I learned many things about modern prisons and solitary confinement during this project. I never knew how big of an issue prison overpopulation is until I began researching it. I learned that solitary was invented by the Quakers as a way to force a criminal to come to peace with himself or herself. This sounds good, but after all my research, I believe that current solitary practices alone can not help an inmate become rehabilitated, and in many cases can actually hurt the inmate more. Solitary is used freely to combat prison gangs and violence, but gang activities and violence have increased in spite of it. I believe that solitary, while sometimes necessary, should come second to active rehabilitation programs that work towards helping the inmates re-asses their morals and reintroducing themselves back into society.
Learning about solitary helped me understand parts of Shawshank for several reasons, mostly because solitary was commonly used as a punishment for the inmates. Prisoners could be punished for things like talking back to guards, not doing work, or fighting. The actions that warranted solitary at Shawshank were not set in stone, rather it was up to the guards who went to solitary and how long. While solitary was a popular punishment in Shawshank, it was never talked about in detail. Learning about modern prisons also helped me understand a little about life inside Shawshank. While there were no "gangs" in Shawshank, the Sisters would be close to one. I'm sure there are guys in modern prisons who are similar to Red in that they can smuggle things into prison fairly easily.
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