Issues in the Correctional System: The Analysis of Facility Murder - Case Study Example

?   Issues in the correctional system: the case study analysis of facility murder   Issues in the correctional system: the case study analysis of facility murder The given case study explains the killing of Marsha Wills, a Correctional Officer at the Mermon Correctional Facility 30 miles northeast of Washington, DC (in Maryland) by a male prisoner serving a life sentence for multiple sex crimes. Many people believe that prisoners are not getting enough freedom and liberties in the jails or correctional system in America. In fact, there are plenty of humanists and sociologists who argue for better treatments for prisoners. However, this case study point towards the necessities of strengthening of security measures in jails. Moreover, it explains the necessities of reducing the liberties given to the prisoners in America. According to Ikilo, (n.d.), it is the duty of The Federal Bureau of Prisons to “protect society by confining offenders in the controlled environments of prisons and community-based facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure, and that provide work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens” (Ikilo, n.d.). However, nobody thinks about the safety of correctional officers while saying volumes about the safety of the public. It should be noted that many of the correctional officers working in American jails are females. They were forced to interact with many of the hard-core criminals who have less faith in humanity and more faith in cruelty. Many of the criminals in correctional system are sex offenders. Moreover, it is quite possible that even normal criminals may become sex offenders in jails since they are not getting any opportunities to relieve their sex energy. Many studies have proved that homosexuality is common in American jails. This is because of the lack of opportunities for heterosexuality in jails. Under such circumstances, the logic of asking women officers to work in American jails can be questionable. The ill fate suffered by Marsha Wills point towards the serious issues prevailing in American jails which needs immediate attention from the authorities. This paper tries to identify the issues, and make recommendations on how to improve the correctional system based on the given case study. Major issues prevailing in American correctional system James (2010) pointed out that “In "Tent City", a notorious convict camp in the Arizona desert that lacks even basic air conditioning, temperatures regularly top 130 degrees, causing no end of heat-related health problems among its internees” (James, 2010). It is a fact that absence of basic living conditions may cause distress in the minds of people and in the case of criminals, such distress may result in unexpected outcomes. Majority of the criminals in American jails are leading a no hope life. For example, life imprisonment in American means the culprit should spend his remaining life span in jails. He may not get enough opportunities for parole or probation. The US is the only country where juveniles are serving life imprisonment without parole under the so-called "life means life" policy. Only the US and Somalia have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which rules out life sentences with no chance of release for crimes committed before the age of 18 (Pilkington, 2011). Even though America is believed to be the most civilized country in the world, they are not so at least in terms of considering criminals who got life sentencing. In other countries such as India, life imprisonment means only 15 year jail term. Moreover, during this 15-year jail term itself the criminal can spend lots of time outside in the name of parole. Those who are behaving decently in Indian jails, may get paroles frequently. In other words, criminals in Indian jails have hope for a future life outside the jail campus. The incidents or the murder of Marsha Wills in the given case should be analysed in the above context. John James, the 52 years old offender in the given case study, received a non-parole eligible mandatory life sentence after a 1997 convictions for first degree rape and kidnapping under the Washington “three strikes” sentencing guidelines. His past had included offenses for sexual violence against women. It is really surprising to know that a woman correction officer forced to work in a jail in which sex offenders were staying. There is no point in arguing that James had no violence in his prison behaviour since a 2001 incident where he attempted to take his own life. Even normal people may become violent in jails when they get lack of freedom and liberties. Under such circumstances, the logic of expecting good behaviour from James like criminals is questionable. Even though James first arrived as a maximum security offender due to the nature of his offenses, he was given the privilege to attend religious services and has access to other parts of the prison because of good behaviour. There is nothing wrong in allowing James to attend the religious services. However, he should have been allowed to do so under tight surveillance. “Initial reports suggest that this inmate was able to remain in the Prison Chapel and attack the Officer after others had departed from religious services. He was found hiding in the immediate area” (Case Study). The question of how James was able to stay in the Chapel even after the departure of others seems to be relevant here. The loopholes in the handling of prisoners are evident here. What was Wills doing when other prisoners were departing from the church? Was she searching for James? If that is true, why she left all the other prisoners unpatrolled and searched for James? How could James get an opportunity to catch Wills alone. These questions are relevant here. All these questions point towards the logic of assigning a single officer for the patrolling of a group of prisoners. “Officer Wills was assigned alone to the Chapel post and did not have a radio with her” (Case Study). Instead of asking a single officer, that also a woman officer, the authorities should have asked three or four male officers to guide and patrol movements of prisoners towards the church and back to their residence. Moreover, Wills was not equipped with enough facilities to deal with emergency situations, like the attack she suffered. All these factors clearly point towards the pitfalls in the correction systems in America. If more officers were assigned to this duty, any of them could have checked the activities of James. Moreover, James might never thought about planning a murder if more officers were present in the site. Another concern revealed by the given case study is the possibility of building sexual