Credit: Submitted
State Rep. Tina Davis spoke Wednesday in support of legislation designed to prohibit solitary confinement for vulnerable populations.
Davis, a Democrat from Bristol Township, joined fellow Democratic State Rep. Donna Bullock, of Philadelphia, and Democratic State Sen. John Kane, who represents Chester and Delaware counties.
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The lawmakers are behind House Bill 1037. The bill would prohibit using solitary confinement for pregnant or postpartum women, women who have recently suffered a miscarriage or terminated a pregnancy, LGBTQ individuals, inmates with certain mental, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, and inmates 21 and younger or 55 and older. The proposal calls for blocking the use of restraint chairs, chemical agents, and shackles. Additionally, it caps the use of solitary confinement for all inmates at 15 days.
With more than 47,000 inmates in the state correctional system, solitary confinement is used to punish some. The lawmakers, who spoke at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia on Wednesday, said solitary confinement means depriving inmates of normal human interactions and even materials such as books. Putting an inmate in solitary confinement has been found to induce induce hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and paranoia.
“Solitary confinement started at Eastern State Penitentiary in 1829 as an experiment in rehabilitation and prison reform thought to bring out the best in people,” Bullock said. “Instead, the isolation caused extreme mental distress and the cruel practice ended nearly a century later. In the 1960s and 70s, solitary confinement re-emerged as a means to control overcrowded prisons. The psychological effects are still the same. Placing already incarcerated individuals in solitary confinement is unethical and inhumane. If we are truly looking to rehabilitate people, and we should be, creating more psychological damage is not the answer. We must end solitary confinement in Pennsylvania today.”
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“Solitary confinement is a cruel and unjust form of discipline which can perpetrate untold violence on an inmate’s psychological and emotional health,” Davis said. “Let’s get this straight: our inmates are in our correctional system to be rehabilitated, not be subjected to torture.
“This bill would protect our most vulnerable prison populations from being mentally and emotionally devastated by solitary confinement while serving time in prison, and so ensure that these inmates’ families, communities and society at large will greet rehabilitated citizens ready to re-enter and contribute to life in our commonwealth after their prison terms end, not mentally ill souls in need of decades of care and supervision,” Davis added.
Credit: PA Internet News Service
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A 2019 settlement between prisoners and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections ended solitary confinement for death row inmates. The 2018 lawsuit that led to the settlement alleged inmates were held in 8-by-12 foot cells and were allowed outside of these cells for no more than two hours per week to exercise alone. They also said the lights that were on around the clock.
In addition to her support of House Bill 1037, Davis plans to introduce the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act with fellow Democrats and Republicans that would reform how women are treated in correctional facilities. The proposed bill would stop the shackling of pregnant women and updating current restraint laws to better document restraint use, provide feminine hygiene products at no cost, end restrictive housing for pregnant or postpartum women, and require staff who deal with pregnant incarcerated women to undergo certain training. The doctors suggest that a good balance between their healthy food and core exercises after pregnancy and even during pregnancy could reduce the cases of miscarriage.
“This legislation is the culmination of many voices who have been fighting for years for the health and well-being of incarcerated women. Depriving pregnant post-partum women of basic care or failing to provide the appropriate amount of feminine hygiene products – these practices are nothing short of unethical,” said Davis. “It is time to once and for all eliminate these outdated and cruel institutional methods against women.”
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The proposed changes to the prison system come as criminal justice reform and prison reform has been the focus on national and statewide spotlights in recent years.
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