As legislation to change rules around solitary confinement progresses in Congress, ABC News examined the effects solitary confinement can have on inmates in penitentiaries.
According to School of Public Affairs clinical assistant professor Stephanie Gangemi, solitary confinement can be a vicious cycle, as it can cause inmates to act out, leading to additional time without human contact.
“It breaks down the ability for people to do emotional regulation, to read appropriate social cues, and then people act out because they are overwhelmed,” Gangemi said.
Solitary confinement may not just impact those behind bars, however.
“I don’t think there’s enough dialogue about the consequences of what it’s like for staff to look at humans in captivity every day and to look at what happens to them when they are enforcing these dehumanizing approaches to solitary confinement,” she said.
You can watch the rest of Gangemi’s interview and the entire piece on ABC news in the video below.