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Prisons as an Area of Corrections
Throughout the years, prisons have become a major component of the criminal justice system since they act as institutions that help in punishment of convicted criminals and deterrent for crime prevention. This article examines these facilities as part of the justice system and how they function in accomplishing their purpose. The analysis includes an exploration of the various types of prisons such as jails, federal, state, maximum security, medium security, minimum security, supermax, and closed security prisons. The role and function of prisons in promoting social change in the modern society has also been discussed.
Prisons as an Area of Corrections:
Prisons are one of the major areas of correctional facilities that serve as places for confinement of convicted criminals. An individual is placed in a prison after being convicted of an offense as punishment for his/her actions. The punishment of criminal offenses in…
References:
De Maille, V.J. (2007). Types of Prisons. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from http://www.incarceration101.com/types-of-prisons.php
Grabianowski, E. (n.d.). How Prisons Work. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from http://people.howstuffworks.com/prison.htm
Owers, A. (2002, February 1). Prisons Inspector Hits Out. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1795434.stm
"Prisons." (n.d.). Oracle ThinkQuest Education Foundation. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212822/NoFramesPages/Prisons.html
Prisons
For all intents and purposes the modern history of penology -- which is to say, the science and the theory of imprisonment and the state apparatus of the penitentiary -- begins with the late 18th century British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. In Bentham's day (corresponding roughly to the time of the American and French Revolutions) there was no idea of a penitentiary per se: there was instead His Majesty's Penal Colony of New South ales, i.e. present-day Australia (Morris and Rothman 1998, 246). The equivalent of a modern-day misdemeanor offense, such as shoplifting, was sufficient to earn some unlucky Irishman a one-way ticket to Botany Bay, where convicts labored under military supervision. Bentham, meanwhile, was the founder of the philosophical school of Utilitarianism, which attempted to approach and codify ethics in the same way that his contemporary Adam Smith was to codify the theory of market economics. Utilitarianism held that…
WORKS CITED
Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Berkeley: Open Media, 2003.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House, 1977.
Morris, Norval and Rothman, David J. The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
"PA Judges Accused of Jailing Kids for Cash." Associated Press, February 11, 2009. Accessed February 26, 2011 at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29142654/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Initiated in october 2000 by around 800 detainees, leftwingers and political activists (Carrol, 2001), who were later followed by members of their families as well as human rights militants, the hunger strike changed into a huge protest movement. This was brutally supressed by the police and the miltary in December, when the operation "Back to Life" was launched. This operation was met with resistance from the prisoners and had extremely high costs in terms of human loss - 28 prisoners and 2 soldiers died in the events. In the end, the results of the operation were a success for the Turkish prison authorities - the prisoners were moved into the new facilities and most of the "schools of anarchy," as Turkish president Demirel called them, were closed
The prison population of Turkey was, at that time, of around 72.000 inmates, but the amnesty billed introduced by the government in late…
References, authored by Amnesty International, Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Human Rights Watch etc.
See, for example, www.kurdistan.org, accessed on Nov. 07th, 2006 Available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61680.htm , accessed on Nov 07th, 2006
Quoted in Carrol, 2001
See the exact wording of the article 16 of the Anti-Terror Law at http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:d_jc7SzjyYcJ:www.icj.org/IMG/Turkey1991law.pdf+turkey,+anti-terror+law&hl=en&gl=pl&ct=clnk&cd=4,accessed on Nov. 5th, 2006
Available at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/turkey12220.htm , accessed on Nov. 7th, 2006
Prisons
Before the American evolution, the penal system in the colonies was brutal and harsh. Capital punishment was normative, and crimes were defined rather arbitrarily. As Edge (2009) points out, the colonial American mentality deemed "every crime a sin and every sin a crime," (p. 7). Not going to church on Sundays was sometimes viewed as a punishable offense (Edge 2009). After the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution of the United States was ratified, the penal code in the former colonies improved rapidly and dramatically. Concepts of individual rights permeated the discourse on the penal system, reducing the number of crimes that were punishable by death. Likewise, the practice of public hanging and similar forms of humiliation were banned in the United States. According to the Howard League for Prison eform (n.d.), Jeremey Bentham was a premier representative of prison reform during the 18th century. "Jeremy Bentham,…
References
Cole, G.F. & Smith, C.E. (2006). The American System of Criminal Justice. Cengage Learning/Thopson-Wadsworth.
Edge, Laura B. (2009). Locked Up: A History of the U.S. Prison System. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century.
Federal Bureau of Prisons (n.d.). A brief history of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved online: http://www.bop.gov/about/history.jsp
Howard League for Prison Reform (n.d.).
Prisons
Prison is a place where, for the protection of society, those found guilty of crimes are sent to be incarcerated. Prisons are a relative new invention, being created in the modern world, and therefore the social effects on inmates are not well-known. It is known that within prisons, the inmates go through a process by which they are transformed from members of society in general, to members of a prison society. The rules, responsibilities, obligations, and relationships are all very different to the outside world. In order to understand the society which is created when a group of criminals are confined together, researchers have studied the social dynamics of prison life. These researchers have begun to understand the changes in an inmate's psychology as they transform from a traditional member of human society to a member of a prison society. This essay will discuss the evolution of the prison…
References
Clemmer, Donald. (1958). The Prison Community. New York: Rinehart.
Foucault, Michael. (1995). Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Giollombardo, Rose. (1966). "Social Roles in a Prison for Women." Social Problems 13(3) Retrieved from http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/Social_Roles_in_a_prison.pdf
Giollombardo, Rose. (1966). Society of Women: A Study of a Women's Prison. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
.. subterranean feel... (and) dusty corridors lined by crumbling walls." Within this dark and foreboding place, visitors can walk through the old cell blocks, stroll through the mess hall, the hospital and the prison chapel, "climb into a guard tower (and) peer into the cells of death row" (Casey, 2007, Internet).
Obviously, the American public does hold a fascination with prisons and with those who are forced to live within their high walls, due to committing crimes against society. But in the end, it is not so much the prisons that fascinate people but what they symbolize, being the fear of the unknown, the fear of dark places where the incidents that occur within their walls are only known to the inmates and the guards. Also, prisons and incarceration represent confinement and the taking away of freedom and liberty. Perhaps those who are fascinated with prisons only wish to step…
References
Casey, Maura J. (May 11, 2007). "In the Big House... Just Visiting." New York Times: Escapes. Internet. Retrieved at http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/travel/escapes/
11 prison.1.html?ex=1179547200&en=299b36faa219f2cd&ei=5070.
Prisons
The American criminal justice system can be divided into three components: law enforcement, the courts, and corrections. Each has its own unique problems and challenges that it must face in order to accomplish its combined goal of ensuring safety and justice throughout society. But one problem that all must face is the problem of overcrowding. With nearly 300 million people in the United States, there actual number of people who enter the criminal justice system is staggering. The police are overworked and underpaid, the courts run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and prisons are so overpopulated that courts are forced to order the early release of thousands of prisoners each year. While overcrowding is a problem in all three aspects of the justice system, this essay will examine the problem of overcrowding within the prison system.
The United States of American has one of the largest…
References
Alexander, Michelle. (2011). The new Jim Crow: how mass incarceration turns people of color into permanent second-class citizens. The American Prospect 22(1) p. 19+. Retrieved from Academic OneFile.
Arthur, Beth. (2009). Managing gangs and STGs: proactive Approaches for safety and success:
managing these various groups adds additional operational concerns and challenges, not to mention financial constraints, whether these groups are in our jails, prisons, juvenile facilities or on probation." Corrections Today 71 (1), p.8. Retrieved from Academic OneFile.
Currie, Elliott. (1998). Crime and Punishment in America. New York: Metropolitan
Prisons
Prison Systems
Auburn State Prison vs. Eastern State Penitentiary
In the early 1800's, the United States became the focus of prison reform when both New York and Pennsylvania introduced new systems of prisons. Prior to this time prisons were "used largely for persons awaiting trial and other punishments and for debtors…." (Johnston) But with the advent of these new systems, a whole new era emerged in prison design, purpose, and administration. Pennsylvania, traditional home of the Quakers, had abolished the death penalty for all crimes except murder, which led to the need for an alternative sentence. Long confinement became the obvious choice and they embarked on building an institution that reflected their Quaker philosophies. The first of these "penitentiaries" to be constructed was Eastern State Penitentiary. On the other hand was New York, which also needed to construct places to house prisoners for long-term confinement. However, New York took…
References
Johnston, Norman. (2011) "Prison Reform in Pennsylvania." The Pennsylvania Prison
Society. Retrieved from http://www.prisonsociety.org/about/history.shtml
"History of Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia" Eastern State Penitentiary
Homepage. Retrieved from http://www.easternstate.org/learn/research-library/history
Prisons as punishment or whether they are good for rehabilitation or rather perhaps neither are of a positive effect for the offender or have a negative effect.
