Pros And Cons Of Supermax Prisons

Whether or not Supermax prisons, short for super-maximum security prisons, are more crucial and longer lasting, the question has been if these prisons are useful in applying lessons learned into criminals. Supermax prisons hold some of the most dangerous criminals convicted. Supermax prisons have been known to have their pros and cons. The common pros of supermax prisons was the separation of gangs as well as many other prisoners who act out in violence commonly. Although many may say that these kind of prisons are considered “concentration” and “dispersion”, supermax prisons are often needed to maintain relief of the criminals not acting out. The effectiveness of supermax prisons is what many debate on, which have made many different arguments

both for and against. One argument must be stronger, no matter how strong both may be.
When criminals are found guilty in a federal court, they go to prison.

In an ordinary prison, many are at risk of being assaulted especially within weaker inmates. These prisoners who assault and frequently act out in violence, as well as prisoners who try to escape, “must be removed from the general population of the prison environment while they threaten any of those behaviors” (Riveland, 1999). While these prisoners are in the super-maximum security prison, they are not placed out of it until it is believed their threat level is low. Other inmates of supermax prions include: death row inmates, mentally-ill inmates, and inmates with HIV or other blood disease. These inmates are placed in supermax prisons to secure inmates from those who are likely to act out in rage, and to be sure the health of inmates is not at risk by getting HIV. Many see these reasons to be a necessary condition to place these inmates in a different and confined prison. However others see the supermax prisons as being a cruel punishment. When given this argument, many may agree that having prisoners, especially smaller and weaker inmates, around these violent offenders is dangerous. Would it be cruel and unusual to leave these inmates in a cell where they are at risk of being tortured by a mentally unstable or unfit cell mate? Many other might see that it is a fit punishment and it would prevent the abused inmates from becoming repeating offenders. Which would bring up the idea that these inmates

that are strong and lashing out on others in violence will not learn a lesson, but instead still feel in a position of authority. In 1980, 139 out of every 100,000 people were in a prison in the U.S. Today we have seen that number continuously boost up, escalating to every 502 per 100,000 people were in prison in 2009 (Dunn, 2009). With prisons quickly escalating in inmates, and with America being the country with the highest incarceration rate, it leaves many to question the cost and effectiveness off supermax prisons. Supermax prisons have efficiently dropped the assaults done on faculty as well as other inmate, but is it worth the money being spent? Let the stronger debate decide.
The pricing of these supermax prisons are a lot more expensive compared to ordinary prisons. It is expected to be worth a pretty penny considering for each individual cell tougher locks and doors are needed to securely confine these prisoners. Technology is also used throughout each of the sections of the prison to ensure authorized personnel only. Many security, internal and external, transportations also provide much money. Much money is also spent on the deliverance of food, to the prison and within the prison. Workers who deliver food to prisoners must also be escorted by officials. Many other jobs are needed to securely ensure of no dangers within the environment of these criminals. It can surely be seen that the super-maximum prisons are way more expensive than ordinary county’s prisons. Which definitely leaves the questions to ask, is the taxpayer money worth being spent on these prisons? Well in a bar graph explaining the warden views of effectiveness, over 90% of the wardens saw that the goals mainly being achieved were: Increase in systemwide order, Increase in systemwide safety, and in increase in inmate control (Mears 2005). 60% of wardens actually felt like supermax criminals were actually being punished.
23 hours of being isolated can be very damaging to one’s mental health.

It hasn’t been fact whether it does effect the confined prisoners to have very limited human reaction or not. But the long term effects are theorized to have a stronger consequence and impact on the mental health. It also comes to question if it would effect a mentally-ill inmate more. Little to no study has been done to conclude that fact as of yet. It has been found that since the establishment of such facilities, the assaults from inmates to staff have reduced greatly. David Mere (2002) concluded “few studies document the extent to which the criteria states articulate for the placement and release of prisoners are followed. Even less is known about how long inmates stay on average in a supermax and how long they then are in traditional prisons before release to society. How many are released from a supermax straight into communities? What is the behavior of released supermax inmates upon reentry into other prisons or into society? What are the characteristics (e.g., age, sex, race/ethnicity, prior record and length-of-stay, behavior that led to supermax confinement) of inmates placed in supermax facilities and have these characteristics changed over time?” (p. 50-51). Mere has the correct input, it is near impossible to study these types of behaviors because of the boundaries of the situation. It is hard to say how long an inmate in a supermax prison is placed in there for, and many of the inmates

stay confined with highly restricted human interaction, making it very difficult for researchers to analyze their behavior mentally.
Educational wise, the inmates do not have much options. In many supermax prisons, they don’t offer any source of education. However some of these high security prisons offer television in the cells and some may even offer educational classes. For the hour of exercise the inmate gets, usually two correctional officers transport these inmates to and from the exercise room. Inmates will exercise in a small indoor or securely confined outdoor space. One by one each inmate will be escorted to get exercise, which creates more jobs to be paid for by the tax payer money. Supermax prisons have been over a $1 billion investment over the past 40 years (Mears 2006). This money is spent mostly on workers providing services to the inmates like escort services. These high secured prisons need many escorts (averagely 2-3) because these inmates pose a threat to many. Given that the inmate still has rights (because of our 14th amendment), we must provide them those freedoms like practice of religion.
Many different analyses have no conclusion whether or not supermax prisons are more efficient than deficient. In most of my scholarly articles that was analyzed, they put facts down and let the audience decide. Being such a strong debate, and such a crucial decision, it is hard to decide which the correct and best way to approach the supermax prisons. Although they are expensive, many wardens believe that supermax prisons make it safer for other inmates as well as faculty working at the prison. If the money being spent on this type of high security prison is beneficiary in that manner, wouldn’t it be safe to say the money we are paying is one of the only ways to secure the brave escorts and prison guards to do their job efficiently? Or are we as a country going to let prisoners get the feeling of being in high power by letting them achieve that authority? By picking on weaker inmates and guards that are weaker, prisoners can have a chance to blackmail and take hostage until goal is achieved. I believe that the money being spent on supermax prisons efficiently drops the crime rate inside of many prisons and allows us to control the behavior of many violent criminals in a satisfactory method. 
Works Cited
Dunn, Jamey (2009). The Supermax Debate pp. retrieved from http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/archives/2012/06/supermax.html (accessed 11/18/2015).
Mears, Daniel (2005). A Critical Look at Supermax Prisons ed. Pg. 7-8 retrieved from http://www.supermaxed.com/NewSupermaxMaterials/Mears-Critical%20Look.pdf (accessed 11/18/2015).
Mears, Daniel (2006). Evaluating the Effectiveness of Supermax Prisons ed. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/211971.pdf (accessed 11/18/2015).
Riveland, Chase (1999). Supermax Prisons: Overview and General Considerations ed.. pg. 48-51 Retrieved from http://static.nicic.gov/Library/014937.pdf (accessed 11/18/2015).