BSS
07-26-2003, 11:19 PM
Isolation- The S. H. U. Part 1 from an inmate view
Well this type of isolation anyway means in all reality the restriction of mental & physical stimulus. These stimuli are so important to the well being of mankind that the restriction of them is the most severe from of punishment that the law will permit. This must be true or why else would they build Pelican Bay & other S.H.U. units like it. The point to these prisons can’t be anything other than to inflict as much punishment on us as the law will permit, in hopes of breaking the spirit of men whom they couldn’t break any other way. The state chose this form of punishment because their psychologists told them how effective it is. This from of punishment has proved to be very effective the waste bins are over flowing with the crumpled souls of lesser men.
I’m no psychologist & my vocabulary is way too short to properly write on the subject but I’ve been asked to try to explain how & why stimulus restriction works & give a couple side effects caused by it. I’d first like to point out that that’s a lot to ask of a man who didn’t even finish Jr High School but I’ll give it a shot.
If the average person were to walk down to the local market, do a little shopping then walk home their minds would be busy processing thousands of little pieces of information you wouldn’t even notice that your brain was taking everything in. The shapes colors, textures of leaves buildings, rocks, smells of cut grass, a passing truck or a local coffee shop. The sound of birds singing, the breeze blowing through the trees and children playing. Plus thousands of other little bits of information coming in every second. When you hear the children playing you’re not processing one piece of information it’s a stream of information and your mind is taking it in bit by tiny bit just like a computer. Lonely your brain is taking in all of the sights smells, sounds and also thinking about what to buy at the stores, probably worrying about a bill … The human being has done so well on this planet because of it’s ability to process huge quantities of information. I would argue that we have evolved to such a degree that our mines now crave new information to process, kind of like a hunting dog craves to hunt and a race horse craves to run.
Simply having information to process is not the same fulfilling experience as having new information, let me give a few examples. Let’s say you’re looking at a painting or reading a poem for the first time, your mind will get excited and you’ll even get a rush of emotion if it is good. All that is really taking place in your brain and is processing new information that it finds particularly stimulating. Now if you were to look at or read this same painting or poem every day it’s stimulating effects would lessen. Even though you’re technically processing the same information. I could spend pages on giving examples of things that lose their stimulating effects with each new time you experience them, I am sure everyone can imagine this on their own. My point is the human mind craves new information and it’s not enough to simply read a new book, all though that helps.
Well this type of isolation anyway means in all reality the restriction of mental & physical stimulus. These stimuli are so important to the well being of mankind that the restriction of them is the most severe from of punishment that the law will permit. This must be true or why else would they build Pelican Bay & other S.H.U. units like it. The point to these prisons can’t be anything other than to inflict as much punishment on us as the law will permit, in hopes of breaking the spirit of men whom they couldn’t break any other way. The state chose this form of punishment because their psychologists told them how effective it is. This from of punishment has proved to be very effective the waste bins are over flowing with the crumpled souls of lesser men.
I’m no psychologist & my vocabulary is way too short to properly write on the subject but I’ve been asked to try to explain how & why stimulus restriction works & give a couple side effects caused by it. I’d first like to point out that that’s a lot to ask of a man who didn’t even finish Jr High School but I’ll give it a shot.
If the average person were to walk down to the local market, do a little shopping then walk home their minds would be busy processing thousands of little pieces of information you wouldn’t even notice that your brain was taking everything in. The shapes colors, textures of leaves buildings, rocks, smells of cut grass, a passing truck or a local coffee shop. The sound of birds singing, the breeze blowing through the trees and children playing. Plus thousands of other little bits of information coming in every second. When you hear the children playing you’re not processing one piece of information it’s a stream of information and your mind is taking it in bit by tiny bit just like a computer. Lonely your brain is taking in all of the sights smells, sounds and also thinking about what to buy at the stores, probably worrying about a bill … The human being has done so well on this planet because of it’s ability to process huge quantities of information. I would argue that we have evolved to such a degree that our mines now crave new information to process, kind of like a hunting dog craves to hunt and a race horse craves to run.
Simply having information to process is not the same fulfilling experience as having new information, let me give a few examples. Let’s say you’re looking at a painting or reading a poem for the first time, your mind will get excited and you’ll even get a rush of emotion if it is good. All that is really taking place in your brain and is processing new information that it finds particularly stimulating. Now if you were to look at or read this same painting or poem every day it’s stimulating effects would lessen. Even though you’re technically processing the same information. I could spend pages on giving examples of things that lose their stimulating effects with each new time you experience them, I am sure everyone can imagine this on their own. My point is the human mind craves new information and it’s not enough to simply read a new book, all though that helps.