Prison as a Punishment
There are many arguments for and against prisons many see the prison role as a way of helping to fight crime, for example many argue that as a deterrent it can force criminals to avoid prison by not committing crimes. However, this ideal was a theory that began as policy for governing penal centres in the early 1970's, since that time the prison populations have increased fivefold (Clear, 2002 and Blumstein, 1993).
Never the less the growth of the prison system is not being met with a decrease in crime, rather the opposite. The major increase of those being incarcerated and the lack of a reduction in crime needs to be discussed and looked at with some in-depth examination…
Felson, M. (1994). Crime and everyday life: Insights and implications for society. Newbury Park, CA: Pine Forge Press
Freeman, R.B. (1992). Crime and unemployment of disadvantaged youth. In A. Harrell, & G. Peterson (Eds.), Drugs, crime, and social isolation: Barriers to urban opportunity. Washington, DC: Urban Institute
Pugsley, R.A (1982) Prisons and Punishment. The New York Review of Books [online] accessed at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/6490
Prisons Reform Prisoners?
America has experienced a huge increase in the number of people who are imprisoned over the past few decades. The increase has particularly been fueled by the increase in violent crimes throughout the society. The American criminal justice system has experienced increase in the number of people who are imprisoned annually despite the enactment of tougher policies to deal with crime and increased efforts towards reforming prisoners. Generally, prisons have been established as correctional facilities to tackle offenses in the society, especially lessening violence. In light of recent statistics and trends, there are numerous concerns on whether prisons actually help in lessening violence or just segregate the violence or whether they really attempt to reform prisoners seriously. This concern has attracted several huge controversies based on numerous argument and counter-arguments.
Arguments in support of the claim that prisons reduce violence and actually reform prisoners have been fostered…
Works Cited
Gilligan, James. "Punishment Fails. Rehabilitation Works." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. .
LEHRER, ELI. "Responsible Prison Reform." National Affairs. National Affairs, Inc., 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. .
Santos, Michael. "How To Reduce Violence in Prison." Prison News Blog. Prison News Blog, 1 Dec. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. .
11). Davis squarely blames the proliferation of prisons and prison inmates on racism. Prisons, according to Davis, have taken the place of slavery and legal segregation. The author embellishes her position through her characteristically deft use of language, such as by referring to the "abolition" of prison culture in America.
Davis claims the prison-industrial complex is a tool for social control in a society too lazy to address the root causes of racism, sexism, and poverty. The Marxian discourse in Davis' work presents prison culture in light of conflict theory. Conflict theorists will find Davis' arguments familiar. Disproportionate numbers of minorities in general prison populations and in maximum security prison populations substantiate Davis' claims about the relationship between race, power, and social control in modern American society. Davis' data also draws attention also to the congruence of poverty and ethnicity. An intrepid feminist scholar, Davis links incarceration to actual and…
Works Cited
Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories, 2003.
Penitentiary System
Two Significant Changes to the Penitentiary System during the 20th Century
During the 19th Century prisons were harsh environments that incorporated corporal punishment, striped uniforms and lockstep marching. In 1876 the Elmira Correctional Facility opened in New York. Elmira was the first prison established on the concept of changing behavior instead of punishing behavior. This facility was designed to reform each inmate through an individualized program, discarding meaningless hard labor, regimens of silence, religious and morality lectures and strict compliance attained through cruelty and fear. The programs instituted at the reformatory included courses in ethics and religion, vocational education, and activities such as a band, newspaper and athletic leagues.
Healthcare
Until recently prison healthcare and interest in the health and medical problems of prisoners was under the direction of county sheriffs or prison wardens. With the exception of the Federal ureau of Prisons, which staffed its medical service…
Bibliography
Poster, M.J., (1992) The estelle medical professional judgement standars: The right of those in custody to receive high-cost medical treatments. American journal of law and medicine 18 (4):347-368.
Weisbuch, J.B., (DNI) Prison Health. Encyclopedia of Public Health. In Answers.com. Retrieved July 9, 2010, from http://www.answers.com/topic/prison-health
The rate and level of violence in these populations would be the dependent variable. The essential question of the research would be to determine the existence and extent of any relationship between these two variable sets in order to determine if integration is indeed advisable.
The scale of measurement for the variables used will be largely dependent on the general levels of violence seen in the various prisons. Criteria will be established to determine violent incidents to be included in the study, and the number of incidents per week, month, or year (depending on overall frequency) will be compared in prison populations with different levels of integration. Levels of integration will be determined by comparing percentages of various races present in a mixed population, including the percentage of the population that represents the majority/plurality of a prison population to distinguish from truly mixed populations.
My hypothesis for this research is…
References
Trulson, C. & Marquart, J. (2002). "Inmate Racial Integration: Achieving Racial Integration in the Texas Prison System." The prison journal, 82(4), pp. 498-525.
Trulson, C., Marquart, J. & Kawucha, S. (2006). "Gang suppression and institutional control." Corrections today magazine, 68(2), pp. 26-31.
Turley, J. (2005). "The return to separate but equal." Washington post. Accessed 26 May 2009. http://jonathanturley.org/2007/08/18/the-return-to-separate-but-equal/
United States, public executions remained until the middle of the 19th century, when the practice began to fall out of favor due to shifts in attitudes toward criminality and criminal justice. Several states opted to banish public executions, without necessarily abolishing the death penalty itself. In 1936, the last public hanging took place in the United States. During the early 20th century, further reforms took place disallowing "cruel and unusual" forms of execution such as public hangings, but several states continue to allow public viewings of executions (eggio, 1997).
As capital punishment fell out of favor and humanitarian ideals prevailed in the philosophy of criminal justice, the institution of imprisonment became the de facto recourse for dealing with serious crime. Whereas previously serious crimes would be treated via capital punishment, the prison system provided the means by which to issue heavy sanctions, segregating the accused from the greater public while…
References
Foucault, M. (n.d.). Complete and austere institutions. Retrieved online: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/heike.schotten/readings/Foucault,%20Complete%20and%20Austere%20Institutions.pdf
Langbein, J.H. (1976). The historical origins of the sanction of imprisonment for serious crime.Yale Law School. Retrieved online: http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1548&context=fss_papers
Pishko, J. (2015). A history of women's prisons. JSTOR Daily. Retrieved online: http://daily.jstor.org/history-of-womens-prisons/
Reggio, M.H. (1997). History of the death penalty. PBS Frontline. Retrieved online: http://www.pbs.org /wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/history.html
Prisons are correctional facilities where criminals are confided in order to rehabilitate them. Once a criminal has gotten out of the prison it is expected that they have learnt from their mistakes and not repeat these same mistakes or commit new crimes. They are expected to be changed people who are ready to be productive in the society. However, over the years this has not been achieved successfully. This is due to the fact that prisons are facing various significant challenges today. The paper will look at some of these challenges prisons are facing today and bring out research and discussions of these issues and how they impact the administration of the correctional systems. It will also look at the impact of these issues both global and local scales. Finally solutions to these challenges based on research and examples will also be provided.
Gang activities
Gang activities in prisons are…
References
Grey, J.(2012). Prisons deal with gangs inside, problems continue outside. Retrieved February 23, 2014 from http://www.ktvb.com/news/crime/Prisons-deal-with-gangs-inside-problems-continue-outside-153399255.html
Walker, R. (2013). The History, Origin and Evolution of Prison Gangs and Security Threat Groups (STG). Retrieved February 23, 2014 from http://www.gangsorus.com/prison_gang_history.htm
Harris, K.(2012). Rise in prison gangs fuelling violence, drug trade. Retrieved February 23, 2014 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rise-in-prison-gangs-fuelling-violence-drug-trade-1.1191284
Knox, W, G. (2005). The Problem of Gangs and Security Threat Groups (STG's)
Prisons and Improvement
Drug and alcohol problems for prisoners are treated so as to reduce the rate of relapse and recidivism as well as to lower prison misconduct and better relationships. Effective treatment consists of Drug Abuse Education, Nonresidential Drug Abuse Treatment (which focuses on cognitive behavorial therapy (CBT) and is helpful for prisoners with a short sentence or who are transitioning back to a community), Residential Drug Abuse Treatment (which also uses CBT), and Community Treatment Services, which offers a network of providers to released inmates.
