Prison Life in US - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: Prison Life in US Prison Life in US [Institute’s Prison Life in US Crime is an enormity that looms large in today’s world and surging ahead at an unprecedented rate. There can be numerous causes that an individual gets himself in the criminal activities or become a part of the social, economic, political, emotional, environmental, and cyber crimes. The grounds may include poverty, unemployment, discriminations, drug or alcohol addiction, peer pressure, greed, lack of accountability, imbalance mental condition and many more (Pierce, 2006). Every country has a set of rules, regulations, and laws that the citizens should abide by. Any action against the law comes under consideration as a crime and that person is liable of punishment. However, it can come under many arguments that whether a person’s behavior or perspective related to performing crime changes after getting punishment for the crimes he committed. Crime is a grave subject in the twenty first century that leaves an indelible imprint on not only the victims but also the person behind the crime and society as a whole. Due to the acceleration in the crime rate and criminals, the need for more and more prisons comes under the observation. The justice system in a society is present in order to alleviate crime and provide security to the denizens, which is their fundamental right. United States of America is one of those countries that have strong and powerful justice system. There are two types of courts, one is state court, and the other is federal court, and two kinds of trials, namely criminal and civil in U.S. justice system (Pierce, 2006). There are many types of justice systems, out of which Criminal justice system is one to mention. The criminal justice system comprises of many aspects and prison is its one important feature. Imprisonment is a punishment given by law to a person who has committed crime. There are many reasons for having a prison in the U.S. Retribution is one of the prime reasons to have prison. The criminals involved in social crimes such as robbery, kidnapping, rape, murder etc comes under penalty by imprisoning them. By holding-back the criminals from their independence, law force them to pay for the loss or damage they made to the society. Another reason of having prisons in U.S. is incapacitation. In order to make the society free from the terror of criminals and to curb their activities, authorities throw the criminals into the prisons. Fear of punishment may develop amongst the prisoners while in the prison, which acts as a caution to prevent them from performing crimes in the future. This purpose of prisons comes under the name of Deterrence. One more key intention of having prisons is Rehabilitation. It includes a series of activities and procedures where criminals undergo therapies in order to bring a change in their thinking and mindset. A psychologist or community activists are helpful in achieving this motive. Education and skill development programs can also play a vital role in transforming the criminals into disciplined denizens (Pierce, 2006). Though the purpose of making prisons is present in a fruitful manner, it is not necessary that the conditions to accomplish these objectives come under witness. The conditions of U.S. prisons seem to be horrible. According to sources (Barkan & Bryjak, 2011), the employee responsible for keeping an eye and managing prisoners tend to abuse them verbally, physically, mentally and emotionally. It has also come under observation that the prisoners get inhuman treatment by the authorities. In addition, discrimination on basis of race and color exists between the prisoners and they form separate groups on basis of it. Food quality in the prisons of U.S. is low, causing multiple health issues, some of which results in deaths (Barkan & Bryjak, 2011). Convicts in high security prisons, come under deprivation from fresh atmosphere and socializing, as they stay in loneliness inside an undersized, dark room for whole day where they feel suffocated. The thought of luxury prevails only in their dreams. Many suffer with mental trauma and disorders, and due to absence of appropriate aid and facilitation, they attempt to commit suicide. One of the appalling issues observed in the jails of U.S. is the casualties that occur due to fights and brutal harassments between the inmates (Barkan & Bryjak, 2011). The records of rape cases are drastically increasing in American prisons. Furthermore, the prisons are so narrow-spaced that the deadly infectious diseases effortlessly spread amongst the prisoners from the infected one causing a large number of prisoners to fall ill. Some common and lethal diseases like H.I.V. infections, hepatitis C etc are widespread in the prisons of U.S. as the employees of the prison provide the inmates with the illicit drugs. Prisoners being complacent about the consequences, share unsterilized needles for satisfying their needs. The prison authorities take no measure to prevent the birth and spread of the above-mentioned diseases. Even if they are aware of the fact that inmates are suffering from these diseases/infections, they do not take any healthy step to cure it (Barkan & Bryjak, 2011). Once an individual is free from the jail, he is more likely to perform criminal activities on a recurring basis, a behavior known as Recidivism. This can come under prevention by focusing on rehabilitation of the prisoners while they are in prison. One of the most effective plans to alleviate the recidivism is educating the prisoners (Clear, Cole & Reisig, 2009). U.S. justice system provides juveniles with basic school education including society ethics, and gives adults the field/professional training. However, in view of some people the education of the prisoners has worsened the situation, thus, have given rise to improved criminals. Only few U.S. prisons take care of the increasing cases of the drug abuse. Prisoners undergo tests for HIV infections and proper treatments come under provision. Steps for rehabilitation of drug abusers come under implementation so that the inmates can recover and come back to their normal and healthy life (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). Prison condition frustrates the inmates and to prevent them from getting themselves involved in fights and other violent acts, it is necessary to relief their aggravation and irritation. Hence, practices like yoga and meditation proves to be useful in this context. Religious activities also come under