What is the Purpose of Prison and what Tries to Achieve

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Prisoners in portrayal of society are treated as outcast and are often forgotten- they need to be kept away from the society. It is vital to understand the purpose of prison and what they are trying to achieve and compare their actions to the re-offending rates as they are the perfect example to prove if the prison system works. However, studies about prisoners mainly focus on the effects prison has on them and how it affects society. There is luck of research actually looking at the prisoner experiences inside the prison and what issues they face. The Human Rights, including sexual abuse, are very common in US, and the number of victims inside the prison is dramatic. Moreover, by looking at the UK prison statistics and taking into consideration the number of reported violations in UK, it gives us better perception of how underestimated and hidden in can be within prison system in UK.

Purpose of prison

Prison system was created to punish offenders, to keep them in one place away from the society- this is the main opinion shared by the society (Bura, 2012). But, prison system has more functions, it changed own function from just punishing people to actually trying to reduce the number of them coming back. The basic functions of prison today are:

- Isolation from the society, offender was sentenced for committing crime, is treated as someone who can be a threat to the society and cause harm to people. As well as this person is not following laws accepted by others.

- To keep offender in one place, isolated from others, in which he/she can think about own committed actions and what consequences it caused.

- To punish and deter, person who is not following laws, caused pain and suffering to others, must be punished for own actio...

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...urvivorstrust.org.uk/prisons.htm [last accessed 14th March]

Prison Population Statistics (2013) “Prison Population Statistics” Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/offender-management-statistics-quarterly--2 [last accessed 14th March]

Sykes, G. (1971) “The Society of Captives”, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

The Independent (2014) “Sex in men's prisons: 'The US system cultivates rape. If you treat people like animals, they behave like it”, Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sex-in-mens-prisons-the-us-system-cultivates-rape-if-you-treat-people-like-animals-they-behave-like-it-9155241.html [last accessed 14th March]

The Guardian (2010) “My son was raped in jail- crime was ignored” Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/may/02/male-rape-prison-jail-howard-league [last accessed 14th March]

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