The employment policies for prisoners in the U.S. differs from prison to prison, but prisoners can be employed by private companies while incarcerated; however, they will not be paid a fair minimum wage in most cases but will instead earn the kind of wages that their Asian counterparts earn, which is next to nothing. These policies have been described in some detail by…
In this regard, Fathi adds that the Standards stipulate that: "When private facilities are used, the Standards require multiple means of oversight, including applicability of freedom of information laws; contract provisions for oversight; and on-site monitoring by the contracting agency" (2010, p. 1455).
Further complicating the debate over which is better is the fact that private prisons are increasingly being used for Homeland Security purposes in ways that create further transparency issues and allow these privately operated facilities to avoid intensive scrutiny. For instance, Handley (2011) reports that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), "the private prison industry's largest company, has contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Marshal Service, and is also the nations largest detainer of undocumented immigrants" (2011, p. 9). On the one hand, critics of private prison corporation such as CCA argue that the privatization of this function of the justice system is subverting…
References
CCA. (2012). Corrections Corporation of America. Retrieved from http://www.cca.com/ .
Corrections. (2012). Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved from http://www.ojp.gov / programs/corrections.htm.
Courts. (2012). Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved from
Costs associated with Supermax Prisons
Most of the Supermaxes in the United States are brand new or nearly so. Others are simply free-standing prisons that were retrofitted. "According to a study by the Urban Institute, the per-cell cost of a Supermax is about $75,000 annually, compared to $25,000 for each cell in an ordinary state prison" (Ross, 2006). The supermax models emerged out of the prison violence of the 1970's and the early 1980's, when dozens of guards around the country, were murdered by prisoners. First, prison authorities developed procedures to minimize inmate-staff contact. Then they took to locking down entire prisons for indefinite periods, keeping inmates in their cells all day and closing down communal dining rooms and exercise yards. Eventually, they began to explore the idea of making the general prison population safer by creating entirely separate high-tech, supermax prisons in which the worst of the worst would…
Works Cited
Abramsky, S. (2002). "Return of the Madhouse." Web. 9 April 2012. Available at:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Return_Madhouse.htmlMears, D.P. & Watson, J. (2006). "Towards a Fair and Balanced Assessment of Supermax
Prisons." Justice Quarterly, 23(2), p. 232-270. Web. 30 March 2012.
Mears, Daniel P. (2005). "A Critical Look at Supermax Prisons." Corrections Compendium.
Jails and Prisons
There are various types of prisons that are legally allowed to operate within the U.S.A. These prisons are categorized depending on the level of the crimes that the prisoners that it holds have committed. There are various categorizations of these prisons by various scholars but there are four that are most predominant as below (Vince De Maille, 2007);
Minimum and medium security prisons
These are the most common types of prisons in the U.S.A. And the prisoners here are held in dormitories kind of facilities and are allowed to have communal shower, sinks and even share toilets. The prisoners here are viewed to be posing little danger to the public and each other and are not violent as most of them are convicted of 'white collar crimes'
Close security
Here the prisoners are confined into cells which hold one or two people per cell. These cells are…
References
Bottoms, A.E. (1999). Interpersonal violence and social order in prisons. Crime and Justice, 26, 205-281. The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://www.jstor.org/pss/1147687 .
Ervin Goffman (2012). Characteristics of Total Institutions. Retrieved February 5, 2012 from http://www.markfoster.net/neurelitism/totalinstitutions.pdf
Joshua Curtiss, (2012). Truth in Sentencing Laws. Retrieved February 5, 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/about_5449420_truth-sentencing-laws.html
Marcus Nieto, (1996). Community Correction Punishments: An Alternative To Incarceration for Nonviolent Offenders . Retrieved February 5, 2012 from http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/96/08/
This gave the immediate need to contract the prison facilities.
Literature review
Extant literature has been dedicated to the topic of privatization of the rather publicly run correctional facilities in America. These literatures have been mixed and contain mixed views of proponent for privatization and its opponents alike. The literatures therefore have expressed favors of the system as well as critical of it. There also exists another category expressing pure criticism. The critical articles include the ones a large number of authors (Dixon et al.,1996; Puxty,1997; Broadbent et al.,1996; Shaoul,1997; English,2003; and Dillard and uchala,2005).The studies that are focused solely in the criticism of the system are also numerous (Cooper and Williams, 2005 and Andrew and Cahill, 2009). The initial group of literature has an argument having a multi-thronged perspective. In fact the perspectives of the prior literature can be grouped into three distinct perspectives: The initial perspective is concentrated…
References
Anderson, T (November 1996) "Private Prisons Rebuff Attack," Security Management, vol. 40, no. 11 (November 1996), p.13.
Andrew, J. And Cahill, D. (2009), "Value for money? Neo-liberalism in New South Wales
Prisons," Australian Accounting Review, 19(2): 144.152.
Arrington, C.E., and Francis, J.R. (1993), "Giving economic accounts: accounting as a cultural practice," Accounting Organizations and Society, 18(2/3): 107 -- 124.
Introduction
As Ruth Wilson Gilmore points out in Golden Gulag, prisons have become “catchall solutions to social problems.”[footnoteRef:2] Those problems can be rooted in drug issues stemming from the abuse of opioids that have proliferated on the black market thanks to the pharmaceutical industry’s expertise in developing highly addictive substances that filtered through physicians on to patients and then on to the streets. They can be rooted in familial situations where socioeconomic factors, education, and cultural variables impact the stability of families, bringing tension, stress and strife to an environment that should otherwise be calm, stable and welcoming. They can be rooted in society’s cultural history, and the racist and classist problems that have long been encountered therein. The prison industrial complex arose out of the whirlwind of these seeds being scattered across the earth of the U.S. It came about in response to the “moral panics” surrounding issues of…
Bibliography
Gilmore, Ruth Wilson and Craig Gilmore. “Beyond Bratton,” in Policing the Planet.
Gilmore, Ruth Wilson. Golden Gulag. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2007.
Herzing, Rachel. “The Margical Life of Broken Windows,” in Policing the Planet.
Sudbury, Julia. “A World Without Prisons: Resisting Militarism, Globalized Punishment, and Empire,” Social Justice 31.2 (2004): 9-28.
For some prisoners, their sentences do not end. Even after being released, they are followed around by the specter of suspicion, fear, and prejudice. Stigma against former offenders, even non-violent ones, can stymie even the most ambitious, optimistic, and hard-working reformed criminal. The criminal justice system in the United States has become so punitive that rehabilitation is no longer even a viable goal. With little chance for reformation or hope, many nonviolent reformed offenders have trouble reintegrating into the community, finding work or a place to live. When prisoner reintegration is unsuccessful, everyone suffers. Unable to find employment because employers are biased against former felons, some former inmates have no choice but to turn to the grey and black market economies to make a living. It is unfair to stereotype people who have been in prison as violent offenders since there are many reasons that individuals can find themselves incarcerated. Not…
Works Cited
Eisen, Lauren Brooke and Inimai Chettiar. “39% of Prisoners Should Not Be in Prison.” Time. Dec 08, 2016. Accessed: http://time.com/4596081/incarceration-report/
Federal Bureau of Prisons. “Offenses.” Accessed: https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp
A major portion of an inmate's helplessness, deprivation, depression and self-loathing etc. arises due to physical and psychological victimization that he or she has to face. Physical victimization includes homicide, assault and rape. These arise due to poor staff supervision and keeping defenseless prisoners with the violent ones. On the other hand, psychological victimization involves verbal manipulation and harsh psychological attacks of personal nature.
The stronger inmates attempt to create their own subcultures that show their dominance, rule and assertion on all prisoners (Heilpern, 1998). To fulfill the maintenance of these subcultures, they resort to rape, riots or even homicide spreading mental illnesses like stress, phobias, enhanced criminal activity, shame, guilt, etc. among the weaker prisoners.
Imprisonment: Eliminating or aggravating crime?
It is not a hidden matter that jails, even after intensive care and security, are not free of brutality, stress and violence among the inmates. The safety of each…
References
Cragg, W. (2002). The practice of punishment: Towards a theory of restorative justice. Routledge.
Foucault, M. (2008). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison.
Gendreau, P., Cullen, F.T., & Goggin, C. (1999). The effects of prison sentences on recidivism. Ottawa: Solicitor General Canada.
Gudrais, E. (2013, March). The Prison Problem. Harvard Magazine.
