Tent City Prison Case Study

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In Phoenix, Arizona there are more inmates then there are jail cells just as is the case with most other jails and places. Tent City makes a statement saying that the sheriff will find room no matter what to house convicted offenders. Inmates at Tent City range from drug possession to assault. Surviving in Tent City is harder then most have ever served as living conditions are harsh. When individuals are in many of the jails they only get 1 hour outside of their cells and spend 23 hours in their cells ("Lockdown: Tent City", 2010). At Tent City they get most of the day outside. Everything is organized by race in Tent City which helps the offenders control people and contraband according to the officers. Rule number one is stick with your own race. Even meal time is separated by race which is a constant battle for the officers. If inmates break the rules of their own race, punishment is swift and painful. These punishments …show more content…

Care, custody, and control are the top duties of the officers especially with members of the special response team (SRT). Inmates are advised by one another to not do anything that would be disrespectful to the others in their tents which include getting their tent “tossed” because they say that officers like to turn them against one another ("Lockdown: Tent City", 2010). All of the inmates have jobs which bring new challenges for both the offenders and the officers.

Many of these same issues within Tent City can be seen in any jail, prison, or correctional facility. In each there is contraband, disgruntled offenders, deals for trade, and secrecy. In each situation, it must be controlled or must be shut down just as it was mentioned by the officers on the SRT team in Tent City ("Lockdown: Tent City", 2010). I don’t believe that the traditional set-up is better then Tent City and I don’t think that ideas or programs like Tent

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