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Stanford prison ethics
Ethical problems of the treatment of prisoners
Stanford prison ethics
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Introduction Working as a prison guard supervisor, we are often face with ethical dilemmas. The inmates always try to out play the guards in any possible ways they can. One day, I was working my shifts, when an inmate approached me and asked a favor. This is the troublemaker of the prison. Recently, his mail privileges have been taken away. He wants me to mail a letter for him. To me it’s not a big deal, besides, I know he could make my job easier by keeping the other inmates on the tier in line. This situation is considered to be an Ethical Dilemma. Is it right for me to deliver the mail for him, even though his mail privilege is taking away or I should ignore his request and write him up? There are many solutions to this ethical dilemma and below, I will examine at least two ethical decisions and my reasons for each. Issues and Analysis …show more content…
In and Out mails have to be searched no matter what. In this situation, there are two possible outcomes. One, I could help the inmate out and deliver the mail for him and, he could keep the inmate on tier in line for me. This is morally wrong in every way. It is not my job to deliver mails for inmates, it is my job to protect them and give them for harming other inmates. I wouldn’t be doing my job, if another inmate has to help me. What would my character look like to other guards and inmate? They will start to take advantage of the situation and use it against me. I could lose my job, trying to help an inmate out. Two, I could ignore the request and advice the inmates to speak to the warden about giving him his mail privilege back. There has to be consequences for an inmates’ action. His mail privilege was taken from him for a reason, and it’s not my job to help him deliver his mail. I have presented to you, two possible solution to this ethical dilemma. One decision, is the correct and morally action and the other leads to
I feel that this book gives a rough, inspiring and passionate warning that the rush to imprison offenders hurts the guards as well as the guarded. Conover reminds us that when we treat prisoners like the garbage of society, we are bound to treat prison staff as garbage men -- best out of sight, their own dirt surpassed only by the dirt they handle. Conover says in one part of his book, “Eventually admitting that being in a position of power and danger brings out a side of myself I don’t like.” I feel both prisoners and officers deserve better.
The jobs of correctional officer are some times overlooked. Correctional officers are playing a huge role in society because they need to perform important tasks. A correctional officer’s job is not easy and can become very stressful at times. Correctional officers are required to enforce and keep order, supervise inmates, help counsel offenders, search inmate cells for contraband, and also report on inmate actions. Correctional officers need to contain power over the prisoners in order to enforce the rules of the prison, or else the prison will not function correctly. In the book, Conover says, “The essential relationship inside a prison is the one between a guard and an inmate…the guard, it is thought, wields all the power, but in truth the inmate has power too” (Conover, p. 207). In the book, the importance of power the prisoner’s hold can be seen through the sudden increase of prisoners, the Stanford Prison Experiment and through the contraband they make.
Their are sentenced to hard labor for numerous hours in different weather conditions (Carroll & Rosenberg, 1967). At Big Pine Key Road Prison in Florida, inmates are allowed to work on a road prison to get time off of their sentence. Captain Thomas has vehicles with radios to report any escapes attempts that occur (Florida Inmates, 1983). This seems to be more effective than the monitoring of prisoners in Cool Hand Luke where they have to continue to shake a bush while they are seeking privacy. In Cool Hand Luke the correctional personnel carry (Carroll & Rosenberg, 1967). According to an article in the New York Times, it states that “Prisoners are divided into crews and trucked to their work destinations, with either a corrections officer or transportation supervisor in charge. Neither man carries a weapon” (Florida Inmates, 1983). It also discusses how many rather work the road prison because they are allowed to shorten their sentence and have a sense of being equal by neither prisoners or those in charge carrying
These officers have little contact with the inmates or other correctional officers and because there are such few escape attempts, it’s easy for these officers to become complacent (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). Perimeter security officers are typically assigned to towers, wall posts, and patrolling of the perimeters (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015).
