Introduction:
Today in the U.S 68% of criminals are released from prison and are returning to crime free life. In the 1800’s only 5% of criminals were released. John Howard was the one who started prison reforms. He observed prisons which led him to write a book called The State of the Prisons in England. His book inspired a law that led to the construction of the first British prison designed partly for reform. Thus led to the U.S improving their prisons. The U.S needed these reforms greatly to help criminals recover from their mistakes instead of being killed. Prison reforms changed America greatly. It gave people a second chance to improve the world not to destroy it. The creation of prison reforms significantly changed the lives of the
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In 1876, Zebulon Brockway became a superintendent of the nation's first reformatory in Elmira, New York. Elmira held male offenders from the age 16-30. These were men who were serving their first prison term. Brockway thought that if it was their first time in a prison then they had more of a chance recovering, and learn from their mistake. Elmira was supposed to let the convicts have rewards. The prison would have different grades, and each time you moved up a grade you would have nicer conditions. If they happened to break a rule they would have to be moved to a lower grade. The inmates would earn their way out of prison. This was supposed to have the inmates want to be good so they could be released. Elmira prisoners would receive points for their work. As soon as an inmate earned enough points, he became a candidate for parole. Under parole system, a prisoner was required to find a job at his trade when he was released from prison. He would also have very strict behavior rules to follow. Such as avoiding criminal companions and alcoholic beverages. The offender was closely watched for 6 months once they were let out. If he could follow the rules then he would be fully free again. Education was a big part of Elmira. Inmates would teach in elementary classes. Visiting teachers from Elmira college taught advanced classes. Such as Bookkeeping, history, and literature. Inmates were kept busy all the time. Some worked at Carpentry, plumbing, shoemaking, or brush making. Others worked at tailoring, drafting, sign painting, or weaving. Elmira became the model for the reform movement in the last decades of the 1800's. This method or program was copied by many states. Eventually, though Elmira became overcrowded and discipline was hard. This lead to inmates being whipped and tortured. This was most common for people with mental or physical disabilities. Then the education started to fail. Also, inmates would fake
The conditions of prisons were a bit dreadful. In some prisons, prisoners had their feet fasten together by iron bars and had chains around their necks. Most prisoner cells had very little furniture and bedding, prisoners had to sleep on the floor or unless had their friends supply them with furniture and bedding. Most cells did not have a toilet, prisoners were given buckets. A prisoner was giving a small loaf of bread unless they had money to buy more food but that was a bit expensive. Even children were allowed in prisons. Some prison...
Warden Cain uses an unusual system at Angola. He strives on the motive that his inmates will improve themselves at Angola and have a free, fulfilled life post prison as a result. Rather than lock the prisoners up in their cells for hours on end, he has amplified the opportunities for visitors, the use of the library, work on the prison grounds and a variety of special programs. He is able to wake up in the morning and come to work because of the inmates. His desire for their improvement is highly incomparable. Many woul...
Many reformers were especially concerned with those in prison and how they would be treated upon release. Many people, such as those for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, in 1829, hoped that upon release ex-prisoners would become "valuable members of society," but knew that this would only be possible if they were treated like others.
The purpose of the Detroit House of Corrections was, as stated in a report to the Detroit Common Council in 1857, to “Occupy the position of a home to the friendless, rather than as a place of punishment. The city is to stand for the time being in the parental relation to those unfortunates who, deprived of their natural guardianship, are tempted on the threshold of crime...Its object is to reform and restore the young, who have been tempted, before it is too late” (Brockway, 2012, p. 71). In short, the DOC was launched with the ideal that it would be a place for treating offenders for their “industrial, educational, and moral good” (Brockway, 2012, p. 72). And that coincided with what Zebulon Brockway desired to accomplish in running a prison.
Prison Reform in The United States of America “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones” (Nelson Mandela, 1994). The United States of America has more people behind bars than any other country on the planet. The prisons are at over double capacity. It cost a lot of money to house prisoners each year.
The prison reform started January 1st 1870 and ended December 31st 1970. This reform bettered the prison system and changed prison and mental institutions not only in America but as well as Europe. Some successes that came from this reform was the widespread establishment of mental institutions, increased attention to prisoner’s rights, redefining prison procedure, and the attempt to cure mental illness although Dorothea Dix’s federal bill did fail. This reform swept the country and it all begin with Dorothea Dix thanks to her the prison system was changed
Even after being declared innocent, the prisoner could not leave confinement until the jailer was paid for all charges. Howard had given little thought to prisons or prison reform until he was appointed sheriff of Befordshire in 1773. Upon seeing these deplorable conditions, he suggested reforms in his State of Prisons and in 1779 passed the Penitentiary Act providing four principles for reform.
In the essay "Prison "Reform" in America," Roger T. Pray points out the much attention that has been devoted to research to help prevent crimes. Showing criminals the errors of their ways not by brutal punishment, but by locking them up in the attempt to reform them. Robert Pray, who is a prison psychologist, is currently a researcher with the Utah Dept. of Corrections. He has seen what has become of our prison system and easily shows us that there is really no such thing as "Prison Reform"
...imes which would inevitably send him back to prison. While making perfect sense this solution drastically changes the concept of prison. The effects of social programs integrated with prisons start with helping direct the taxpayers money to more prolific uses, and expand to making people in America smarter, more educated less dangerous people.
In today's society, we are facing many changes. Our own family, neighbors, and countrymen are afraid of many dangers which influence their lives. Although many people have fear which resonates in their consciousness and unconsciousness, the United States has a comparatively low crime rate. Despite this low crime rate, America incarcerates it's citizens five times the rate of Canada and seven times that of most European democracies.(Slambrouck, Paul. 24) Our society needs to be changed. We cannot blame the individuals involved in wrongdoing but we can blame our society who raised these criminals. Of course someone who kills another human being needs to be put away in some form; but we need to make changes. We need to help as many maladjusted people as we can. There are some steps which really seem to work. There are many prison inmates who come from broken homes and have low self-esteem. What needs to be done to help these insecure people, who are at war with themselves and society, is to rehabilitate them. The problem is the prison officials do not try to teach the prisoners how to learn from their mistakes.(McGovern, Celeste. 42) What actually happens is that criminals tend to be better thefts, and have the ability to out smart the police. Our politicians need to stress how important vocational, educational, drug-treatment, and religious programs are, in order to improve the attitude and demeanor of these convicted felons. This is the only way to keep ex-con's from jail.(DeLuca, H.R. 38) Another problem with America's prison system is overcrowding. There is a huge amount of young conscienceless offenders who are entering today's prisons. Imagine trying to compact eight gallons of water in a five gallon con...
“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime control model.
That is the idea behind the parole system. However, even when prisoners are released to society, nearly half return within only three years ("Introduction to Alternatives
Prisonization is the process through which new inmates learn the prison
2nd ed. of the book. USA: Penguin Books, Ltd. [Accessed 01 January 2014]. The Prison Reform Trust.
The television show “OZ” on HBO, is another good example of how the mass media sugarcoats prisons. The inmates live in a fictional prison called Oswald Correctional Facility, in which they have created a test program called Emerald City. Emerald City is a part of the prison that is separate from the general population. The prisoners are allowed a great deal of freedom. They have television, games (i.e. checkers), computer facilities, a library, and a full gym. There are some ideas that are accurate from the show ...