American Prison System Identify the Four Types

¶ … American Prison System

Identify the four types of prisons.

There are four types of prison in the United States: (1) Military prisons house offenders who are in military service at the time of their conviction by military courts martial; (2) Juvenile prisons house offenders who are minors and therefore ineligible for incarceration with an adult prison population; (3) State prisons house inmates convicted of crimes for which sentences exceed one year; and (4) Federal prisons house inmates convicted of federal crimes whose sentences exceed one year (Schmalleger, 2008).

Explain the concept of prison as a total institution.

In principle, prison (and the concept of incarceration, more generally) is designed to accomplish four specific purposes for society (Schmalleger, 2008). First, it provides a means of separating criminal offenders from the general population to protect the latter from the former. Second, it provides a form of punishment or retribution for serious criminal transgressions. Third, it is a form of deterrence intended to prevent crime because of the consequences. Fourth, the corrections system also provides a means of rehabilitating criminals to help them become productive and law-abiding members of society by enabling them to become more educated and to acquire marketable skills while incarcerated (Schmalleger, 2008).

Explain why jails play an important role in the criminal justice system.

Jails play an important role in the criminal justice system because they help reduce overcrowding in the prison system (Schmalleger, 2008). Generally, jails house criminals who have been sentenced to less than a year of incarceration. There are so many short sentences that this class of prisoner would overwhelm the prison system if it had to accommodate all of them together with inmates serving much longer sentences. Also, jails provide a means of separating comparatively minor criminals from predatory lifelong offenders and career criminals, especially those with no real capability of being deterred from committing violent acts in prison by virtue of life sentences. Many of the inmates currently confined to jails would be victimized by more serious criminals if they were confined in prisons (Schmalleger, 2008).

Explain the role of community-based programs associated with jails and prisons.

Community-based programs are designed as a method of returning offenders back to general society but in a gradual and controlled manner that allows the state to maintain control over them and ensure that they comply with expectations and conditions of their release into society (Schmalleger, 2008). It is a concept that helps prisons reduce their populations so that they have more room for the most serious offenders and at the same time, it provides a more gradual or "stepped" process of reintroducing offenders into society than the traditional practice of simply releasing prisoners on the day that their sentences are completed (Schmalleger, 2008).

Community-based programs are associated with lower rates of criminal recidivism than traditional practices and offenders who participate in community-based programs are better able to re-assimilate back into society than offenders who simply wake up in a corrections environment one day and in a motel room the next day, still without any viable prospect for finding gainful employment. In many cases, it is their inability to make a successful transition back into society that precipitates their return to criminal conduct rather than any specific desire or inclination to continue offending (Schmalleger, 2008).

Explain violent prison behavior and the strategies for responding to it.

There are several closely-associated explanations for violent behavior in prison. First, the population of offenders is already substantially more prone to violence than populations of non-offenders (Schmalleger, 2008). Second, prison is a breeding ground for predatory behavior on the part of long-term criminals and those predisposed to violent crime perpetrated against those prisoners who are not long-term criminals or violent. Third, the nature of incarceration includes an oppositional dynamic as between inmates and staff, and the very nature of confinement is also extremely stressful and frustrating (Schmalleger, 2008). Common strategies for reducing violence in prison includes policies for separating violent and career criminals from non-violent and first-time offenders to reduce the predatory dynamic that otherwise exists (Schmalleger, 2008). Another strategy to reduce violence is the use of reward systems that enable inmates to qualify for "good time served" as well as participation in programs and opportunities that they value (Schmalleger, 2008).