Supermax facilities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Supermax facilities - Essay Example The reality cannot be worse for a prisoner in solitary confinement in a physically cramped condition for years with no social contact. The supermax reforms require an environment to which the inmates can relate both physically and socio-psychologically. It has to provide them with recreations, social interactions and activities in a way that would not contain even the subtlest hint of force. We have to stop the crude system of continuous watching and monitoring of each movement of the prisoners that reinforce in them the feeling of being no better than caged animals. More space needs to be created in these "modern-day dungeons" (Pupovac, 2008) that have become unmanageable for the sheer number of prisoners. I suggest humane practices like touching the prisoner with bare hand by the guards and not by wearing gloves and removal of the glass barrier to allow the prisoner to have a better communication with family and friends. These measures are necessary to convey to the prisoners that they are in the supermax for rehabilitation and not for cruel punishment. Training of the correctional administrators should include the very relevance of the prison system with emphasis on developing processes to make it more humane. In spite of the transition from the Big House to Contemporary Prisons and evolving race relations policy, racial discrimination is still visible in U.S. prisons.