Morning of the 23rd November 2017 was what I had been waiting for over the past few months. As it was the day when my instructor for the course on Corrections: Theory & Practice gave me and my classmates the opportunity for doing a prison tour. The prison I selected to visit was the Surrey Pre-Trial Center for Men, Surrey, BC, Canada. Over the past course of my semester I had already experienced a lot about what a prison environment looks alike through the visuals and the theoretical explanation of the course. With these explanations beforehand the questions that could come in a layman’s mind were already known. How do people come into the prison environment, how do they cope up with their life in the prison and outside the prison …show more content…
However, having a firsthand experience of a prison environment and having knowledge through visuals and theory has a lot of difference in it.
The entrance to the Surrey Pre-Trial Center for Men did not made me feel like a prison environment until I was taken through the walkways of the prison. Firstly, upon entering the main reception area or what can be called a waiting area I was asked to present my identification as a proof, and was asked to put away my belongings into the lockers. After that it was all taken over by our tour guides A, B and C, who took us to the meeting room where we were briefed out some of the important and the basic understandings of a prison as well as their role and the experience of being correctional officers. Further, when our tour actually started officer A, B and C
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The cells gave me a depressing feel upon how difficult life the prisoners have to live because of the offence they committed. In the cells there were bunk beds, toilet and a small window that could not be opened. Afterwards, we were taken to area where the prisoners were allowed to have a connection with their families through the use of video calling. From the experience at the Surrey Pre- Trial Center the thing I learnt was that the prisoners were never allowed to have a face-to-face meeting with their families, phones and the prison video calling was the only mere connection with their families and friends. After the experience of the prisons we were further taken an area that was interesting and even depressing to see. It was a place where a correctional officer was having a close watch through the means of video surveillance on all the activities in the prison. On the other side was the area where all the prisoners were having their breakfast. To see convicts of different age, background and lives were there serving there sentences. Only common thing for all the prisoners over there was to deal with their life in the prison over the period of their sentence. As told by our tour guides it was the area where all the prisoners used to gather for their meals and the area had a gym for all the prisoners. Moreover, the officers briefed us about
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...
What disturbed me is that although the prisoners have committed a crime, it is wrong for the wardens treat them like “animals”. It is astonishing that the inmates are able to survive through each day. If I was expected to eat the rotten food, I would choose not to eat, which would have eventually lead to starvation. I am aware that the feeling of starvation is unbearable, it’s almost like if there was something stabbing through your guts. Previously mentioned, I would rather just get shot because if I was an inmate in the cell, I would end up not eating anything at. This will then lead to death, whereas getting blasted by a gun would be faster and significantly more
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.
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.
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...
Relations during this time with the prison and the outside world are discussed, as well as how these relations dominated life inside of a prison and developed new challenges within the prison. After Ragen left, Frank Pate become his successors. Pate faced a problem because he neither sought nor exercised the charismatic authority of Ragen. The Prison remained an imperatively coordinated paramilitary organization, which still required its warden to personify its goals and values. Jacobs goes on to discusses how what Pate did, was not the same direction or ideas that Ragen was doing or had. Jacobs’s counties this discussion with the challenges and issues that prison had during the time of 1961 through 1970. Jacobs blames that the loss of a warden who could command absolute authority, the loss of local autonomy, it heightened race problems among blacks, and the penetration of legal norms exposed severe strains in the authrotitarian system, and says pate cant control
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...
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 career of a correctional officer has always captivated me in a way that is difficult to explain. Even as a child, I recall tuning into shows such as Lockup and Lockdown. In fact, my earliest, most vivid memories consist of me sitting in front of a TV screen with my eyes mesmerized by the hardened criminals visioned on the screen before me. It may seem peculiar, but I’ve always pictured myself inside the prison walls. What’s even more peculiar is that I’ve seldom visioned myself as a correctional officer; in fact, I’ve almost always visioned myself as a prisoner.
...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.
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...
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.
Most people have no idea what it feels like to be in prison, statistically only one out of every five people will know what its like to be in prison. Approximately 1.4 million people out of the U.S.’s 280 million people are in prison. (Thomas, 2) The only reason people know about prisons is because of the media. The news, movies, and books all contribute to people's stereotypes about prisons. Prisoners receive three meals a day, workout facilities, a library, as well as other things. People are also given the idea, through the mass media, that prisoners are free to walk around certain parts of the prison. All of these ideas are cast upon prisons so that people will not be afraid of them. Society has been given the idea that prisons are not very bad on the inside. What is prison life really like?
(2013) Prison: the facts Bromley Briefings Summer. Available from: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Prisonthefacts.pdf [Accessed 01 January 2014]. Sue Rex, A. and Robinson, G. (2004) Alternative Prison Options for an Insecure Society.