Solitary confinement

This assignment is worth 20% of your final grade.

Please use size 12 font double spaced. Your assignment should include a title page, and a reference page with a minimum of three references (APA style).

Please staple your paper prior to handing it in and do not use any covers for the assignment. The body of your paper, excluding the title page and reference page will be four full pages. Please do not exceed this amount.

TOPIC

In the last year the use/overuse of administrative segregation or solitary confinement has received a great deal of attention in the media after a British Columbia court ruling forced the issue back into the hands of the federal government. This ruling sought to place limits on the number of consecutive days in which an inmate could be placed in this type of custody as a disciplinary matter. Recently there has even been discussions about eliminating it as an option altogether.

Your assignment is asking you to do some research on this topic. You must take one of the two following positions and defend it in your paper:

1. Solitary confinement is necessary in order to control and punish inmates who violate prison rules by becoming violent, or by having contraband items such a drugs or weapons. Without this form of punishment there are no other viable meaningful forms of punishment that would serve to deter prisoners from breaking the rules.

2. Solitary confinement is being abused as a form of discipline by prison officials and the rights of inmates are being violated. By either banning this form of discipline or by placing strict limits on its use (15 days maximum), the courts would be instructing Correctional Services of Canada to find another way of disciplining inmates. If you take this position you must other forms of meaningful punishment that could be used instead of solitary confinement.