“There is a large body of evidence consistently and convincingly demonstrating the harmful effects of solitary confinement on health and wellbeing. These effects are particularly devastating for the mentally ill, who are overrepresented in supermax prisons: in Colorado alone, as many as 40 per cent of prisoners housed in segregated housing were suffering mental illness. One of the most commonly reported reactions to regimes of solitary confinement is increased irritability and rage, often manifested in unprovoked violent outbursts. In the absence of others, this violence is often directed inwardly: in California, a reported 69 per cent of prison suicides in 2005 took place in segregated housing. When the prisoner is released back to the general prison population or to society at large, violence may also be directed against others.
Rather than controlling violence, as they officially purport to do, supermax prisons may thus breed mental illness and violence, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, the costs of which may be borne not only by the prisoners themselves but also by the communities to which they will eventually return.”
Sharon Shalev, author of Supermax.