Bioethics, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit, LKS Medical Faculty, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, China.
Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2023 Jul;32(3):414-424. doi: 10.1017/S0963180122000883. Epub 2023 Jan 23.
The practice of solitary confinement (SC) is established within the literature as a common occurrence of torture within the prison system, and many international and national human rights organizations have called for its abolition. A somewhat more contentious topic in the literature is the practice of force feeding (FF) of hunger-striking prisoners. The paper aims to make a case against FF by establishing a parity argument that states the following: If SC is considered an immoral practice (and indeed it should be), it should follow that FF is morally impermissible as well. In conclusion, this paper will argue that FF of hunger-striking prisoners is a violation of their fundamental moral rights and constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment and, therefore, should be abolished.
单独监禁（SC）的做法在文献中被确立为监狱系统中常见的酷刑行为，许多国际和国家人权组织呼吁废除这种做法。在文献中，另一个有争议的话题是对绝食囚犯进行强制喂食（FF）的做法。本文旨在通过建立一个平等论点来反对 FF，该论点指出：如果 SC 被认为是不道德的做法（实际上它应该是），那么 FF 在道德上也是不允许的。总之，本文将认为对绝食囚犯进行 FF 是对他们基本道德权利的侵犯，构成了残忍和不人道的待遇，因此应该被废除。
