Solitary Confinement

Guest: Robert Morris Solitary confinement is one of the toughest punishments prisons have to discipline offenders. It usually means keeping a prisoner in a small cell for 23 hours a day, denied all human contact. And new research by criminologist Robert Morris finds it doesn't work - at least if the goal is to get prisoners to straighten up and stop acting out behind bars. "We’ve discovered there’s no deterrent benefit from exposing inmates to solitary confinement following a violent act and we also don’t find an aggravating effect," says Morris.