The Purpose of Prisons
In prisons today, rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are all elements that provide a justice to society. Prisons effectively do their part in seeing that one if not more of these elements are met and successfully done. If it were not for these elements, than what would a prison be good for? It is highly debated upon whether or not these elements are done properly. It is a fact that these are and a fact that throughout the remainder of time these will be a successful part of prison life.
When a prisoner enters a prison, it is presumed he is guilty of the crime he was charged with. If this is true, the prison has an obligation to do something about this criminal. They are not going to let the prisoner sit there and rot. If that were the case, when that prisoner would be released, he would be released the same if not worse a person from when he went in. This is when the prison steps in and starts the rehabilitation process. In prisons, there are many different types of programs that are done to aid in bettering the prisoner. There are meetings they can attend with psychiatrists to allow the prisoner to vent his emotions and allow the psychiatrist to see inside the prisoners mind. This process allows for room to start curing the problem. Maybe it is anger that sparks the actions, or maybe it is something else. Either way the prison is aiding in changing the prisoner's attitude and making them suitable for release in the future. Also there are endless amounts of resources such as books and computers. A prisoner has all the chances to receive a good education through prison schooling. Now or days this is a great thing because prisoners can get jobs when they get out. ...
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...lf is done with precision and that is why the prisoners are incapacitated from doing crime anymore.
Sometimes society is not pleased with the later three elements. They want justice, and they want it now. Prisons answer the call of justice to society by means of incarceration. They remove criminals from society and lock them away for along time. This makes society feel like they are the law and that there has been justice served. With out prisons, these criminals would just do what they please to innocent people. With the benefit of locking these people up, society can say, "you got what you deserved". This day and age people want results, people want justice to be handed down on the guilty. And prisons incapacitate and deprive liberty from criminals. This serves as retribution for people, especially the people to whom the crimes were committed against.
What are prisons for? This is a question that must be asked in order to understand the problems facing prisons. Prisons serve two main functions; separation and rehabilitation. Criminals cannot be allowed to walk around with everyone else without being punished; they must be separated from society. The thought of going to prison helps deter most people from crime. Rehabilitation is the main goal of prison; making a bad person into a good person by the time they are released. These seem like cut and dry functions, but as of late some believe that prisons in the United States have failed in their attempts to separate and rehabilitate.
Many changes are made inside the justice system, but very few have damaged the integrity of the system and the futures of citizens and prisoners. Although the story seems to focus more on lockdown, Hopkins clearly identifies the damaging change from rehabilitation in prisons to a strategy of locking up and containing the prisoners. To the writer, and furthermore the reader, the adjustment represented a failure to value lives. “More than 600,000- about 3 times what it was when I entered prison, sixteen years ago. In the resulting expansion of the nation’s prison systems, authorities have tended to dispense with much of the rehabilitative programming once prevalent in America’s penal institutions” (Hopkins 157). The new blueprint to lock every offender in prison for extended sentencing leads to an influx in incarcerated people. With each new person
When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.
For centuries, prisons have been attempting to reinforce good behavior through various methods of punishment, some more severe than others. There are several types of punishments which include “corporal punishment, public humiliation, penal bondage, and banishment for more severe offenses, as well as capital punishment”(Linklater, V). Punishments in which are more severe pose the question “Has it gone too far?” and is stripping away the rights and humanity of a criminal justified with the response it is for the protection of the people? Is justice really served? Although prison systems are intense and the experience is one of a kind for sure, it does little to help them as statistics show “two-in-five inmates nationwide return to jail within three years of release”(Ascharya, K).
It is said that prison should be used for more serious crimes such as rape, assault, homicide and robbery (David, 2006). Because the U.S. Prison is used heavily for punishment and prevention of crime, correctional systems in the U.S. tend to be overcrowded (David, 2006). Even though prisons in the U.S. Are used for privies on of crime it doesn 't work. In a 2002 federal study, 67% of inmates that
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
The prison system in the United States was not always like it is today. It took mistakes and changes in order to get it to the point it is at. Some people think that prisons should still be being changed while others feel that they are fine the way they are. It is hard to make an argument for one side or the other if one does not know about the history of prisons as well as the differences between prisons structures and differences in prison management. Knowledge of private prisons is also needed to make this difficult decision.