This will also lead to the finding on whether the kind of offense committed translates to a lengthier sentence on imprisonment and in effect, on the likelihood that the ex-convict will commit the same or a different kind of offense again. Lastly, the researcher is also interested to determine whether the commitment of re-offense, if indeed committed by the ex-convict, changes in level or degree -- that is, whether the re-offense has a greater, lower, or the same level of punishment.
In terms of the research sample, the researcher proposes looking into a sample of ex-convicts who came from the same correctional/prison facility. By sampling a group of ex-convicts from the same prison facility, the researcher prevents data from being tainted with extraneous variables, such as the existence of prison programs, which might influence the ex-convict's reformation during his/her prison term. Thus, when a particular correctional or prison facility is…
However, given that the problem of overcrowding is pervasive in the prison system in general, and not simply at these specific junctures of the judicial process, the choice between a low-use jail and a high-use jail would seem to be the real question. More and more prisoners who might once be shipped to the state penitentiary are now being confined to jails for more extended periods of time than ever before. Thus, to accommodate this problem, a high-use jail that has many of the monitoring and rehabilitative capacities of a prison system would be more useful to the community.
The purpose and function of a high-use jail low-use jail is designed for shorter-term inmates, while a high-use jail is designed to accommodate not simply more inmates, but a wider variety of inmates for longer durations of time. It has the ability to deal with more violent offenders, but also has…
Works Cited
What is the difference between jail and prison?" (2006). Public Health and Criminal
Justice. Operated by the CDC: Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Page last reviewed 18 Oct 2006. Retrieved 9 Mar 2007 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/cccwg/difference.htm
Prison Punishment
Should Prison be Punitive or Rehabilitation in Nature?
A question that has existed since the beginnings of the modern prison system has been that of whether prison should be an unbearable punishment for an action committed, or rehabilitation for the accused to rid them of a particular behavior. In ancient times, a violent crime was usually responded with a violent verdict, resulting in torture and pain, and the concept of 'an eye for an eye' that led human law for thousands of years. Recently, however, civilization has rejected the outward torture of prisoners, and has tried to implement a system based on fairness, both during the trial and during the punishment. hile prisoners may not feel like their jail time is fair, modern civilization has elected judges to make these decisions for society. There is still the question, however, of what in today's world is the goal of…
Work Cited
Larrabee, A., (2006). Punishment vs. Rehabilitation in the Criminal Justice System. Retrived from, http://voices.yahoo.com/punishment-vs.-rehabilitation-criminal-justice-119962.html .
Multiple authors. (2010). Should Criminal Justice Focus More on Rehabilitation or Punishment. IDebate. Retrieved from http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/law-crime/house-believes-criminal-justice-should-focus-more-rehabilitation.
Peak, K., (2012). Justice Administration: Police, Courts and Corrections Management (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson: Prentice Hall.
Turner, A., (2012). Work Programs for Texas Inmates Go High Tech. Chron. Retrieved from, http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Prison-factories-train-inmates-and-save-the-state-3450137.php .
Prison Privatization
Privatization of prisons
Privatization of prisons is referred as a way of taking over the existing public amenities or facilities by the private operators, building of new operations and additional prisons by for profit prison sectors. Private prisons are more safe, efficient and effective compared to the public sector prisons. This is because; the public sector prisons are wasteful in terms of money that is spent more than the available money. Privatized prisons tend to run more cost effectively as well as efficiently if it happens to meet the budget (Cheung, 2004). When there is a good budget in the private companies, they more often than not make sure that the necessary changes run within the set budget, however the public sector only prints more money and that is the reason as to why the private prisons are more safe and effective.
esearch shows that privatized prisons in…
References
Cheung, A., (2004). Prison Privatization and the Use of Incarceration. The Sentencing Project. Retrieved February 9, 2013, http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_prisonprivatization.pdf
Smith, A. (2012). Private vs. Public Facilities, Is it cost effective and safe? Retrieved February 11, 2013, from http://www.corrections.com/news/article/30903-private-vs.-public-facilities-is-it-cost-effective-and-safe -
In addition, prison managers must deal with the mundane as well as the human equation, because much of their jobs are in the paperwork, union rules, state statutes, and other regulations that are required in the prison system. Management in the prison is a unique challenge, because of the many responsibilities that come with it. It is clear, just as business management and leadership are evolving, that prison management will continue to evolve, and as it does, it could create model prison systems of the future.
Finally, it is important to note that prisons are unique operations, but they still should uphold management principles. Author Daly continues, "Management is responsible for the mission and strategy of the organization. Prisons are unique with special features but they still reflect the philosophy and methodology of management" (Daly, 2002). Prison management should have clearly defined goals and missions regarding their inmate populations, but…
References
Boin, a. (2001). Crafting public institutions: Leadership in two prison systems. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Daly, W.C. (2002). Shades of gray in prison administration. Education, 122(3), 488+.
Greene, J. (2003). Chapter Five Lack of correctional services. In Capitalist punishment: Prison privatization & human rights, Coyle, a., Campbell, a., & Neufeld, R. (Eds.) (pp. 56-66). Atlanta: Clarity Press.
prison overcrowding and its effect on the criminal justice system. Prison overcrowding has skyrocketed in the United States in the last three decades, leading to a multitude of problems in the criminal justice system. Overcrowding costs taxpayers money, it leads to dysfunction within the penal population, and it creates dangers for prison staff. It is a result of many items in society and the criminal justice system, and it must change if America's prisons are to remain effective and viable.
Many people may not be aware just how much the prison population has grown in the last thirty years. One researcher notes, "From 300,000 prisoners in 1977, the prison population has risen steadily to over 1.5 million as of June 30, 2005, a 400% increase" (Pfaff, 2008). The two largest states housing prisoners, California and Texas, have seen stupendous growth in their prison populations, but not in their funding. Another…
References
Haney, C. (2006). Prison overcrowding: Harmful consequences and dysfunctional reactions. Retrieved 31 July 2009 from the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons Web site: http://www.prisoncommission.org/statements/haney_craig.pdf . 1-17.
Jacobs, J.B. (2007). Finding alternatives to the carceral state. Social Research, 74(2), 695+.
Moore, S. (2009). The prison overcrowding fix. Retrieved 31 July 2009 from the New York Times Web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/us/11prisons.html .
Pfaff, J.F. (2008). The empirics of prison growth: A critical review and path forward. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 98(2), 547+
Generally, persons sentenced to prison have been convicted of a felony offense. There are both state-run and federally run prisons. hether a prisoner is confined to a state or a federally run prison determines on whether he or she was convicted in a federal or a state court. (hat is the Difference Between a Jail and Prison, 2006, Public Health and Criminal Justice) prisoner may begin his or her movement through the criminal justice system in a jail. However, after his or her case has been heard, and he or she has been arraigned, then he or she will likely be able to post bail, or, if unable to do so, be confined to a prison in the jurisdiction where he or she will be tried. After his or her conviction, the most appropriate venue for incarceration will then be determined, depending on the length of the sentence and the…
Works Cited
What is the Difference Between a Jail and Prison?"(18 Oct 1006) Public Health and Criminal Justice. Retrieved 30 Oct 2006 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/cccwg/difference.htm
.....psychologists working in prisons in the United States, Boothby & Clements (2000) found some disturbing trends in corrections. Although the number of prison psychologists has doubled in the past twenty years, the vast majority of prison psychologists remain Caucasian males who may be unable to address the diverse needs of the incarcerated community. Biases and assumptions about inmates may also hinder the ability of inmates to seek and receive psychological treatment. Moreover, a full third of prison psychologist work time is spent on administrative duties -- more than the time spent on direct treatment. Only 26% of their work time is devoted to directly treating the inmates, meaning that structural and institutional variables are impeding the delivery of quality mental health care to the prison community.
