Collaborative Research: Pennsylvania Solitary Confinement Study

美国的囚犯人数是世界上最多的，但美国的监禁也以广泛使用单独监禁而闻名，单独监禁的定义是每天在一间牢房里监禁23个小时，外人探视或改过自新的机会有限。单独监禁是美国惩罚经验中一个重要但研究不足的部分。几乎没有证据表明，单独监禁与监禁后健康状况不佳和对社会的适应有关。目前的项目，宾夕法尼亚州单独监禁研究(PASS)，将分析刑罚监禁的条件及其对健康和福祉的影响，监狱释放后的劳动力参与，以及累犯率。该项目将对美国大型监狱系统中极端监禁的条件和影响进行多维描述。该项目还将提高我们对单独监禁如何使用以及它可能如何产生重大和持久影响的理解。该项目的一个关键的更广泛的影响是使以研究为导向的国家政策努力能够重新评估单独监禁的使用和政策。对单独监禁的影响的定量研究依赖于观测数据来估计微弱识别的因果影响。目前的项目将使用详细的全州监狱记录(2007-2017年)来评估单独监禁对长期结果的因果影响，利用对监狱不当行为案件随机指派听证审查员的做法。它结合了对单独监禁单元中被监禁男子和监狱工作人员的实地调查，以及对全州行政监狱记录的量化分析。纵向调查数据收集结合了对监狱记录的分析、对最近接受单独监禁并在三个月后接受单独监禁的囚犯(N=117，包括99名主要样本和18名预试样本)进行的调查和神经认知测试，以及对监狱工作人员的访谈(N=22)。对这一准实验的分析将对单独监禁对就业和累犯率的影响进行估计。由于之前关于单独监禁的研究一直基于对小样本的临床访谈，通常是在诉讼的背景下，调查通过使用标准化工具大规模收集数据来扩展研究。在两个时间点上的调查答复可以将单独监禁的条件与一般监狱人口进行比较。对采访记录的专题分析将阐明囚犯和工作人员之间的关系，并阐明单独监禁产生长期影响的机制。这项拟议的研究将为寻求了解和解决美国监禁条件的政策制定者和学者提供新的数据和分析。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The U.S. penal population is the largest in the world, but imprisonment in America is also distinguished by its extensive use of solitary confinement, defined as incarceration in a cell for 23 hours each day with limited access to visits from outsiders or rehabilitative programs. Solitary confinement is an important but understudied part of the experience of punishment in the United States. The scant available evidence suggests solitary confinement is associated with poor health and adjustment to society after incarceration. The current project, the Pennsylvania Solitary Confinement Study (PASS), will analyze conditions of penal confinement and their effects on health and well-being, labor force participation after prison release, and recidivism. The project will provide a multidimensional account of the conditions and effects of extreme confinement in a large U.S. prison system. The project will also improve our understanding of how solitary confinement is used, and how it may have significant and long-lasting effects. A key broader impact of the project is to enable a research-driven national policy effort to reevaluate the use and policies of solitary confinement. Quantitative studies of the effects of solitary confinement have relied on observational data to estimate weakly-identified causal effects. The current project will use detailed statewide prison records (2007-2017) to estimate causal effects of solitary confinement on long-term outcomes, exploiting the random assignment of hearing examiners to prison misconduct cases. It combines field surveys of incarcerated men and prison staff in a solitary confinement unit with a quantitative state-wide analysis of administrative prison records. The longitudinal survey data collection combines an analysis of prison records, a survey and neurocognitive battery administered to incarcerated men (N=117, including a main sample of 99 and a pretest sample of 18) recently admitted to solitary confinement and then three months later, and interviews with prison staff (N=22). Analysis of this quasi-experiment will yield estimates of the effect of solitary confinement on employment and recidivism. Because prior research on solitary confinement has been based on clinical interviews with small samples often in the context of litigation, the survey extends research by collecting data at scale with a standardized instrument. Survey responses at two points in time allows a comparison of the conditions of solitary confinement with the general prison population. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts will illuminate the relationship between prisoners and staff and shed light on the mechanisms by which solitary confinement produces long-term impacts. The proposed study will contribute new data and analysis for policymakers and scholars seeking to understand and address the conditions of penal confinement in the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.