“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.
Prisons exist in this country as a means to administer retributive justice for those that break the laws in our society or to state it simply prisons punish criminals that are to receive a sentence of incarceration for more than one year. There are two main sub-cultures within the walls of prison the sub-culture of the Department of Corrections (which consists of the corrections officer, administrators, and all of the staff that work at the prison and go home at the end of their day) and the actual prisoners themselves. As you can imagine these two sub-cultures are dualistic in nature and this makes for a very stressful environment for both sides of the fence. While in prison, the inmates experience the same conditions as described in the previous
The United States prison system is devoted to justice by hammering out retribution to those who violate the rules of the law. Though this is indeed the just and correct thing to do, crime should be and is followed by punishment, but what then? After serving their time, inmates are returned to the streets knowing only the torment of life. It seems the Scandinavian prison system has tried to change that, and has succeeded with the rehabilitation of inmates by putting rehabilitation over retribution, in order to directly address recidivism. By supporting the philosophy of ‘gentle justice’, the United States may not be able to remove crime entirely but it can definitely cut down on recidivism, and inmates who return to a life of crime. This investigation of the facets of prison life in the United States and Scandinavia is to show how the United States can give social stability by cutting down on crime rates, save money in the long run, and morally and ethically make a difference in the lives of troubled men and...
The correctional system is based on helping offenders become part of society and not commit any crimes. Many prisons begin the correcting criminals since they are inside the jails, but many prisons do not. Prisons provide prisoners with jobs inside the prison where they get very little pay close to nothing and many have programs that will help them advance their education or get their high school diploma. There are various programs prisons provide to prisoners to help them get a job or have a skill when they are released from prison. In contrast, prisons that do not provide programs or help to prisoners rehabilitate and enter society again will be more likely to commit another crime and go back to jail. The Shawshank Redemption prison did not
The origin of the word prison comes from the Latin word seize. It is fair to say that the traditional use of prison corresponds well with the origin of the word as traditionally prison was a place for holding people whilst they were awaiting trial. Now, centuries on, prisons today are used as a very popular, and severe form of punishment offered to those that have been convicted. With the exception, however, of the death penalty and corporal punishment that still takes place in some countries. Being that prison is a very popular form of punishment used in today's society to tackle crime and punish offenders, this essay will then examine whether prison works, by drawing on relevant sociological factors.
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.
middle of paper ... ... Prisons need to be structured, orderly, isolated and individualized in order to really rehabilitate the offender. Despite the very strict methods needed in order to accomplish prisoner reformation, this type of punishment was still a far cry from the public executions that were popular in earlier history. Policy makers, the public and a new generation of thinkers are now focused on stabilizing American society and improving the conditions of mankind (Rotham), particularly when it comes to the criminal justice system rather than simply demonstrating power and control to try and maintain deterrence.
It seems as though the prison system can’t even get a hold on their primary function, seeing that “two-thirds of prisoners reoffend within three years of leaving prison” (Gilligan). While placing offenders in prison effectively removes that threat from society for a time, what benefit is it if they cause the same problem upon release? What is the point of a federal prison if inmates aren’t given the opportunity to make use of their time and have rehabilitation? Not only would it be for the better of prisoners’ chances of returning to community, but also for the better of the nation economically. In James Gilligan’s article, “Punishment Fails. Rehabilitation Works” (2012), he discusses a study conducted regarding potential rehabilitation programs with prisoners, resulting in an impressive outcome that “reduced the frequency of violent reoffending after leaving the jail by 83 percent,” which “saved the taxpayers $4 for every $1 spent on it.” Warden Burl Cain supports this concept, claiming that “Everybody forgets what corrections means…If this person can go back and be a productive citizen and not commit crimes again, why spend the money to keep him in prison?” (The Editorial Board)