Interestingly, the profession of clinical psychology was practically born in the prison context. As Magaletta, et al. (2016) point out, prison wardens partnered with…
Corcoran State Prison: Prison Culture and Effect on Inmates
The prisons in the U.S. have a long history of offering correction services and rehabilitation for the people convicted of various crimes within the society. There have been increased incarceration of inmates over the last few decades with prisons getting more populated than before hence the introduction of the privately run correction facilities to help handle the large number of people within the prison walls at any given time. However, the inclusion of the private prisons have not helped matters much neither have they improved the rehabilitation process or the living standards of the inmates in comparison to the state owned correction facilities. There have continued to thrive the prison cultures and in effect influenced the way the prisoners relate to each other and even relate to the correctional officers. This prison culture will be the focus of this paper and…
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011). Prison and Jail Deaths in Custody, 2000-2009 - Statistical Tables. Retrieved August 21, 2014 from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pjdc0009st.pdf
California State Prison, Corcoran, (2013). California State Prison, Corcoran - Mission Statement. Retrieved August 21, 2014 from http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Facilities_Locator/COR.html
David R. Shaw, (2009). California State Prison, Corcoran Warden Derral Adams One-Year Audit. Retrieved August 21, 2014 from http://www.oig.ca.gov/media/reports/ARCHIVE/BOA/Audits/Warden%20Derrel%20Adams%20One-Year%20Audit,%20Corcoran%20State%20Prison.pdf
Paige J., (2013). Court experts cite 'serious' healthcare risks at Corcoran prison. Retrieved August 21, 2014 from http://prisons.einnews.com/article/161057067/jrpGKHrWmZXOXTKc
prison gang is a select group of inmates with an organized chain of command and an established code of conduct. They operate in secrecy with a view to controlling their prison environment through intimidation and violence meted on non-members. Some of the oldest prison gangs in the U.S. were formed as early as 1950s. Some notable example is Gypsy Jokers that operated in Washington State prisons (Fleisher & Decker, 2001). Violence in correctional facilities in the United States is something that has been with us for quite a while. Prisoners and prison officers have both fallen victims to this violence.
Think of the San Antonio, Texas incident where 281 prisoners were stabbed and 13 slain (The Ledger, 1984). There was divided opinion on what motivated such heinous acts with some prison officials opining that prison gangs who were divided along racial lines were responsible. Some attacks were thought to be…
References List
Fleisher, M.S. & Decker, S.H. (2001). An overview of the Challenge of Prison Gangs.
Corrections Management Quarterly, 5(1), 1-9.
Knox, G.W. (2005). The Problem of Gangs and Security Threat Groups (STG's) in American
Prisons Today: Recent Research Findings From the 2004 Prison Gang Survey. Retrieved from http://www.ngcrc.com/corr2006.html
Jail Time and Death Penalty: Finding New Ways to Deter Criminal Behavior
Jail Time and Death Penalty: A Deterrent?
For years many law enforcement agencies have relied on the assumption that jail time or the death penalty serve as adequate deterrents to crime or criminal activity. However multiple studies confirm that jail time and the death penalty are not effective methods alone for deterring criminals. Because of this it is important that law enforcement agents, government officials and community members work together to uncover effective tools for deterring crime and discouraging criminals from repeating crimes after release.
Jail time and the death penalty do not deter crime. Early Gallup Polls conducted in the 1980s and 1990s show that while roughly two thirds of Americans and law enforcement agents support the death penalty, there is inadequate evidence supporting its use as an effective deterrent to crime (Akers & adelet, 1996). Many…
References:
Abraham, E., Boyle, J., Mullen, R. & ratelle, J. (1996). "California program reduces recidivism and saves tax dollars." Corrections Today, 58(5): 118.
Akers, R.L. & Radelet, M.L. (1996). "Deterrence and the death penalty: The views of the experts." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 87(1): 15.
Clayton, S.L. (2005 -- Apri). "Jail inmates bake their way to successful reentry."
Corrections Today, 67(2):78.
Maximum security prisons have grown in recent decades and have implemented methods some may deem inhumane. A 2016 article discusses prison conditions in maximum security prisons and addresses specifically the topic of preservation of human dignity and disease prevention. The author mentions the Dudley Lee v. Minister of Correctional Services case that held "that prison authorities have a duty of care to prevent prisoners from being infected with HIV-related illnesses such as TB" (Torriente, Tadion, & Hsu, 2016). The applicant was sent to a maximum security prison in South Africa where he eventually was diagnosed three years later with TB. Another instance of the government and its failure to acknowledge the need to safeguard a prisoner's health is the . v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex-parte Glen Fielding. Here the case discusses of a prisoner in the United Kingdom asking for condoms and being denied unless given…
References
Engel, P. (2013). Here's What Life Is Like Inside Russia's Toughest Prison.Business Insider. Retrieved 16 April 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-russias-black-dolphin-prison-2013-10?op=1
Torriente, A., Tadion, A., & Hsu, L. (2016). Opening the Door to Zero New HIV Infections in Closed Settings. Health and Human Rights Journal. Retrieved 16 April 2016, from http://www.hhrjournal.org/2016/02/opening-the-door-to-zero-new-hiv-infections-in-closed-settings/
Vasiliades, E. (2005). Solitary Confinement and International Human Rights: Why the U.S. Prison System Fails Global Standards. American University International Law Review, 21(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=auilr
Classical Criminology theories in examining a case that studies a bill which is meant to increase the maximum term for prisoners charged with armed robbery, by double.
The Enlightenment was the basis on which Classical Criminology theories came to be. The theories emphasize on the notion that people choose to end their own lives, and that people need to be punished to prevent them from committing crimes in the future. Classical theories are based on the assumption that people have their freedom, and committing an offense is by choice (The Classical School of Criminology & Its Influence Today). The theories are also based on the assumption that people try to look for pleasure and avoid painful experiences. The notion of hedonism was one of the major ideas, which means that people try to look for pleasure and avoid pain. The idea is used in classical theories to inform punishment. Every…
References
(2011). Legislative News, Studies and Analysis - National Conference of State Legislatures. Principles of Effective State Sentencing and Corrections Policy. Retrieved August 29, 2016, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/principles-of-sentencing-and-corrections-policy.aspx
South. (2010). Homepage - Times Free Press. Bill would keep armed robbers in prison longer - Times Free Press. Retrieved August 29, 2016, from http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/politics/state/story/2010/jun/08/bill-would-keep-armed-robbers-in-prison-longer/19461/
(n.d.). Study.com - Take Online Courses. Earn College Credit. Research Schools, Degrees & Careers. The Classical School of Criminology & Its Influence Today - Video & Lesson Transcript - Study.com. Retrieved August 29, 2016, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-classical-school-of-criminology-its-influence-today.html
Writer Thoughts
correctional stereotypes in the movie " the Shawshank edemption." This essay will explain the correctional policies that are demonstrated in the movie and suggest ways in which these portrayals are accurate or inaccurate.
The movie "The Shawshank edemption" revolves around the life and times of a prisoner named Andy. Andy was a banker in his former life before he was framed for the murder of his wife and her lover. The story documents the unfair treatment Andy has received in society and concludes with him escaping prison and finding his redemption that he felt that he had earned by maintaining an attitude of hope and faith.
The Shawshank Prison, where Andy was detained, resonated with many prison system stereotypes within the movie. The warden of the prison is depicted as a cruel and inhumane person, bent on sadistically treating his prisoners and guards. This stereotype of the "evil warden" provides…
References
Fiddler, M. (2007). Projecting the prison: The depiction of the uncanny in The Shawshank Redemption. Crime, Media, Culture, 3(2), 192-206.
Kermode, M. (2003). The Shawshank Redemption. British Film Inst.
Prison Overcrowding
Arguably the most pressing issue facing the field of corrections today is the problem of prison overcrowding. Overcrowding negatively impacts nearly every aspect of running a corrections facility, and even exacerbates problems when inmates are eventually released (Specter, 2010). Overcrowded prisons increase the likelihood of violence against both inmates and corrections officers, and there is evidence tying overcrowding to higher rates of suicide and homicide (Davies, 2004, & Camp, Gaes, Langan, & Saylor, 2003). The problem has only gotten worse over the last few decades, and there is no evidence that policymakers or administrators have plans to do anything soon (Giertz & Nardulli, 1985, & Taggart, 1996). After examining the relevant literature concerning the history, scope, and reasons behind prison overcrowding, it becomes clear that the solution to overcrowding and its attendant costs must come in the form of administrative/institutional reform coupled with a serious reconsideration of the…
References
Camp, S.D., Gaes, G.G., Langan, N.P., & Saylor, W.G. (2003). The influence of prisons on inmate misconduct: A multilevel investigation*. Justice Quarterly: JQ, 20(3), 501-533.
Davies, R. (2004). Deaths in UK prisons are due to overcrowding, says report. The Lancet,
363(9406), 378-378.
