Evaluating and Intervening in the Trauma of Solitary Confinement: A Social Work Perspective

Abstract

Clinical social work has yet to address the trauma that prisoners experience from solitary confinement. This paper examines the relationship between trauma and solitary confinement from a social work perspective. The conservation of resources (COR) theory and structural racism provide frameworks from which clinical social workers can evaluate and intervene in the traumatic effects of solitary confinement for prisoners. A review of the literature suggests that few concrete interventions exist for clinical social workers to provide evidence-based treatments to prisoners traumatized by the experience of solitary confinement. The effectiveness of nature imagery, Clinical Alternative to Punitive Segregation (CAPS), and the Sanctuary Model for treating the trauma of solitary confinement are reviewed and evaluated based on their alignment with the COR theory of PTSD development, as well as their ability to address structural racism. This paper concludes with implications for both practice and policy and suggestions for future research to ensure that clinical social workers are prepared to advocate for clinical and policy measures that both alleviate the suffering of this vulnerable population and lay the groundwork for the abolition of solitary confinement all together.