3357.0 Invited Session: Multi-Year Solitary Confinement in California and the Prisoner Hunger Strikes of 2011-12

Monday, October 29, 2012: 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Oral
Despite questionable value of long-term solitary confinement and viable alternatives, officials employ it to manage violence and other problems. It certainly affects physical and mental health. Hunger strikes which occurred during 2011-2012 arose from these circumstances among California inmates. Harm from solitary confinement is sufficiently great as to question its likeness to torture and other abuses of internationally established human rights. Harm associated with solitary confinement is not limited to prisoners. It affects families, friends, and communities of inmates. Alternatives to solitary confinement can achieve safety during incarceration and alleviate harm to public health.
Session Objectives: Describe solitary confinement policy and objectives in California prisons during 2011-2012 Assess health hazards related to long-term solitary confinement Compare punishment and torture with respect to solitary confinement Discuss ramifications for public health and communities of prisoners Explain alternatives to solitary confinement
Organizer:
Nancy E. Stoller, PhD
Moderator:
Donna Willmott, MPH

2:30pm
Solitary confinement: Medical and psychiatric consequences
Terry Kupers, MD, MSP
     
2:55pm
Long-term isolation as torture
Dorsey Nunn, Community Advocate
3:20pm
Responding to solitary confinement: The prisoner hunger strike
Azadeh Zohrabi, JD

See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.

Organized by: Medical Care

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)

See more of: Medical Care
<< Previous Session | Next Session >>