Giertz, J.F., & Nardulli, P.F. (1985). Prison overcrowding. Public Choice (Pre-1986), 46(1),
Prison Architecture
Criminal Justice, Prison Architecture
The evolution of prison architecture is a reflection of societies changing attitudes toward crime and punishment. Prisons have progressed from simple places for incarceration where the primary purpose is to protect the public to instruments of punishment where the loss of freedom is penalty for breaking the law, to institutions for reform dedicated to mould the guilty to conform to society's norms. Initially imprisonment was a means of detaining debtors to ensure payment, the accused before trial, or the guilty before punishment. Courts imposed sentences including fines, personal mutilation such as flogging or branding, or death. In 18th-century England transportation to penal settlements in the Thirteen Colonies and later Australia, became an increasingly popular penalty because it removed the guilty from local society; length of sentence and destination reflected the severity with which the court viewed the offence. Eventually a new type of prison,…
References
Johnson, D. (2011) Prison architecture. The Canadian encyclopedia. Retreived October 16, 2011, from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009130
Lewis, J. (2009, june 10). Behind bars…sort of. The New York times magizine. New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14prisons-t.html?pagewanted=all
Prison Life for Inmates
Sending offenders to prison has been used as a way of dealing with prisoners for a long time. It was not always seen as a way of punishment; rather, it was used as detention pending the actual punishment of these offenders. The application of imprisonment has been around, perhaps, for as long as humanity has existed. In Old Testament times, prisons were used in Jerusalem. Some prominent personalities have been reported to have been born in prison environments. Others have been imprisoned. It is reported that Lord Krishna was born in prison at a place called Mathura. Shahjahan was imprisoned by his son at Agra. The ritish constructed the historic cell at Port lair for detaining for life those who revolted against their rule. Prisons have not always been viewed as a way of punishing offenders; rather they have been used to detain offenders before the…
Bibliography
Bradford, Andrew Ryan. "An Examination of The Prison Environment: An Analysis of Inmate Concerns Eight Environmental Dimensions." School of Graduate Studies (2006).
Burlington County. "Prison Museum." A National Historic Landmark Located in The Heart of Holly 2013.
Covert, H. "Ministry to The Incarcerated." Chicago: Loyopla Books, 1995.
Department of Corrections. Victims Services Programs. 2015. .
Prison Substance Abuse
If there are two things that plague prisons the most other than violence, they would obviously be drug dependency and mental illness. Quite often, there is a combination of the two in the same prisoners. However, there is also the problem of active drug use and dealing in prison and that shall be the focus of this brief research report. Within this report, there will be a statement of purpose, a description of the research design, the overall research findings, a discussion section and then a conclusion with a resolution. eferences to scholarly literature will pervade this report. While prisons and their personnel due to their best to curb or even stop substance abuse in prison, the influx of drugs is never-ending and the importation thereof is done in many different ways.
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this study is fairly easy. The amount of literature…
References
Forsyth, Simon J., et al. "Striking Subgroup Differences In Substance-Related Mortality After Release From Prison." Addiction 109.10 (2014): 1676-1683. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
Obstbaum, Yaira, and Sasu Tyni. "Who Receives Substance Abuse Treatment In The 'Real World' Of The Prison? A Register-Based Study Of Finnish Inmates." Journal Of Scandinavian Studies In Criminology & Crime Prevention 16.1 (2015): 76-96. Legal Collection. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
Wood, Steven R., and Anthony, Jr. Buttaro. "Co-Occurring Severe Mental Illnesses And Substance Abuse Disorders As Predictors Of State Prison Inmate Assaults." Crime & Delinquency 59.4 (2013): 510-535. ERIC. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
Zarkin, Gary A.1, et al. "Lifetime Benefits And Costs Of Diverting Substance-Abusing Offenders From State Prison." Crime & Delinquency 61.6 (2015): 829-850. Education Abstracts (H.W. Wilson). Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
Prison Condition in USA vs. ussia
In assessing the human rights conditions of maximum security facilities, human rights groups look into 3 main areas: the duration of confinement; the conditions of confinement, and the criteria of eligibility. Each of these areas must be looked into individually and then considered in the context of the entire situation (Human ights Watch). Quite a number of concerns have been raised about the human rights conditions of the individuals held in prisons including: mistreatment of inmates / detainees by prison officials; unsafe conditions; and lack of sufficient legal protection (United States Department of State, n.d.). This paper also compares the situation of prison facilities in the United States and ussia.
Introduction
The Standard Minimum ules, or the SMs for the Treatment of Prisoners are one of the most important international agreements on how prisoners should be handled. The SMs were adopted in 1955 by…
References
Hounshell, B. (2010). What are Russian prisons like? Retrieved March 15, 2016 from http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/12/28/what-are-russian-prisons-like/
Human Rights Watch (n.d.). Supermax Prisons: an overview. Retrieved March 15, 2016 from https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/supermax/Sprmx002.htm#TopOfPage
Markovic, V. (2000). Maximum Security Prisons: A Comparative Analysis. CRIME AND JUSTICE INTERNATIONAL, 16(39), 9-10.
Rosen, A. (2012). Inside Russia's Prison System. Retrieved March 15, 2016 from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/inside-russias-prison-system/263806/
AIZONA'S COECTIONAL HEALTHCAE SYSTEM
Prison Healthcare
Arizona's Correctional Healthcare System
The Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) is the agency ultimately responsible for providing healthcare to the state's prison population. Even though the Healthcare Services division within the ADC manages the medical clinics in Arizona's prisons, there are a number of sections and divisions that have important roles to play in ensuring inmates receive the care they are legally entitled to recieve. This essay describes the structural organization that ultimately provides healthcare to inmates and how it operates to ensure statutory compliance.
Arizona's Correctional Healthcare System
Arizona Department of Corrections Organizational Structure
The Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) is ultimately responsible for providing healthcare for the prison inmate population in the state of Arizona (ADC, 2011). This state agency is responsible for maintaining and administering all ADC institutions and programs, including community supervision for adult inmates released to their communities. The…
References
America Civil Liberties Union. (2009). Know your rights: Medical, dental, and mental health care. ACLU.org. Retrieved 15 Dec. 2011 from http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/know-your-rights-medical-dental-and-mental-health-care
Arizona Department of Corrections. (2011). AZCorrections.gov. Retrieved 15 Dec. 2011 from http://www.azcorrections.gov/
Arizona Department of Corrections. (2011). Medical Services. AZCorrections.gov. Retrieved 15 Dec. 2011 from
Contraband in Jail
Controlling contraband should be the top priority of any prison management, regardless of the level of security. Contraband is any item that a prisoner is not allowed to possess (Frantz 178). All correctional facilities provide their inmates with room and board, clothing, medical care, and basic hygiene items. A number of these facilities allow their inmates to buy items from the commissary or receive other articles or items through other authorized channels. Any other thing, aside from these that a prisoner possesses are contraband. eapons and escape materials are both dangerous in the correct circumstances. A number of staffs who work in prisons are acutely aware of the destruction that these items are likely to cause. These items, in addition to drugs and alcohol, can cause great havoc and pose a potential danger to staff and other inmates. Other items such as materials to make homemade ropes…
Works cited
Blackburn, Ashley G, Shannon K. Fowler, and Joycelyn M. Pollock. Prisons: Today and Tomorrow. Burlington, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013. Print.
Frantz, Michael. Jail Time: What You Need to Know Before You Go to Federal Prison! Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Pub, 2009. Print.
Hoover, Stevin. Mark Whitacre Against All Odds: How "The Informant" and his Family Turned Defeat into Triumph. Bloomington: Xlibris, 2010. Print.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
While most people seem to agree that prisoners should have access to basic healthcare while incarcerated, there is tremendous variation about what type of healthcare constitutes basic care. The reality is that many prison inmates receive a better quality of healthcare than non-incarcerated working-class individuals, but many inmates also suffer consequences because of significant medical neglect. For the federal prison system, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is the agency given broad oversight over healthcare in prison. In fact, the BOP is in charge of all aspects of inmate care for all inmates in the federal prison system.
The BOP is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). It was established in 1930 to regulate the federal prison system. The BOP's job is not limited to healthcare. Instead, it has responsibility for the entire federal prison system, which "currently includes 114 prisons, 6 regional offices, 2…
References
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General Audit Division. (2008). The
Federal Bureau of Prison's Efforts to Manage Inmate Health Care. Retrieved April 29,
2013 from the Justice.gov website: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/BOP/a0808/final.pdf
Wallechinsky, D. (2012). Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from Allgov.com website: http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-justice/federal-bureau-of-prisons-bop?agencyid=7204
role of prisons in the society. I have included the theories of deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution, incapacitation, non-interventionism and restoration to support my discussion along with their positive and negative aspects. In the conclusion, I have given my preferred theory of imprisonment as the most effective and important ones.
