Health in Restricted Housing: Resident Perceptions of Physical Health While Living in Solitary Confinement. We would like to give a special thank you and shout out to Taylor Hartwell and Danielle Rudes, who were our mentors throughout this summer research project. We would also like to thank everyone we worked with in the Surviving Solitary Research Project this summer.
Andrey: Thank you.
Kate: First, we’d like to start by defining Health, which is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Solitary confinement negatively affects all the aspects of health that I just named physical, mental, and social. Since it’s such an extreme form of confinement, oftentimes, residents have reported that their physical, mental, and social health have deteriorated while living in restricted housing units. This is shown as poor appetite, weight loss, and aggravation of pre-existing medical problems. Actually, in a study of more than 200,000 people, those who had spent time in solitary were 78 times more likely to die from suicide within the first year after their return to the community than those who have been incarcerated but not placed in solitary.
Andrey: Our research question focused on health, specifically what health changes residents perceived after being placed into RHUs. We looked at health in two areas: Physical and mental health. And in our interviews, we looked at how residents perceived mental health services and their physical and mental well-being.
Kate: Our research data was collected in 2017 by a team of researchers that we got to work closely with during the summer. The data was collected between 4 prisons, one female and three male. It was a set of interviews between inmates and correctional officers that ranged between 45 and 60 minutes with a series of pre-structured questions. However, we would like to clarify that our research was just the inmate interviews, not the correctional officers. Ethnographic observations were also part of the data collection.
So what did we find? Some common trends we found over the four institutions were poor mental health, poor Health Services, loss of appetite, and weight loss. And actually, in the women’s prison in institution 3, that was the lowest reported decline in health among the inmates. Whereas institution one had the highest reported decline, 71.4% of inmates reported that their health had declined while in restricted housing units.
Andrey: When it comes to the implications of our research, we first look at our theoretical implications. The prisoners discussed poor appetite and weight loss through their reports and interviews. This data supports the literature and research done by past researchers. This means our findings are similar to those found in past research. Practically, if residents are being affected mentally and physically during their time in restricted housing, our research shows the possible side effects of living in Solitary Confinement. our research will better inform policymakers and other prison decision-makers.
When we look at the limitations of our research, we first have to look at our data collection. Because we were unable to collect the data ourselves and couldn’t go into the prisons ourselves, the data we relied on was collected by past researchers. Those past researchers had their own goals and research questions in mind. This means that we could not target our research to fit our specific research question. In the future, we’d like to address those research limitations by being able to look at our research firsthand, collect data, and ask follow-up questions to pinpoint as specific questions to get specific data. Expanding our research to broaden our knowledge of the prison environment would be very helpful and would not only allow us to look at how the physical environment affects inmates but also how their mental health is being affected by solitary confinement.
Kate: That was our presentation, Health in Restricted Housing: Resident Perceptions of Physical Health While Living in Solitary Confinement. We would like to give a special thank you and shout out to Taylor Hartwell and Danielle Rudes, who were our mentors throughout this summer research project. We would also like to thank everyone we worked with in the Surviving Solitary Research Project this summer.
Andrey: Thank you.