In contemporary American corrections, extended solitary confinement (ESM) as a management tool has emerged as a strategy for avowedly controlling the most violent individuals and, in so doing, creating a safer prison system. We theorize that the emergence of this unique form of housing may also be viewed as a signal of prison system failure. To advance this argument, we identify how different theoretical perspectives can be used to anticipate the effects of ESM on prison system violence and order and then investigate the plausibility of this account by grounding it in analysis of qualitative data from a study of one state’s prison system. The analysis suggests theoretical and empirical warrant for both views of ESM—as an effective tool and as a symptom of system failure. Implications of the study research and policy are discussed.

在当代美国的惩戒中，延长单独监禁 (ESM) 作为一种管理工具已成为公开控制最暴力的个人并由此创建更安全的监狱系统的策略。我们的理论是，这种独特的住房形式的出现也可能被视为监狱系统失败的信号。为了推进这一论点，我们确定了如何使用不同的理论视角来预测 ESM 对监狱系统暴力和秩序的影响，然后通过对一个州监狱系统研究的定性数据进行分析来调查该说明的合理性. 该分析为 ESM 的两种观点提供了理论和经验依据——作为一种有效的工具和系统故障的症状。讨论了研究和政策的影响。