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Crime and socioeconomics
Prison effects on society
Prison effects on society
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Adjustments in life are rather harder than expected, especially for convicted prisoners. Having majority of your rights and freedoms being taken away is a huge punishment in which none us want. Prior to jail, Andy Dufrense was a successful banker, who was able to do anything he truly wanted. He was rich, successful, and he had the rest of his life planned out. But due to a wrong conviction, Andy is now facing two life year sentences in maximum prison. The adjustment from society to incarnation is tough from being able to do anything you want, to listening to the new rules that one must abide too or precautions can ensue. An individual must be able to hold their own ground, even though they might be against it but it is the sake of survival. …show more content…
While walking toward the penitentiary Andy is welcomed with insults and threats done by the other inmates. The threats are done by the inmates to see how tough the new inmate or the fish. Fish is another word of a new inmate. There are two possible scenarios: A) The fish can be responsive to show the other inmates that he/she is tough and not to be messed with. B) If the fish is unresponsive or seems intimidated it can show the other inmates how the fish is weak and vulnerable. In this case Andy fitted with scenario b because he was unresponsive, and also that he seemed intimidated. Being intimidated can be the worst possible aspect that Andy could had done because now other inmates have an mindset that Andy can be manipulated and used for an individual’s own …show more content…
Society is normally set of different individuals such as different ethnic backgrounds, religions, physical attributes, mental attributes etc. When looking at prison you just see walls, darkness, despair, the similar sex, and loneliness. Imagine you are taken away from your home and your normal life and sent to a building in which you dwell in a 6x8 jail cell for a long period of time. Goffman explains three areas that fundamental official socialization, role-dispossession, de-individuation, and mortification of the self (Goffman, 1961). The role-dispossession emphasis the separation of the individual from the outside world (society) that made who we are (Goffman, 1961). Whatever we have learned is through others who dwell in society. The new discoveries we made, or the ways of us being taught are a couple examples on how we learn in society. Now with the separation of society, there is our own self-evaluation to reveal what is our actual identity (Goffman, 1961). Prior of heading to jail Andy was the Vice-President of a big bank, was married, had responsibilities but now heading to prison, what does he live for? The sense of social worth is gone because Andy is sentenced to two life times in prison in which he will not live his normal life. The concept of de-individuation involves stripping away the individual’s sense of personal identity. This is furthered, by treating the person as one of a
How does being sentenced to prison affect someone later in his or her life? Many people pose the question, but they have yet to form an immutable response. Oscar Wilde once said, “one of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be”, this quotation engenders the philosophy of prison, which consists of one being held responsible for his or her wrongdoings. The book Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman explores how a once drug money launderer goes to jail for a crime which she committed almost a decade earlier. At the time she committed the crime, she considered herself lost and naive in regards to her life.
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means of punishment.
Many young criminals are less likely to become career criminals if punished through public embarrassment than through prison. Prison can be a sign of manliness or a “status symbol” (Jacoby 197). He says “prison is a graduate school for criminals”, providing evidence that criminals want to be convicted and be in prison, to strengthen their status (Jacoby 197). Jacoby knows how to properly get his view across to the reader, by saying that prison is not as effective now, as it used to be.... ... middle of paper ...
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
The authors begin the book by providing advice on how a convict can prepare for release from prison. Throughout the book, the authors utilize two fictional characters, Joe and Jill Convict, as examples of prisoners reentering society. These fictional characters are representative of America’s prisoners. Prison is an artificial world with a very different social system than the real world beyond bars. Convicts follow the same daily schedule and are shaped by the different society that is prison. Prisoners therefore forget many of the obl...
The “pains of imprisonment” can be divided into five main conditions that attack the inmate’s personality and his feeling of self-worth. The deprivations are as follows: The deprivation of liberty, of goods and services, of heterosexual relationships, autonomy and of security.
The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...
By doing things, we learn who we are and we learn our worth as a person. The two things solitary confinement does are make people solitary and idle” (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Isolation and confinement remove prisoners’ ability to perform significant tasks and act as a part of society.
During the early half of the 19th century, there were two new models of prisons being built in the United States. Along with the new styles of prisons being constructed, two new styles of correctional systems were developed, the Pennsylvania system, and the Auburn, New York system (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Although the designs of the actual prisons were dramatically different, both systems shared similar ideals, with regards to how inmates should spend their days. Ultimately, the Auburn system prevailed as the more popular system of corrections in the United States, with some of the system’s correctional philosophies being used well into the 20th century (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Before discussing the actual philosophies, which were used to manage the inmates in each system, we should first look at the difference in the design of the prisons used in each system.
...ple. Before this experience, I do not think I could have ever said I respected a convicted burglar or any criminal. These were humans who made incredibly bad decisions, but that does not mean they do not deserve a second chance if they are willing to change, some aren’t, but I emphasized for the prisoners who were. Prison is a lot of their second chances. “I am lucky to still be alive, if I were not here (in prison), I most likely wouldn’t be alive,” exclaimed one prisoner. This experience allowed me to be thankful for the life I was given, the home I grew up in, and how my parents raised me. I cannot say I would not walk into a prison frightened and with preconceived thoughts again because I would be lying. I have been taught by society to be scared of these people, but I am thankful I can say I did meet kind, remorseful prisoners waiting for their second chance.
Sung, L. G.-e. (2011). Rethinking Corrections: Rehabilitation, Reentry, and Reintegration. Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications.
Although prisons have the primary objective of rehabilitation, prisoners will likely go through many other troubling emotions before reaching a point of reformation. Being ostracized from society, it is not uncommon to experience despair, depression, and hopelessness. Be that as it may, through reading various prison writings, it can be seen that inmates can find hope in the smallest things. As represented in “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane”, the author, Etheridge Knight, as well as other black inmates look up to Hard Rock, an inmate who is all but dutiful in a world where white people are placed at the top of the totem pole. However, after Hard Rock goes through a lobotomy-esque procedure, the motif
Something not very common in prisons is that some prisoners could, through reflecting on their own actions and correcting their own faults, fixing themselves emotionally they would leave prison better humans. Prison can be a place where criminals reflect on their actions and see who they are through other prisoners, and using this a sort of ‘therapy’ where they would better themselves. Yet even though this isn’...
To conclude, over the course of the semester there have been multiple texts that involve realizations in prison. Some texts such as De Profundis and Moll Flanders show self-realizations and self changes made in prison while other texts such as “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” show realizations of the society we live in. Overall, the message of these texts is that prison, in general, will help one come to some sort of realization and after reading these texts, although I have not experienced prison myself, I have learned a lot and have come to my own realizations about self and society.