Five issues in corrections - Speech or Presentation Example

At this time, inmates with special needs are not even identified, whereas other institutions have a very strict protocol for inmates who have a history of mental illness. When they are sent to a correctional facility, they undergo a very thorough physical and mental examination to evaluate the current condition in order to decide if the inmate requires therapy of some kind or a psychologists’ further evaluation to diagnose a mental illness if necessary, and decide on a line of treatment. The purpose of correctional institutions is to help these wayward individuals to become better individuals, preparing them to be part of society again.

But with the way things are being done at this time it would seem highly unlikely that any of these inmates would regain any of their sanity at the rate at which they are going. We need a specific program which, firstly, allows us to identify what kind of mental illness an inmate might have. With each type on illness a set protocol should be in place as to how the inmate should be processed; i.e. one on one therapy, group therapy and drug therapy. And the length of the entire treatment required by each individual.

This would, in my mind, be the sort of system which would improve the outcome of these inmates. Second matter for discussion is a very volatile one, of sexual victimization. Last year alone, there have been over a hundred reported cases of incidents among the inmates of a sexual nature. The institution houses over a thousand inmates at any given time, both male and female. Keeping in mind the sort of people we deal with today, most of these sexual incidences occur in correctional facilities. Even though there are very strict written policies against sexual victimization, and inmates are watched very closely, these incidences are very common.

First I ask why and how? Why does it happen and how is it possible. In research articles, submitted with regards to such issues, there has been some headway as to the reasoning as to why it happening. It is used to ascertain dominance over one or many persons, ensure their position as the aggressor, or maybe just for the purpose of entertainment. Even the most vigilant correctional facility is not able to control these sexual victimizations. So at the end of the day an inmate who might have either been sentenced or in the pretrial phase (possibly innocent) might have to face such an incident.

So again, leading back to the question is this rehabilitation or creation of a possible criminal. And it has also been rumored that most of the time the correctional officers also know about these incidences but most of the time look the other way, as it has become a norm in today’s facilities. So what of the victims in these situations? How are they to deal with such situations? Or are they meant to be scarred for life. Third on the agenda is the overcrowding of the correctional institutions in most states.

Understandable that these days there are more criminals that rehabilitated individuals, and there is a trend criminals being reincarcerated again and again, serving out their sentences, just to go back to their usual routines of being criminals. The major reason for the overcrowding is that the vision with which correctional