A prison can be defined as a protected and locked institution where juvenile and grown-up offenders are housed with punishments that vary from a year to life. Such facilities hold the objective of accomplishing the verdict that the courts impose on the offenders and also of protecting the community and civil society by taking measures to prevent escapes. These facilities are also liable to provide programs and services that are important for taking care of the convicted population under their custody (Sumter 2007).
The issue of imprisonment has constantly been an intense experience for every individual found guilty of committing offenses. Sometimes…
References
Banks, C. (2004). The Purpose of Criminal Punishment. In: Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publicaton, pp 103-126.
Mauer, M. (2004). Thinking About Prison and its Impact in the Twenty-First Century. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law [online].2, p.607-618. Available from: . [Accessed February 17, 2013].
Macionis, J.J. & Plummer, K. (2008). Control, Crime and Deviance. In Sociology: A Global Introduction (5th edition), New York: Pearson Prentice Hall, pp591-592.
MacKenzie, D.L. (1996). Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice University of Maryland, Maryland. Available from: . [Accessed February 17, 2013].
Prison Inmates Should Be Paroled Early to Help Control the State's Budget Problems
This paper argues that inmates at State prisons should be having premature releases from prisons so that the States can manage their budget problems. As the paper illustrates, despite criticisms on parole that it introduces unreformed culprits back in the society and that the program is unorganized, parole is a major contributor in reducing prison populations, which directly translates to reduced State expenditures (Licari, 2009). All the implementation of parole releases has either direct or indirect economic effect to the States as well as the prisoner and society as a whole. eformed individuals are able to earn their income thus independent of the government (Sons, n.d.). In addition, as there is professional structure of parole, they lead to faster reforming and procedures that reduce caseloads enabling parole officers to spend more time with the high-risk individuals (National…
References
Clear, T.R., Cole, G.F., & Reisig, M. (2008). American Corrections, (8th ed.). Connecticut, U.S.:
Cengage Learning.
Corley, C. (2009, December 13). States release inmates early to cut prison costs. Npr.org.
Retrieved from http://www.npr.org /templates/story/story.php?storyId=121338571
When Santano looks back on his old life in prison he comments that Fulsom was the "big time." He had more power there. Before the gang, if someone wanted something from him, "They just took it" because he was weak, but being in the gang stopped that because he became strong. He looks back on prison life with a certain sense of nostalgia and tells his girlfriend, "I loved it in there."
The gang allows him to be competent under horrible circumstances. He has been deprived of all the ordinary, normal experiences we take for granted, such as dancing, learning to drive a car, going to the beach, standing in the moonlight with a girl, and making love. All he has ever known is violence and the need to keep others afraid of him in order to protect himself. He's more or less ruined for life on the outside by…
Substance Abuse Programs in Prison
The work of Harrison (nd) reports that the 'Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners Formula Grant Program was created by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 in response to the increasing number of incarcerated individuals in the United States with substance abuse problems." (p.vi) It is reported that RSAT grants may be used to "implement or expand treatment programs for inmates in residential treatment facilities operated by State and local correctional agencies that provide individual and group treatment activities for inmates." (Harrison, nd, p. 2) The RSAT programs must be in a six to twelve month length, provide residential treatment facilities that are apart from the general prison population, be focused at the substance abuse problems of inmates, work in developing the cognitive, social, behavioral, vocational in addition to other skills that serve to bring about resolution to the…
Bibliography
Frantz, M. (2009) What You Need to Know…Before You Go To Federal Prison. Dog Ear Publishing. 2009.
Harrison, LD (nd) Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Implementation Lessons Learned. Google Books. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com/books?id=bbE6-erVr98C&dq=SUBSTANCE+ABUSE+PROGRAMS+IN+PRISON&source=gbs_navlinks_s
The Home Office website was also a good source of informstion in this regard. A very good article that shed light on the more negative view of Holloway prison as well as units in other prisons was Getting it right? Services for pregnant women, new mothers, and babies in prison. An extremely useful report that deals specifically with Holloway prison was REPORT ON AN UNANNOUNCED FOLLOW-UP INSPECTION OF HM PRISON HOLLOWAY 11 -- 15 December 2000
Y HM INSPECTORATE OF PRISONS. This report provide some telling and insightful data that invaluable in terms of assessing the value and function of the mother and baby units in this prison.
4. Theoretical aspects
There are many theoretical aspects that pertain to the issue of mother and child units at a prison such as Holloway. In general terms, and from a criminological perspective, there is the view that units of this kind are…
Bibliography
Burrell I. Jail baby units reviewed 1998 [Online] Available at: By
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/jail-baby-units-reviewed-1189057.html [Accessed 2 April, 2010].
Female Prisoners [Online] Available at: http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/adviceandsupport/prison_life/femaleprisoners / [Accessed 3 April, 2010].
Holloway [Online] Available at: http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/prisoninformation/locateaprison/prison.asp?id=454,15,2,15,454,0 [Accessed 3 April, 2010].
In the American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control, David Musto notes that throughout the twentieth century, America's drug wars have regularly scape-goated minority groups, like the Chinese with opium, marijuana among the Mexicans, and cocaine among the African-Americans (McCormick 2000).
The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals reported in 1973 that "the prison, the reformatory and the jail have achieved only a shocking record a failure. There is overwhelming evidence that these institutions create crime rather than prevent it," yet during the next two decades both state and federal legislatures implemented increasingly stiffer penalties and mandatory minimums claiming that prisons were an effective tool for crime control, and longer prison terms would reduce crime by deterring or incapacitating criminals (McCormick 2000). However, at the end of this period, after the average prison sentence had tripled and the prison population at more than quadrupled, a National Academy of…
Works Cited
Demleitner, Nora V. (2005 October 01). Smart public policy: replacing imprisonment with targeted nonprison sentences and collateral sanctions. Stanford Law Review. Retrieved September 18, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
Dickenson, Rachel. (1996 February 01). The prison population bomb.
American Demographics. Retrieved September 18, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
Incarceration. (2005). The Sentencing Project. Retrieved September 18, 2006 at http://www.sentencingproject.org/issues_01.cfm
In fact, during the study, the guards became more sadistic when they thought no one was watching them. Zimbardo notes, "Their boredom had driven them to ever more pornographic and degrading abuse of the prisoners" (Zimbardo). This may be the same reason guards at Abu Ghraib tortured and humiliated their charges, and the study seems to indicate this could happen in just about any prison anywhere, if the guards have enough power. The world should pay more attention to this study and its implications. As another writer notes, "The young men who played prisoners and guards revealed how much circumstances can distort individual personalities -- and how anyone, when given complete control over others, can act like a monster" (Alexander). This is what happened at Abu Ghraib, and chances are it is happening all around the world as well. In an interview about Abu Ghraib, Zimbardo notes the prison environment…
References
Alexander, Meredith. "Thirty Years Later, Stanford Prison Experiment Lives On." Prisonexp.org. 22 Aug. 2001. 9 Jan. 2007. http://www.prisonexp.org/30years.htm
Bronstein, Phyllis A., and Kathryn Quina, eds. Teaching a Psychology of People: Resources for Gender and Sociocultural Awareness. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1988.
Giles, David. Media Psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.
O'Toole, Kathleen. "The Stanford Prison Experiment: Still Powerful After All These Years." Stanford University. 8 Jan. 1997. 9 Jan. 2007. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/97/970108prisonexp.html
Prisoners feign conformity with rehabilitation programs merely in an effort to get ahead. Prison stays involving the shedding of one's former self, and its replacement with a new prison self that conforms to all the expectations and behavioral patterns of inmate culture. This inmate culture is inherently hostile to the aims of corrections staff. Corrections staff must avoid doing anything that would tend to enhance the validity of inmate culture. They must resort to equal measures in reaction to prisoner provocations. Prisoners must not be stripped of their humanity. They must be maintained as independent men and women capable of surviving on their own, in a reasonably normal society. Notions of status, respect, and hope for the future, must be maintained as they would outside the prison walls. Corrections personnel must enable prisoners to continue to follow, and believe in, the rules of normal society, even if, in the beginning,…
References
Frase, R.S. (2004). 4 Limiting Retributivism. In The Future of Imprisonment, Tonry, M. (Ed.) (pp. 83-112). New York: Oxford University Press.
(2003). Prisonization: Individual and Institutional Factors Affecting Inmate Conduct. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing.
Richards, S.C., & Ross, J.I. (2001). Introducing the New School of Convict Criminology. Social Justice, 28(1), 177.
Stanko, S., Gillespie, W., & Crews, G.A. (2004). Living in Prison: A History of the Correctional System with an Insider's View. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
There should be a manual override system in place in regards to the cell doors. This would allow those in charge to manually lock down all cells to help make sure that no other ones opened on their own.
