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The Disturbing Science of Incarceration in the U.S.

Nearly one in 100 U.S. adults is in prison or jail, often as a result of questionable or biased convictions and subject to living (and dying) under conditions that research reveals as extremely inhumane

Jun 9, 2015

Scientific American Volume 309, Issue 2

Solitary Confinement Is Cruel and Ineffective

Isolating inmates inflicts permanent mental harm. The practice must be curbed

More In This Report

News
Many Prisoners on Death Row are Wrongfully Convicted

Researchers estimate that more than 340 U.S. inmates that could have been exonerated were sentenced to death since 1973

April 28, 2014 | 5
News
Should Prisoners Be Used in Medical Experiments?

History is rife with unethical experiments on inmates. But with proper safeguards prisoner studies may hold the key to the accurate representation of vulnerable groups and lead to health benefits

July 2, 2014 | 5
Scientific American Mind Volume 25, Issue 2
Criminals Need Mental Health Care

Psychiatric treatment is far better than imprisonment for reducing recidivism

March 1, 2014 | 5
Scientific American Mind Volume 25, Issue 2
Yoga Lowers Inmates' Aggression and Anxiety

Yoga practice reduces anxiety and impulsivity in prison populations

March 1, 2014 | 1
Nature
IQ Cutoff for Death Penalty Struck Down by Supreme Court

The ruling acknowledges the inherent variability in IQ scores and their margin of error

May 28, 2014 | 6
Nature
Debate on Who Is Smart Enough to Be Executed

The Supreme Court will soon grapple with the science of how intellectual disability is measured. The arguments will bear on applying the death penalty to people who don't understand the legal process

February 20, 2014 | 9
Observations
Condoms Behind Bars: A Modest Proposal to Cut STIs in Calif. Prisons

A “harm reduction” approach to public health, rather than an abstinence or look-the-other-way policy, scored another win this month when the California state legislature gave the green light to a bill that would provide condoms for adult prison inmates.

September 18, 2013 |
Features
Prisons in Post-Soviet Russia Incubate a Plague

The collapse of the Soviet health care system in the 1990s coupled with prisons releasing improperly treated inmates and endemic poverty escalated incidences of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis to epidemic proportions

August 25, 2008 |
Features
Brain Injury Rate 7 Times Greater among U.S. Prisoners

Prisoners suffer disproportionately from past traumatic brain injuries. Researchers are hunting for the best tools to treat this population in an effort to help them reintegrate into society--and avoid re-incarceration

February 4, 2012 | 14