老澳门开奖结果

This post is the first part in our series on the closing of Tamms Supermax Prison.

Here鈥檚 to starting the New Year right. The notorious Tamms Correctional Center in Illinois, with its practice of housing human beings alone in cells for with little or no human interaction or outside stimulus, officially shut its doors today.

Tamms, known as a 鈥�supermax鈥� prison, symbolized the ever more punitive, dehumanizing, and ineffective state of our criminal justice system where entire institutions are built to hold prisoners in extreme solitary confinement.

The closing of Tamms is a major victory first and foremost because of the abhorrent and terrifying psychological consequences of such extreme and continuous solitary confinement. Spending over 22 hours a day alone in a cell has a negative psychological impact on all inmates, but is especially devastating for mentally ill persons, who are disproportionately represented in 鈥渟upermax鈥� prisons. Indeed, the American Psychiatric Association says that except in the rarest of circumstances and then only with special clinical supports. Unfortunately, at Tamms and other 鈥渟upermaxes,鈥� seriously mentally ill prisoners have been placed in solitary for months, years, and even decades. Before Tamms closed, an estimated 25% of the 鈥渟upermax鈥� prisoners had been in . But today, the years of suffering in 鈥渟upermax鈥� are over for the men held at Tamms.

Closing Tamms also means that state lawmakers are beginning to recognize that the exorbitant costs associated with 鈥渟upermax鈥� facilities are an unjustifiable drain on public resources. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, 鈥溾�� 鈥� indeed, closing Tamms will mean millions of dollars in savings for the state and its taxpayers. Data shows that Tamms was the of all Illinois鈥� facilities. Research from around the country tells the same story as in Illinois: solitary confinement is the and it .

The closure of Tamms is yet another example of states re-examining priorities and trying to do better with less. Indeed, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn intends to shift the cost-savings from Tamms鈥� closure to .

Illinois鈥� decision to close Tamms did not happen in isolation; there is a larger criminal justice dialogue taking place across the country about the need for reform. Spurred by growing budget deficits, costly litigation arising from unconstitutional treatment, and the public鈥檚 objection to inhumane conditions, several states are changing their prison systems to limit the use of long-term solitary confinement. Some selected highlights:

• The Maine Department of Corrections by over fifty percent and provided prisoners expanded access to programming and social stimulation.
• Over the last few years, Mississippi reduced the 鈥渟upermax鈥� population of one institution from 1000 to 150 and eventually closed the entire unit.
• In the last year, Colorado reduced the number of prisoners in solitary confinement by 36.9% and recently announced the closure of a 316-bed 鈥渟upermax鈥� facility, which is projected to .

There is still , but every victory means we are one step closer to stopping solitary.

Let鈥檚 celebrate that we rounded an important bend today in Dr. Martin Luther King鈥檚 view of the moral universe, the arc of which is 鈥渓ong, but it bends towards justice.鈥� And throughout 2013, we can help bend that arc a little more towards justice by ensuring that our leaders and our communities recognize that the devastating human impacts of solitary confinement, scarcity of public dollars, and concerns for public safety demand that we take a second look at the practice of solitary confinement and implement more effective and humane alternatives.

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