Present-day Prisons
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After the Civil War, laws and conventions like the Geneva Convention of 1929 were ratified, setting standards for the treatment of POWs, but even today, prisons still struggle with common problems, like overcrowding and the treatment of inmates.
"Inmates [at the California State Prison segregation unit] spend nearly entire days inside 80-square-foot concrete cells. The few freedoms afforded to prisoners in the general population - such as handcuff-free time in an open yard under an open sky - are mostly stripped away. Here, they eat in their cells, their food slipped through a slot. They get no phone calls, except in emergencies. Visits with family and friends are strictly no-contact. Social interactions, even with other inmates, are limited to nonexistent. Critics call this solitary confinement. Prison officials use the term Security Housing Units." -SFGate; California prisons' solitary units - necessary or inhumane?, March 2014 |