implementation in order to inspire the convicts so that they realize the importance of the religion in their lives and as no religion allows violence, it may bring noticeable change in the behavior of the prisoners (Clear, Cole & Reisig, 2009). To develop responsibility and conscientiousness in the inmates, some American prisons started a move according to which prisoners have to coach dogs for helping blind people. In this way, a feeling of satisfaction arise in them that even they can make a positive difference in the society (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). In order to maintain the family ties, the U.S. legal authorities allow the inmates to have a connubial meeting with their spouses. It is a prolong meeting where the inmate and their spouse get ample time in personal. It helps the prisoners to get back to their normal life soon after their release. This type of opportunity provided by the U.S. government comes with several conditions that are obligatory to obey by the prisoner. These conditions refer to the disciplinary pattern of the convict in past few months and only the prisoners sentenced with death penalty do not fit into this privilege (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). One of the programs initiated by the U.S. justice system to reduce recidivism considers the newborns of the women prisoners. This program allowed the mothers to keep their children with them to a certain age, instead of handing them over to other members of the family, though the relatives can meet and take the children for holidays. Authorities realized that the babies need their mothers the most in the initial years of their life, therefore, all the arrangements for upbringing of the babies is present in the prison. In addition, nurseries are also setup for the education of the babies (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). It is vital to make sure that public understands that not all the released prisoners are harmful and dangerous for them or the society. Many of them try to adopt norms of the society and become a part of it and being a citizen, it is their right too. Therefore, the public should give equal chance to them as well in all facets of life. When providing the former prisoners with equal opportunities, they would be less likely to involve themselves again in the criminal acts (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). Due to the increase in the number of criminals, and lack of prisons to accommodate them, it is not possible for the authorities to keep the inmates in the prisons forever and releasing of prisoners gets important. The prisoners live, experience harsh conditions of prison for a long span of time, and get socially cut-off from the society and its happenings. They feel quite unfamiliar with the outside world after their release from the prison; therefore, it becomes difficult for them to adjust with the prevailing norms of the society. Hence, it is not possible to leave them in the open crowd where everything seems strange and different to them. For this reason, rehabilitation becomes mandatory and is of significant importance, as it facilitates the re-introduction of prisoners into the society. The programs offered to the inmates in the prison such as “vocational trainings, academic education, and ethical principles, treatment of drug addiction” (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009) not only helps in rehabilitating the inmates but also proves to be useful when the prisoners are free from their punishments. In few states of U.S., authorities keep a check on the activities of the culprits released from the prisons to ensure that they do not revert to criminal acts. The rehabilitation and the education provided to the inmates are for the benefit of the society. If prisoners do not come under the process of proper rehabilitation, there is a probability that they would become the subjects of drug abuse, leading to their connections with drug mafias and their agents after their release. There is a high chance that people living in their neighborhood also get addicted to harmful habit. Police plays a critical role in curbing the happening of such incidents as they can keep a record of the activities of the ex-offender. This helps securing the public from getting involved in drug abuse (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). With the education that comes under provision to the prisoners, they develop and enhance the job related skills, but due to unemployment and lack of acceptance of ex-offenders by the people, they come under pressure to adopt the criminal acts again to earn money without which survival is impossible. It is advisable for the government to generate employment for the released prisoners; also, a quota of jobs from the current employments should come under reservation for the released convicts to keep them away from going back to the criminal life and have a feeling of acceptance from the society. The public comes under the recommendation to avoid creating discrimination by labeling the ex-prisoners; instead, they should assist them in settling down, and begin a crime free life. Another measure that can come under suggestion is to build rehabilitation centers for those prisoners who were mentally disturbed can get the proper treatment to get them adjusted in the society (Banks, 2005). Crime is one of the fastest growing aspects that need proper attention in order to lessen or prevent people of all ages from being involved in criminal activities. People have different opinions about the criminal behavior and activities, as some believe that a criminal is born with the unfair treatments from the society or environmental factors, while others believe that it is due to inheritance. The frequency of crime can come under control through a number of ways. Punishing comes under consideration as one of the most common solutions only when the inmates get proper treatment to rehabilitate while in prison and even after the release. This will not only benefit the prisoners, but is also essential for the safety and security of the society and its inhabitants. References Banks, Cyndi. (2005). Punishment in America: a reference handbook. ABC-CLIO, Inc. Barkan, S. E., Bryjak, G. J. (2011). Fundamentals of Criminal Justice: A Sociological View. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Clear, T. R, Cole, G. F, Reisig M. D. (2009). American Corrections. Thomson Wadsworth Corporation. Pierce, D. W. (2006). Prison ministry: hope behind the wall. Haworth Pastoral Press. Read More