Radio Curious discusses solitary confinement and its physical and mental health impacts on prison inmates with Dr. Terry Allen Kupers, a forensic psychiatrist and author of âSolitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We can Abolish It.â
Barry Vogel, Attorney and Counselor, is the Host and Producer of Radio Curious. Christina Aanestad is the Assistant Producer.
An estimated 100,000 people are held in solitary confinement in the United States. The conditions in which they live are abysmal. They have little or no contact human contact.   Often they are kept in dark, cold, wet cells eight feet by 10 feet in size. Many suffer from mental illness prior to or as a result of solitary confinement. This results in significant long term damage to the individuals and our society as a whole.
Dr. Terry Allen Kupers, a forensic psychiatrist, is the author of âSolitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We can Abolish It.â In this first of a two part series on solitary confinement, Kupers shares interviews with prisoners who have been raped, subdued with immobilizing gas, beaten by prison guards and whose mental and physical health needs have been ignored. He has found that prisoners of color are much more likely to be held in solitary confinement than are white prisoners.  Kupers argues that solitary confinement is tantamount to torture, and per se violates the constitutional prohibition of cruel or unusual punishment.
When Dr. Terry Kupers and I visit by phone from his home in Oakland, California on February 11, 2018, we began the first of two conversations when I asked him to define forensic psychiatry, and the background of solitary confinement.
Radio Curious is a half-hour, weekly, long-form interview program, now in its 28th year. We interview people on a curiously wide variety of topics about life and ideas. Our website is www.radiocurious.org. If your station airs Radio Curious please let us know curious@radiocurious.org, we will add you to our list of syndicate stations. We also welcome questions, feedback and program ideas. Radio Curious 280 N. Oak St. Ukiah, Ca 95482. (707) 462-6541.
Solitary Confinement:Â Locked Away with No Human Contact
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