India's 'Open Prisons' Are a Marvel of Trust-Based Incarceration

Solitary confinement was once thought of as one of the only effective punishments for violent prison inmates. As more research surfaces showing the severe damage it does to mental health, the racial bias of those placed in solitary, and its relative ineffectiveness, more cities, like New York City, are exploring alternatives to the practice. In places such as Denver, Chicago, and San Francisco, rather than invoking a punitive approach, city officials are offering positive reinforcement – and seeing positive results.

The use of solitary confinement, or administrative segregation, in prisons is facing pushback across the country. In Alabama, a federal judge tasked the Department of Corrections to investigate how other states are reforming their use of solitary confinement – especially for those with mental health concerns. Recognizing that isolation often leads to increased bad behavior, states such as North Dakota and Colorado have placed stronger limitations on the use and deployment of administrative segregation.

In Los Angeles County Jail, a peer-to-peer mental health program called Forensic Inpatient (FIP) Stepdown has incarcerated individuals trained as mental health assistants supporting fellow inmates struggling with severe mental illnesses. Started by inmates themselves, the program has significantly reduced self-harm incidents, improved hygiene and social functioning, and restored dignity to inmates who participate.

The Prisoner Correspondence Project connects LGBTQ2S+ people who are incarcerated in the United States and Canada with pen pals who are not incarcerated. The consistent communication helps combat isolation and improve mental health and rehabilitation outcomes.

Several counties are looking to implement bail reform as a way to address the harms people face in jail while awaiting a court date. Groups like The Bail Project have helped release 23,745 people from jail by helping pay their bail and ensure they make it to court so that bail money can go toward the next person in need.

The Bail Project allows defendants to go free while awaiting trial. Bail reform takes the burden off of the poor and prevents people from losing their jobs while sitting in jail awaiting trial because they can’t afford to pay their bail, specifically for those with misdemeanor charges. In the first six months following the bail reform, there were 1,500 more people released. Following them for three years, there was a 6% decrease in prosecutions and guilty pleas and time served also dropped.

The Solitary Gardens project started in New Orleans and has been copied in multiple other places as a combination art exhibit and therapeutic link between incarcerated people and the outside world. People on both sides of the prison walls collaborate in pairs to design a garden that grows flowers and herbs chosen by the incarcerated person. The gardens match the tiny dimensions of a solitary-confinement cell. The healing herbs are used to help others, and the exercise overall gives incarcerated people a sense of connection to the earth, part of the project's prison-abolition message.

A North Dakota prison looks to Norway's prison model that focuses on prisoner rehabilitation rather than punishment. By giving offenders responsibility, private space, and access to the outside world, these prisons have found lower rates of recidivism and more success with rehabilitation.

Solitary Confinement on youth can be extremely emotionally damaging. The practice is also costly, and can lead to expensive lawsuits. Yet, a slew of states and youth detention centers are trying to reduce the time young people spend in solitary confinement. In the Sacramento Juvenile Detention, one program is doing that.

Across the United States, the use of administrative segregation is being rethought and reduced, as study after study shows it’s link to higher rates of violence and recidivism. At Maine State Prison, over the course of six years, the number of people in solitary went from 100 to 8, while also seeing a decline in fights, use of weapons, and emergency room transportation in the prison’s general population. The prison has instead started implementing individualized mental health programming and structured living units – opting to implement rehabilitation over punitive measures.