relationships between the woman officers and the male criminals. Daily mail has reported many such incidents recently. The following reports are relevant to the given case study. Prison officers 'stood guard while woman officer had sex with a dangerous rapist serving life in a high security jail'. A prison nurse romped with a convicted rapist while colleagues stood guard and sent him text messages on his contraband mobile phone telling him 'you're generous, sensitive and dead sexy', a court heard. A jury was told Karen Cosford, 47, had a sexual relationship with lifer Brian McBride and topped up his mobile phone for him (Edwards, 2012) “A 27 year old woman prison officer admitted swapping erotic letters and phone calls with four serving convicts” (Fernandez, 2012). We are living in a world in which even hardcore criminals get lot of support and fans. It is difficult even for the psychologists to identify the dimensions of some the hero-worshipping issues. Strange relationships are taking place in this world many times. Under such circumstances, it is easy to accept the relationships building up with criminals and women officers. Wills was an young lady and it is easy for the criminals to establish sound relationships with her. From the case study, it is evident that James behaved decently during his initial stay in the prison. Moreover, Wills did not ask the authorities to allot more officers to patrol the prisoners in their journey towards church. No other returning prisoners had seen either Wills or James. It should not be forgotten that James was over active in sexual matters which is evident from his past records. All these circumstances point towards a possible illegal relationship between Wills and James. If that is true, the authorities are responsible for the murder of Wills. The authorities or the correction organization failed to identify the problems in sending a woman officer alone for the patrolling of a group of criminals. In a 2006 Special Report, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) estimated that 705,600 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in State prisons, 78,800 in Federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails. In addition, research suggests that "people with mental illnesses are overrepresented in probation and parole populations at estimated rates ranging from two to four time the general population". Growing numbers of mentally ill offenders have strained correctional systems (Mentally Ill Persons in Corrections, 2012) One of the major issues involved in the given case study is the importance of Correctional Mental Health. “Despite the high prevalence of trauma among incarcerated people and its negative impact upon them, researchers have only recently turned attention to addressing this mental health problem among prisoners” (Wallace et al., 2011, p.329). At present many of the prisons in America do not have the facilities to assess the mental health of the prisoners. It should be noted that James like criminals have shown their criminal tendencies even in a normal society. Under such circumstances, the chances of repeating criminal activities by such people are more inside the jails. It is necessary to incorporate facilities required to cater the physical as well as the psychological needs of the criminals inside the prisons or correction systems. The importance of correctional education is another factor involved in the case study. An idle man’s mind is said to be devil’s paradise. Most of the criminals in prisons in America do not have enough engagements. They often forced to spend majority of their time inside the locked rooms. While staying isolated in a locked room, it is difficult for a person to develop positive thinking. It should be noted that negative thinking is the major cause behind majority of the criminal activities. Negative thinking prevents people from demonstrating socially acceptable behaviors. Correctional education is necessary inside jails to boost positive thinking. Criminals should realize the consequences of their actions in the present and past while staying inside the jail rooms. For that purpose, correctional education may help a lot. Sex Offender treatment is part of the comprehensive effort to increase community safety. DOC (Department of Correction) believes sex offender treatment is a key component of its Reentry Initiative, which is designed to help offenders begin to receive the treatments, education and job training they need in prison so that they return to society making choices that will keep them out of prison (Sex Offender Treatment in Prison, 2012) The importance of Correctional Sex Offender Programs is also underlined in the given case study. Even though James had past history of sex offense, he had not received any education or correctional programs to change his behaviour. In fact the tendency to commit sex crimes is inherited in his blood which is evident from his past history. However, the jail authorities failed to notice such things and take any precautionary measures. Had jail authorities spent some time for investigating the history of criminals, they could have avoided the incidents such as the murder of Wills. In most of the cases, criminals on probation or parole may not be able to lead a normal social life. The re-entry programs are not much effective in most of the prisons in American jails. Mentoring is essential in jails to prepare the criminals for their re-entry into the main streams of social life. However, budgeting constraints and lack of availability of suitable professionals often result in lack of re-entry programs in jails. Recommendations for improving the correctional system Women officers should never be allowed to interact with male prisoners in jails. There is nothing wrong in asking the women officers to interact with women criminals. Male prisoners should always be handled by male officers. It should be noted that male offenders can defeat women officers easily if a clash occurs in between them. On the other hand, it is not easy for the male offenders to overcome the resistance of male officers patrolling them. Ikilo (n.d), pointed out that “all incarcerated men and women could be monitor and controlled by a well sophisticated surveillance technology. The guards not having to constantly patrolling the entire prison to see or know what is going on in any part of the institution at any given time” (Ikilo, n.d.). There is no need to watch all prisoners directly now. The enhancements in technology made it possible to watch every action of the prisoner using surveillance technologies. The increased use of surveillance technology may reduce the direct interactions between the prisoners and patrolling officers. There is nothing wrong in asking women officers to watch the movements