@article{ref1,
title="Self-injury and the embodiment of solitary confinement among adult men in Louisiana prisons",
journal="SSM - Population Health",
year="2023",
author="Cloud, David H. and Williams, Brie and Haardoerfer, Regine and Hosbey, Justin T. and Cooper, Hannah L. F.",
volume="22",
number="",
pages="e101354-e101354",
abstract="Solitary confinement is a harrowing human rights and public health problem that is currently inflicted as a routine punishment for a litany of prison rule violations, a reactionary tactic to quell resistance to prison conditions, and as a destination of last resort for people serious mental illnesses (SMI) who are especially vulnerable to its harms. An extensive body of research has documented clusters of psychiatric symptoms-emotional distress, cognitive deficits, social withdrawal, anxiety, paranoia, sleeplessness, and hallucinations-linked to solitary confinement that often manifest in decompensating behaviors, which include self-injury and suicide. This study summarizes the historical evolution of solitary confinement, recaps its linkages to self-injury and suicidality, and offers a theoretical framework grounded in ecosocial theory, and supplemented with concepts from theories of dehumanization and carceral geography. <br><br>FINDINGS bolster extant evidence on the harms of solitary confinement by focusing on whether and how exertions of power by prison staff to deploy mechanisms of dehumanization-as a pathway between SMI and self-injury among a cross section of adult men (n = 517) exposed to solitary confinement in Louisiana prisons in 2017. <br><br>FINDINGS reinforce the need for structural interventions that diffuse forms of carceral power and practices that continue to subject people to isolation, dehumanization, and violence.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2352-8273",
doi="10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101354",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101354"
}