Providing training to all staff ahead of time so that they are enabled to handle any such situation that might arise is critical. Every staff member should know what they are supposed to do and when they are supposed to do it, if an emergency situation should arise. Training and practice drills should be conducted ahead of time so that everyone is one the same page. Because human lives are at stake every effort should be made to make sure that the best possible plan is developed and available.
The security threat plan should be reviewed an updated on a regular basis. This will help to ensure that any changes that…
References
MCI - Cedar Junction. (2009). Retrieved September 29, 2009, from Mass.gov Web site:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eopsterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Law+Enforcement+
%26+Criminal+Justice&L2=Prisons&L3=State+Correctional+Facilities&sid=Eeops&b=t erminalcontent&f=doc_facility_mcicedarjunction&csid=Eeops
Ranalli, Ralph. (2005). Havoc created in jail cells. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from Boston.com
Williams...consistently denied killing Owens.
March 11, 1979 --...three of Williams' friends -- all with criminal histories and motivation to lie, Williams says -- testify that he confessed to the killings. A ballistics expert links a shotgun shell at the motel to Williams' gun. Williams has also steadfastly maintained his innocence in the Yang killings.
1981 -- Williams is tried and convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court of all four murders, plus...sentenced to death. He arrives at San Quentin's death row on April 20.
1987 -- Williams is placed in solitary confinement for 6 1/2 years after committing a string of violent incidents behind bars, including assaults on guards and other inmates.
1988 -- the California Supreme Court affirms Williams' death sentence, and he files his first federal appeal to the U.S. District Court.
1996 -- Williams, with co-author Barbara Cottman Becnel, publishes the first of a series of anti-gang books…
References
Stovall, Jeffrey, M.D. (2001, March). Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars and What We Must Do About it. American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved December 8, 2007, at http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/52/3/394-a
Nieves, Evelyn, (2005, December 14). "Schwarzenegger Clemency Denial Called Politically Safe." Washington Post, p. A18, Retrieved December 8, 2007, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR200512100026 . tml
Tookie's Path to Death Row." (2005, December 13). Retrieved Decembe 9, 2007, at http://www.npr.org /templates/story/story.php?storyId=5047269Timeline:Tookie's Path to Death Row
Williams, Stanley, with Becnel, Barbara Cottman. (2001). Life in Prison. Chronicle Books.
The cost for processing a drug court case through the court system is only a fraction of the cost for processing criminal drug cases through the court system. Furthermore, the cost of drug court and other drug treatment for drug offenders is only a fraction of the cost for imprisonment of these individuals. Drug offenders finishing alterative drug court or other treatment programs have been found less likely to have repeated charges and convictions of drug offenses and to have longer abstinences from use of drugs. Finally, in terms of costs to society that cannot be measured in monetary terms, the alternative sentencing of drug offenders to drug courts and other treatment programs will end the breakdown of society that has been witnessed due to imposition of prison sentences on drug offenders. The research conducted in order to prepare for the debate and in order to complete the research within…
Bibliography
The Federal Prison Population: A Statistical Analysis (2004) the Sentencing Project. Online available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/publications/inc_federalprisonpop.pdf
Clay, Rebecca (2006) Incarceration vs. Treatment: Drug Courts Help Substance Abusing Offenders. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration News March/April Vol. 14. No.2. Online available at http://www.samhsa.gov/samhsa_news/VolumeXIV_2/index.htm
Shaffer, Deborah; Bechtel, Kristin; and Latessa, Edward J. (2005) Evaluation of Ohio's Drug Courts: A Cost Benefit Analysis. Center for Criminal Justice Research Dec 2005. Online available at http://www.uc.edu/criminaljustice/ProjectReports/Ohio_Drug_Courts_Cost_Benefit_Analysis_2005.pdf
Drug Court Benefits (nd) Online NCDI.org available at http://www.ndci.org/courtfacts_benefits.html
Overcrowding in Prisons: Impacts on African-Americans
The overcrowded prisons in the United States are heavily populated by African-Americans, many of them incarcerated due to petty, non-violent crimes such as drug dealing. This paper points out that not only are today's prisons overcrowded, the fact of their being overcrowded negatively impacts the African-American community above and beyond the individuals who are locked up. This paper also points to the racist-themed legislation that has been an important reason why so many African-Americans are incarcerated -- and the paper points to the unjust sentencing laws that have unfairly targeted black men from the inner city.
Critical Analysis
hen overcrowding becomes an extremely serious human and ethical problem such that state or federal prison officials must find a temporary solution, one trend that has been implemented is to move inmates to other prisons in distant states. However, according to author Othello Harris, who is…
Works Cited
Dalrymple, Jane, and Burke, Beverley. (2006). Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Care and the Law. New York: McGraw-Hill International.
Hallet, Michael A. (2006). Private Prisons in America: A Critical Race Perspective. Champaign,
IL: University of Illinois Press.
Harris, Othello, and Miller, Robin R. (2003). Impacts of Incarceration on the African-American
238). Furthermore, prison stigmatizes convicts, and, upon release many people, particularly employers, are reluctant to take a chance on someone with the stigma of a prison record (Macionis, p.238). Prison also breaks social ties between the prisoner and non-criminal friends and family, weakening the very type of community ties that are believed to help deter criminal behavior (Macionis, p.238). Therefore, if one of the goals of the tough-on-crime stance is to reduce criminal activity, it is clear that American prisons simply are not accomplishing that goal.
In addition, over the past two decades, "the American prison population has climbed from 300,000 to more than two million- roughly equal to the combined population of Austin, Denver, Nashville, and ashington, D.C." (Silverstein, p.1). In addition, "largely because of racially-biased drug sentencing laws, about half of America's prison population is African-American and one-quarter of all black men are likely to be imprisoned at…
Works Cited
Macionis, John J. Sociology. 13th ed. City of Publication. Prentice Hall, 2009.
Silverstein, Ken. "Introduction." Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor. Eds.
Tara Herivel and Paul Wright. New York. Routledge, 2003.1-5. Print.
Street, Paul. "Color Blind." Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor. Eds.
Jails and Prisons
The general characteristics of prisons and jails are almost the same though they are considered as different entities in the criminal justice system. The main difference them is that whereas a prison holds convicted offenders who have sentences that are mostly beyond one year, offenders are locked in a jail either holding awaiting transportation to prison units or serving short-term sentences usually ranging from a few days to a year (Gaines and Miller, 2006). With reference to the United States of America criminal justice system the other difference is that prisons are under the jurisdiction of either federal or state while jails are controlled and used by local jurisdictions such as counties and cities. Due to the period of time that offenders take and the life they live in prisons, prisons have been considered to be total institutions. "A total institution can be defined as a place…
References
Alarid, W.L. et al. (2008). Community-based corrections, 7th ed. Thomson/Wadsworth:
Belmont, CA.
Davies, C. (1989). "Goffman's concept of the total institution: Criticisms and revisions" Human
Studies, 12(1-2): 77-95.
Catalysts for Prison Violence
There are many catalysts that are reported as being typically identified as problems inherent in American prisons. Many feel these problems are the catalysts of any and all violence found in American prisons. Without considering and acting on these problem areas, there can be no realistic hope of lessening the amount of prison violence, or the potential of its occurring. These problems include crowding, antiquated architecture, budgeting, poor facility management, mandatory sentencing, antiquated inmate classification, poor security, inherent inmate friction, absence of proper training, and low pay (Levinson, 2002).
In prison sociology two well-established, but contrasting perspectives are the deprivation model and the importation model. The deprivation model holds that the prison environment and loss of freedom cause deep psychological trauma so that for reasons of psychological self-preservation prisoners create a deviant prison subculture that promotes violence. The importation model emphasizes what prisoners bring into the…
References
Behrens, S. (2010, May 17) How many people are incarcerated for drug related offenses? Open salon. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from http://open.salon.com/blog/stephannie/2010/05/16/how_many_people_are_incarcerated_for_drug_related_offenses
Homel, R. & Thomson, C. (2005). Causes and prevention of violence in prisons. In Sean O'Toole & Simon Eyland (Eds.), Corrections criminology (pp. 101-108). Sydney: Hawkins Press
Levinson, D. (Ed.) (2002). Encyclopedia of crime and punishment, Vol. 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Schlosser, E. (1998, December). The prison industrial complex. Atlantic monthly. 51-77. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from http://core.ecu.edu/soci/juskaa/SOCI2110/Prison_Industrial_Complex.htm