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Pressing issues facing the prison system
Effects of overcrowding in prisons
Effects of overcrowding in prisons
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Many different facets compose the makeup of a prison community. One of the main components of the prison culture is the correctional officer. The individuals that are responsible for the security at correctional facilities such as a prison are better known as CO’s or correctional officers. Typically, the higher the security levels of the prison, the lower the ratio of inmates to correctional officers. “State averages of inmates to COs range from about 3.5 to 1 up to 8 to 1 (with national averages of 5.4 to 1 in 2000), but these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt” (Foster, 2006, p.164). With the aforementioned disparity with the number of COs to inmates naturally safety concerns arise when it comes to keeping both COs and inmates working and living in a safe environment. The number of individuals that are incarcerated in the United States on a daily basis has surpassed 2.2 million (Gibbons & Katzenbach, 2011). Annually, 13.5 million people at some point and time spend time in prison or jail with approximately 95 percent of them ultimately returning to society (Gibbons et al., 2011). Taking the aforementioned statement into considerations the author believes that it is safe to say that what goes on behind prison walls effects all members of society. When correctional facilities are unsafe, unhealthy, unproductive, or inhumane it affects both the people who work in them as well as the people that are living there at some point and time. Unfortunately, the majority of prisons house more inmates than they can manage safely and effectively, which creates an environment of disorder and tension and often times results in violent episodes. Down time in prisons for inmates is one of the most dangerous scenarios po... ... middle of paper ... ... References Works Cited Foster, B. (2006). Corrections: The fundamentals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Gibbons, J.J., & Katzenbach, N.D.B. (2011). Confronting confinement: A report of the commission of safety and abuse in america’s prisons. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 24(1), 36-41. McClellan, D.S. (2002). Coming to the aid of women in U.S. prisons. Monthly Review, 54(2), 33-44. Pyrooz, D.C., Decker, S.H., & Fleisher, M. (2011). From the street to the prison, from the prison to the street: Understanding and responding to prison gangs. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 3(1), 12-24. Seiter, R. P. (2008). Corrections: An introduction, (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Wooldredge, J., PhD., & Seiter, B., PhD. (2013). Violent victimization among state prison inmates. Violence and Victims, 28(3), 531-51.
The picture this book paints would no doubt bother corrections professionals in prisons where prisoner-staff relationships and officer solidarity are more developed. In training, Conover is told that "the most important thing you can learn here is to communicate with inmates." And the Sing Sing staff who enjoy the most success and fulfillment i...
...they want to be not only respected but also being able to survive in the prison environment. In prison, there are so many inmates and not two inmates are the same. The inmates will disrespect the officers by calling them names, giving officers difficult times, but it goes the other way around too. It is disturbing image after learning that sometimes it is the officer’s fault and not just the inmates’ wrongdoings. There will be times when officers and inmates will engage in a conspiracy crime and times when the female staff is engaged in sexual actions with an inmate. Conover wrote this book to allow the audience to see the prison society from many different point-of-views and give future officers an early insight to becoming a correctional officer.
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.
The way correction officers are treated in prison is dreadful. “A corrections officer was seriously burned Monday morning in an attack by an inmate at the Green Bay Correctional Institution” (Roberts, 2016). This topic interest me because most of my life my brother has described the working conditions of correction officers in prison. I remember him telling me how one officer had his finger bitten off by an inmate. Correction officers are the guards who work in prison to enforce prisoners, so that inmates do not find themselves constantly in trouble. In addition, the officers ensure inmates’ safety. Despite the fact that the officers want to secure the inmate 's safety, people are unaware of the hardships officers face every day. A great deal of the rigorous challenges guards go through are never mentioned on the news or make it to newspapers. Correction officers are rarely mentioned within society, even though they are a huge part of the law enforcement. There is a
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
At any given time, a single corrections officer, can expect to be outnumbered by upwards of 400 inmates (Conover, 2011). It can be chilling to work in the midst of hundreds of inmates, some of which initiate attacks and inappropriate relationships. However, other issues have impacted the psychological health and physical safety of the staff. Detrimental factors have included heavy workloads, the prisons physical structure, and a lack of support from both peers and superiors. Each workplace issue has been in addition to role problems, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2011). It is believed that anyone of these undesirable facets of prison should be enough to deter the public from attempting to enter such positions, yet the essay attempts to connect the dysfunctional aspects, expanding on why these prison positions are associated with burnout and frustration. In an attempt to do the profession justice, elements that appear to have encouraged individuals to not only join, but also stay, will be explored.
Over the past decades society has developed a “get tough” on crime and drugs mentality, due to politicians on the forefront. Which has led to mass incarceration, over population and the use of Supermaximum Security Prisons, also known as Supermax prisons. (Mears, 2013). Many legal and ethical issues arise from supermaxes due to the use of solitary confinement, lack of funding, lack of enrichment training for officers and excessive use of force. Human rights activist argue that solitary confinement is deemed cruel and unusual punishment, violating their constitutional rights (Mears, 2013). Supermax prisons retain the “worst of the worst” in a concentrated population, versus dispersing them throughout all the available facilities. During the
Corrections officers are often faced with unimaginable situations in their role in providing the structure for prisoners to go back into society. In corrections facilities, there is a high turnover rate due to the physical and mental strain these officers endure. Issues such as riots, fights, gangs, dealing with inmates with mental health issues, and the potentially negative personality issues that prisoners bring with them to prison. This stress can lead to mental health issues, physical health disorders, and family problems. We need to provide them help and find ways to make the job more manageable to ensure the corrections officers are able to not only do their job, but also lead a productive life outside of work.
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
To begin, the prison population is very unique which brings a difficult population of inmates. Prison staff members has in some situations no control over, and in other situations total control over an inmate behavior. Traditionally known, inmates tend to be very aggressive, willing to challenge correctional staff, and always willing to contend for any given thing. Resulting in correctional staff members having to put up with a lot of physically and verbally aggressive inmates than ever before.
Firstly, in order to gain a better understanding of the problems that plague or correctional system we must fully understand the enormous overcrowding problem that exist in the majority of or state and federal prisons. Since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled and only the numb...
“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.
In the United States there are approximately 400,000 correctional officers serving in penitentiaries and institutional corrective facilities. As a systematic power position, the role of the correctional officer is an apparatus embodying control within county jails, state prisons, federal and private prisons. This mechanism of law enforcement has acquired procedures, policies, duties and tasks in order for the correctional facility to operate efficiently. Not only do correctional officers serve as a key functional component in the prison complex, they serve the inmates to further their rehabilitation and punishment when and if needed. The responsibilities under the title of correctional officer include maintaining a safe and secure environment
The film Shawshank Redemption takes place almost entirely within the walls of a prison, and depicts an intimate view of prison life from the perspective of prisoners. I enjoyed this film because it made me think about prisons from a different perspective- through the experiences of individual prisoners. We often discuss prisons and the criminal justice system from an operational, logistical, and economic viewpoint. It is not as common for us to look at prisons as an individual, social experience. Life in prison is restrictive and access to resources, both social and physical, are minimal. There are a variety of ways that prisoners must use to adjust to this new life-there are both formal and informal rules and hierarchies that prisoners need
Medium Security Prisons house up to fifty inmates, these prisons are secure facilities with multiple buildings. The buildings remain on lockdown at night, there is also a correctional officer on duty at all times. “Medium-security prisons have a double fence perimeter with armed watchtowers or armed roving patrols”. (Silver, 2004) These facilities have a greater group flexibility, the showers and toilets area are for group use. There is thirty-five percent of inmates in these institutions, they live in dormitories sleep on bunk beds, and also have lockers to store their