at work I have learned that I have to treat them with respect in order to receive respect in return. When that respect isn’t there, expect to have a long and stressful day. I was told that that you will have some inmates who will talk to you in a disrespectful manner because they want to have the authority of everyone. When this takes place, you have to sternly put your foot down and make it known who the officer is and who the inmate is. Some inmates think just because you know them you will be easy on them that is never the case. If you feel uncomfortable with dealing with someone you know just get another officer to take your place with that. He explained a situation where a young man he was in karate class with had entered the facility with a drug charge, it was going around that he was going to give the young man special treatment so instead of that being a possible accusation he called for a replacement. He also had gone back to the respect aspect of the conversation saying that the main reason why that is enforced is because; these males and females are human. They have families living on the outside as well as they do have the possibility of getting out and who knows since he is at a county facility it is more common to see people that he went to school with, lived near etc. So for his safety and his family’s family he is mindful and is very professional when at work and
When put into the position of complete authority over others people will show their true colors. I think that most people would like to think that they would be fair, ethical superiors. I know I would, but learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment has made me question what would really happen if I was there. Would I be the submissive prisoner, the sadistic guard, or would I stay true to myself? As Phillip Zimbardo gave the guards their whistles and billy clubs they drastically changed without even realizing it. In order to further understand the Stanford Prison experiment I learned how the experiment was conducted, thought about the ethical quality of this experiment, and why I think it panned out how it did.
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
There are two different kinds of influences on prison misconduct, there is the combined characteristics of the inmates themselves, and the combined characteristics of the staff in control of them (Camp, Gaes, Langan, Saylor (2003). Prison misconduct has been classified into significant fields related to drug use, violence, property offenses, prison accountability and escapes, security-related offenses, security offenses interfering with daily operations, along with a residual category (Camp, Gaes, Langan, Saylor (2003). Misconduct spoils the effective procedure of the correctional institution, detracting from its capability to present the intentional services to the superior society (Goetting & Howsen (1986).
Families are often forced to choose between supporting an incarcerated loved one and meeting basic needs for their families and themselves. For many families the loss of income from the relative who goes to jail or prison results in deep poverty and can last for generations to come. Alongside physical separation, the
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). The population of people entering the prison systems nationwide is increasing exponentially. Often times, it is due to the living conditions in which they return to, such as facing the same poverty, limited prospects and minimal network connections, that make them turn to crime to survive. For obvious reasons, income is the solution to many of their problems, which can only be obtained with their “by any means necessary” mindset. Prison has almost become a second home for recurring inmates and in some cases has reached a point where it is no longer intimidating....
This work aims to show the ethical issues that surround our justice systems correctional institutions to try and get a better understanding of how moral standards can be brought down in prisons. The issues in this paper will further bring into question the people who guard civilians from the most dangerous and volatile inmates who sit behind bars. The goal here is to determine the underlying issues or morality and justice that seem to be broken within the confines of this prison system. More and more goes into protecting the inmates and the institutions from the employees of the correctional field than ever before. Why is it that correctional officials drop morals and break ethical codes? This paper will focus on the deviance that officers commit, as well as, the deontological and utilitarian side of the actions taken. A look into what can be done to put an end to ethical issues will be assessed also.
The ethical theory of utilitarianism and the perspective on relativism, of prison labor along with the relativism on criminal behavior of individuals incarcerated are two issues that need to be addressed. Does the utilitarianism of prisoner’s right laws actually protect them? Or are the unethical actions of the international and states right laws exploiting the prison labor? Unethical procedures that impact incarcerated individuals and correctional staff, the relativism of respect as people and not just prisoner’s; the safety of all inmates and correctional staff, are all issues worth continuous reflection.
A correctional officer is apart of a staff in a detention center, prison, or a jail that sets to accomplish the goals of the institution’s objectives by maintaining control and order within the prison (Seiter, 2011). While the role of a correctional officer is very crucial within a prison, depending on the unique role to a specific location, it is important that we understand that these humble and quiet guardians are in the correction facilities. Between the different criminal justice facilities, the mission and goals between them are vastly different, although there is very little contrast in the roles that correctional officers play in these facilities. Correctional officers are solely in charge of the direct and constant supervision of prisoners and administering the security procedures and protocols within a facility. These officers also need to be extremely well informed in the technical and interactive realm of the prison system as daily interactions with the inmate population requires them to have strict adherence to policies and a sharp attention to
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.
We have been taught that we should always follow our priorities, whether it is dealing with jobs, families, education, or faith. Ethical egoism teaches us that if our interests are any one these or something else, we should put it first because these are our values. But how far should we go in protecting our values? Is there a limit of how they should be protected? Am I doing what’s best for my priorities or for me? Although we should protect our values, there needs to be a limit and a focus of how I should protect my values with the best intentions. The film, Prisoners, presents this moral dilemma of torture through the characters’ decisions and emotions.