Solitary confinement

A recent study released by the Association of State Correctional Administrators and researchers from Yale Law School has found that federal and state prisons are holding as many as 100,000 inmates in solitary confinement or isolated housing (“Large Number of Inmates in Solitary Poses Problem for Justice System, Study Says,” by Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 2, 2015). This new data has turned up the volume of voices calling for abolishment of solitary confinement on the grounds that not only is it inhumane but also counterproductive.

Do you agree with abolitionists or are you sympathetic to some prison workers and administrators who say that there are situations in which social isolation is the best and maybe the only solution when a prisoner is a serious threat to the safety of his fellow inmates and staff?

While you are mulling over your answer, here is a related question more relevant to your own situation. How do you feel about solitary confinement (a.k.a., time-out) as a consequence for a misbehaving preschooler?

Do you think it is cruel and inhumane? Do you recommend it to parents as part of a comprehensive behavior-management strategy? Will many parents try it? Or, do they recoil and wonder why you would suggest that they become prison wardens in their own homes? If parents try it, is it effective?

In my experience, if done correctly in the right circumstances, time-out for a young child in his room – even if it requires latching the door – can be a safe, humane, and effective consequence for misbehavior. Sometimes, it is the only thing that works. But the devil is in the “ifs.”

First, time-out should be the last step in a comprehensive behavior-management strategy that begins with prevention – by assuring that the child is getting enough sleep and the right kind of attention from his parents who have expectations for their child that are appropriate for his age and temperament. The child’s environment and schedule should be structured to minimize the temptation to misbehave. Other less-drastic-sounding consequences must have been tried unsuccessfully. And ... both parent and child must be psychologically and developmentally normal.

Will brief episodes of solitary confinement make a young child feel insecure or unloved? Not if his parents make it clear by their behavior that she is loved and living in a stable environment, regardless of whether she is in time-out or not. Will time-out make a child hate her room? I’ve never seen it happen. If the child plays happily in her room during her sentence, does this render time-out ineffective? No, that’s a win-win situation. The misbehavior has stopped and the child is happy. Does this mean that time-out may not be a good deterrent? It might. But I have found that the only effective deterrent is consistent follow-up of every threat with the promised consequence – regardless of the consequence.

What if the child “destroys” his room during time-out? And is it safe to leave a child alone in his room? The solutions to these challenges can be found in Lowes or Home Depot.

I’m not going to take up any more of your recreational reading time describing the details of how time-out can be made more effective and palatable for parents. But it can be done and may require purchasing a latch or some kind of child-resistant door closure device. It will most likely be used briefly – if at all – but it can remain as a tangible reminder to the child that his parent follows up on his threats.

I won’t be surprised if some of you are shocked that I would advocate solitary confinement for young children. I am interested to hear what you recommend to parents who are struggling to keep their child’s behavior in bounds.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “Coping With a Picky Eater.”

A recent study released by the Association of State Correctional Administrators and researchers from Yale Law School has found that federal and state prisons are holding as many as 100,000 inmates in solitary confinement or isolated housing (“Large Number of Inmates in Solitary Poses Problem for Justice System, Study Says,” by Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 2, 2015). This new data has turned up the volume of voices calling for abolishment of solitary confinement on the grounds that not only is it inhumane but also counterproductive.

Do you agree with abolitionists or are you sympathetic to some prison workers and administrators who say that there are situations in which social isolation is the best and maybe the only solution when a prisoner is a serious threat to the safety of his fellow inmates and staff?

While you are mulling over your answer, here is a related question more relevant to your own situation. How do you feel about solitary confinement (a.k.a., time-out) as a consequence for a misbehaving preschooler?

Do you think it is cruel and inhumane? Do you recommend it to parents as part of a comprehensive behavior-management strategy? Will many parents try it? Or, do they recoil and wonder why you would suggest that they become prison wardens in their own homes? If parents try it, is it effective?

In my experience, if done correctly in the right circumstances, time-out for a young child in his room – even if it requires latching the door – can be a safe, humane, and effective consequence for misbehavior. Sometimes, it is the only thing that works. But the devil is in the “ifs.”