of prisoners using surveillance technology. However, they should never be asked to interact directly with the prisoners. From the case study, it is evident that the woman officer did not have even a radio to communicate with others during emergency situations. All the officials correction organizations should be allowed to carry guns and other equipment for self-defence purpose. They should be provided with adequate communication equipment to contact others during emergencies. The life of innocent patrolling or correctional officers is more important than the life of the criminals. Criminals have already proved their inabilities in coping with the norms of the society. They have no right to live in a society and lead a crazy life, which causes immense harm to others. The authorities should make sure that the life of the innocent officers would never be in jeopardy while they work with the criminals. There is no point in citing silly excuses such as lack of funds or lack of employees after an innocent officer forced to sacrifice her life. If the budget allocations prisons and correctional facilities are less, it should not be affected the life of the officers even if it causes some harm to the interests of the prisoners. If employees are less, it is better to disallow the prisoners from attending religious services rather than putting the lives of officers in jeopardy. There are three kinds of prison models existing in America; Hierarchical model, differentiated model and autonomous model. Prison administrators following the hierarchical model “ensure control by reaching an agreement with favoured inmates and utilizing the inmate power structure by overlooking rule infractions in exchange for support of the status quo. Moreover, this model classifies prison inmates as minimum, medium, or maximum security categories. On the other hand, differentiated prison model, proposes that criminals can be diagnosed and treated by identifying the causes of their criminal activity and prescribing treatment for the cause (Salinas, 2008, p.11-13). It is better to follow differentiated prison model everywhere in the world. Criminals should be divided into different categories based on their past crime records and based on that different management strategies should be formulated for them. It is quite possible that even hard-core criminals may behave decently for a temporary period of time with the jail officials. They may do so to get better living conditions inside the jails. When they get suitable opportunities, their criminal tendencies may come out and result in unwanted incidents such as the Wills incident. Therefore, criminals should be segregated and managed based on their past crime records rather than their present behaviour inside the jails. Upon their investigation, the Human Rights Watch found that many prison inmates have “scant opportunities for work, training, education, treatment, or counselling” because of taxpayer resistance to increasing the already outrageous amount on money spent on the prison system. Finding themselves in such seemingly hopeless situations, inmates with long sentences, little hope of release, who are jammed into poorly equipped facilities—therefore with little incentive for good behaviour—often become violent (The United States Prison System, n. d.) Spending huge money for the rehabilitation of prisoners is a controversial topic in America. It should be noted that death penalty is illegal in America, even if the crimes committed by a criminal is so severe. Life imprisonment is the highest possible punishment a criminal can get in America. There is no point in keeping a criminal lifelong inside the jails. The gap between death and life is marginal in the case of prisoners suffering life imprisonment. The expenditure needed for death penalty is less compared to the expenditure needed for life imprisonment. Under such circumstances, the authorities should think about giving death penalty to hard-core criminals like James. From the case study, it is evident that James had killed many people in the past. Moreover, he was able to kill an officer inside the jail premise. Killing is a passion for him. There is no point in keeping such criminals alive since they are always a threat to the lives of innocent people, both inside and outside the jail. Conclusion American criminal justice system should restructure the correction system completely. Even though America is arguably the most civilized country in the world, its criminal justice system seems to be uncivilized. Asking women officers to patrol male criminals cannot be justified under any circumstances. Moreover, nobody can understand the logic of asking a woman officer to patrol a group of criminals single handily. Citing financial reasons for lack of availability of staffs in correction systems cannot be acceptable. The lives of the innocent patrolling officers are more important than the lives of the criminals. Instead of life imprisonment, death penalty should be legalized at least in the case of severe criminal activities. Even after repeated murder, a criminal is not getting death penalty in America which is unacceptable. References Edwards, A. (2012). Prison officers 'stood guard while woman officer had sex with a dangerous rapist serving life in a high security jail'. Daily mail. September 7, 2012. Fernandez,C. (2012). Woman prison officer, 27, who shared hours of intimate phone calls with four inmates is jailed for a year. Daily Mail. 6, June 2012. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2155463/Woman-prison-officer-27-shared-hours-intimate-phone-calls-inmates-jailed-year.html Ikilo, R. (n.d.). Prison System in America. Retrieved from http://www.lasc.edu/theword/Features/Entries/2009/3/26_Prison_System_in_AmericaBy_Roland_Ikilo.html James, E. (2010). Life in America's toughest jail. The Guardian, Wednesday 1 September 2010 Mentally Ill Persons in Corrections (2012). Retrieved from http://nicic.gov/MentalIllness Pilkington, E. (2011). US child appeals against being tried for murder as an adult. The Guardian, Tuesday 25 January 2011 Salinas, G.L. (2008), A Preliminary Analysis: Prison Models and Prison Management Models and the Texas Prison System Retrieved from https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/3639/fulltext.pdf Sex Offender Treatment in Prison, (2012). Department of Corrections. Retrieved from http://www.doc.wa.gov/community/sexoffenders/prisontreatment.asp The United States Prison System, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00342/The%20Prison%20System.html Wallace, B.C., L.C. Conner, P. Dass-Brailsford (2011). Integrated trauma treatment in correctional health care and community-based treatment upon reentry. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 17(4):329-343. Read More