First, time-out should be the last step in a comprehensive behavior-management strategy that begins with prevention – by assuring that the child is getting enough sleep and the right kind of attention from his parents who have expectations for their child that are appropriate for his age and temperament. The child’s environment and schedule should be structured to minimize the temptation to misbehave. Other less-drastic-sounding consequences must have been tried unsuccessfully. And ... both parent and child must be psychologically and developmentally normal.

Will brief episodes of solitary confinement make a young child feel insecure or unloved? Not if his parents make it clear by their behavior that she is loved and living in a stable environment, regardless of whether she is in time-out or not. Will time-out make a child hate her room? I’ve never seen it happen. If the child plays happily in her room during her sentence, does this render time-out ineffective? No, that’s a win-win situation. The misbehavior has stopped and the child is happy. Does this mean that time-out may not be a good deterrent? It might. But I have found that the only effective deterrent is consistent follow-up of every threat with the promised consequence – regardless of the consequence.

What if the child “destroys” his room during time-out? And is it safe to leave a child alone in his room? The solutions to these challenges can be found in Lowes or Home Depot.

I’m not going to take up any more of your recreational reading time describing the details of how time-out can be made more effective and palatable for parents. But it can be done and may require purchasing a latch or some kind of child-resistant door closure device. It will most likely be used briefly – if at all – but it can remain as a tangible reminder to the child that his parent follows up on his threats.

I won’t be surprised if some of you are shocked that I would advocate solitary confinement for young children. I am interested to hear what you recommend to parents who are struggling to keep their child’s behavior in bounds.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “Coping With a Picky Eater.”

A recent study released by the Association of State Correctional Administrators and researchers from Yale Law School has found that federal and state prisons are holding as many as 100,000 inmates in solitary confinement or isolated housing (“Large Number of Inmates in Solitary Poses Problem for Justice System, Study Says,” by Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 2, 2015). This new data has turned up the volume of voices calling for abolishment of solitary confinement on the grounds that not only is it inhumane but also counterproductive.

Do you agree with abolitionists or are you sympathetic to some prison workers and administrators who say that there are situations in which social isolation is the best and maybe the only solution when a prisoner is a serious threat to the safety of his fellow inmates and staff?

While you are mulling over your answer, here is a related question more relevant to your own situation. How do you feel about solitary confinement (a.k.a., time-out) as a consequence for a misbehaving preschooler?

Do you think it is cruel and inhumane? Do you recommend it to parents as part of a comprehensive behavior-management strategy? Will many parents try it? Or, do they recoil and wonder why you would suggest that they become prison wardens in their own homes? If parents try it, is it effective?

In my experience, if done correctly in the right circumstances, time-out for a young child in his room – even if it requires latching the door – can be a safe, humane, and effective consequence for misbehavior. Sometimes, it is the only thing that works. But the devil is in the “ifs.”

First, time-out should be the last step in a comprehensive behavior-management strategy that begins with prevention – by assuring that the child is getting enough sleep and the right kind of attention from his parents who have expectations for their child that are appropriate for his age and temperament. The child’s environment and schedule should be structured to minimize the temptation to misbehave. Other less-drastic-sounding consequences must have been tried unsuccessfully. And ... both parent and child must be psychologically and developmentally normal.

Will brief episodes of solitary confinement make a young child feel insecure or unloved? Not if his parents make it clear by their behavior that she is loved and living in a stable environment, regardless of whether she is in time-out or not. Will time-out make a child hate her room? I’ve never seen it happen. If the child plays happily in her room during her sentence, does this render time-out ineffective? No, that’s a win-win situation. The misbehavior has stopped and the child is happy. Does this mean that time-out may not be a good deterrent? It might. But I have found that the only effective deterrent is consistent follow-up of every threat with the promised consequence – regardless of the consequence.

What if the child “destroys” his room during time-out? And is it safe to leave a child alone in his room? The solutions to these challenges can be found in Lowes or Home Depot.

I’m not going to take up any more of your recreational reading time describing the details of how time-out can be made more effective and palatable for parents. But it can be done and may require purchasing a latch or some kind of child-resistant door closure device. It will most likely be used briefly – if at all – but it can remain as a tangible reminder to the child that his parent follows up on his threats.

I won’t be surprised if some of you are shocked that I would advocate solitary confinement for young children. I am interested to hear what you recommend to parents who are struggling to keep their child’s behavior in bounds.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “Coping With a Picky Eater.”