Prison Life and Strategies - Research Paper Example

Prison life and strategies and number submitted Introduction Prison is a place where a person is physically confined and the range of personal freedom is deprived. Imprisonment is a legal penalty that is imposed by the criminal justice system of the state in result of committing a crime. Both the criminal suspect and offender are kept in the prison. Every country has their own laws for their prisons. Some laws may be flexible and some are must. Prison is a difficult penalty. The modern prison was born in London in the 19th century, introduced by Jeremy Bentham. Before the 19th century the prison had no laws in particular. Thus, it was far crueler then it is now. Male and female prisoners are typically kept separate locations. The security of the prison is kept high alert and the prisoners are divided in categories regarding their security as some criminals are very dangerous to others. There can be four special types of prisons, else then the typical one: 1. Juvenile 2. Military 3. Political 4. Psychiatric There are many problems and consequences that are related to the prison and them prisoners that would be discussed in the paper. Prison is the last solution to the criminal the justice systems have. But it comes with a lot of drawbacks and weaknesses. It is a disturbed way of making people live forcefully thus; some accept it as a punishment but many with negative attitude dominance take it negatively and do not stop violence. Even within the prison criminal rebel and are difficult to handle. 1.1 Thesis Statement The present condition of the US judicial system tends to protect the prisoners and the public physically and psychologically. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (2012) has devised and formulated different plans and strategies that are being implemented in the prisons like giving a normal surrounding healthy to the prisoners, thus not making them offended and giving them a proper treatment and treating them normally, the way citizens are treated. 2. Purpose of the prisons in US justice system The criminal justice system has been interpreted and amended numerous times over 200 years. With the changes occurring by time the need to improve criminal justice system is evident. Prison in the US justice system is an awful condition where one losses their freedom. Nevertheless, there is no other mean to protect the normal citizens of the society from the violence creating citizens who murder, rape, assault or rob other people. Therefore prison is an important need to protect the society to lead a peaceful existence. It is also to be assured that prisons are only used as the last resort against the people who threaten the lives and well being of others. Although imprisonment is not the solution to violence, it is witnessed that most of the criminals come from families involved in crimes and family members being imprisoned. As long as awareness against violence is not provided there is no other way to control criminals but to imprison them. In 2007, local jails held over 780,581 prisoners, the state federal prisons had over 1.5 million prisoners. This means there are about 750 prisoners in America for every 100,000 residents. This figure is the highest imprisonment recorded for any country in the West. It is said that US have high rate of crime then other countries but violence crime in US is declining steadily for a number of year. (Falk, G., 2010) It should also be highlighted that US prison have a number of innocent people or drug addicts and other ill people who have filled up the jails only for the benefits of the prison complex. 2.1 Current Condition of US prisons Many men, women and even children sent to the United States prison every day are processed through courts without any kind of legal representation that is contradicted to the fair trial. While the public defender is paid so less that he gives very less time to the case. The result therefore is unfair trials and guilty pleas. A poor person arrested by the police is not entertained for days, weeks and even months. Some time they don’t even meet there lawyers before the court. On convicted a person may face long prison without a lawyer to pursue. While insight the prison enduring human rights abuse, is violence faced by the prisoners being prison for violence crimes. Some prisoners who cannot afford a lawyer are sentenced to prison without the assistance. There are no rules followed by the lawyers and thus they don’t meet there client face to face and communicate through other ways. There is no protection within the prisons, stronger groups abuse the poor and weak for no reasons and is nothing much is done against it. Bulling is a common abuse in almost all prisons in America. Women are treated inhuman in prisons; the children born in the prisons usually grow up as violent adults. The practices affect the lives of thousands of prisoners, especially those who are hurriedly processed through the courts a lot injustice is made to them. The most prominent reason for the poor quality in the criminal justice system is the inadequate funding. They long term neglect and underfunding of the defense is the cause of the crisis in prison throughout America (Herivel, T. and Wrigt, P., 2003). 2.2 Measures to reduce recidivism It is most important to stop crime. A criminal did a crime and got punished for it, what next? Stop him from doing it again. It is the reason why one is punished and it is a challenge too. Most of the researchers argue that the social, demographic and psychological factors are involved with recidivism. It is observed that when people are released into uneducated societies and unskilled communities there chance to get involved in crime again is high. Rates of recidivism in United state are high despite the education and awareness provided in the prison for decreasing the effectiveness of recidivism. The policymakers are also trying to reduce the crime rate and particularly doing the crime again by making the sentences harsher. More prisons are also to be made so that not much people are keeping at once place and ignored. Therefore people in United States now fear from making crime more and more in the last some years. 2.3 Protection of a prisoner upon release One of the most usual challenges the American society is facing of more than 600,000 adults, about 1600 a day are those who leave there state and federal prisons and return home every year. The population in the prisons increased to 1.4 million. Attention is being given to the death penalty, and life without parole sentences. Only 7 present of the all prisoners serve death and life sentence. About 3000 prisoners die in the prison each year. Most of the individuals who suffer prison have serious medical and social problems. They are likely to remain uneducated and unskilled. They most of the time do not have family support and some time they lose it because of being in prison. Once they are released their lives become more difficult than before, with the label of ‘being a prisoner’; people mistrust them and fear them as well. Major problem to start a new life for the prisoners is money. This problem is not solved by the prison itself. The protection against the prisoner is also important so that they do not get re involve in the crime but the situation seems opposite to accepted. Efforts are required to be made to make the world a little normal for the prisoner, skilling the prisoner in the time of prison is requirement. Education is also an important step to be made within the prison and another thing is providing works after being released are important. The social and mental stability of the prisoners would also improve if they are skilled and taught. Some of the countries do have this facility, resulting in less depressed and better prisoners then in the United State. Registering the criminals as criminals for small offenses is also a drawback of the criminal justice system of the America. 2.4 Measures to protect public upon prisoner’s release From 95 to 97 percent of the prisoners do get released one day and join the community one day. They need employment and educational opportunities and it is important to provide them with their needs so that crime could be decreased. Prisoners reentry and pre release programs are the efforts made to make sure the prisoners interact to the society after release in a safe mode. The largely increasing number of the prisoners returning to the society suggests that the police and the public should take interest in developing reentry strategies and improve the situation og reentry outcome for released prisoners. The most common problems that are there to deal with to protect the community against the released criminal are Mental illness: mental illness may be before prison of after may cause the released prisoner to commit a crime again. Substance abuse and dependence: weather drug intake or abuse alcohol, dependence on any substance may result in re offending and as per reading it is the most common cause of the problem. Limited employability: as the majority of the released prisoners are less on not educated and skilled, the employments are very limited resulting in going to the crime way again. Extensive criminal historian: those who have a long history to criminal records do not get off the track; they are likely to be termed as most possible and common re offenders. The high proportion of all the crimes that are made by the released prisoners are mostly due to unemployment, use of drugs or abuse alcohol or having extensive criminal histories. Otherwise the reoffending by the released criminal is minimal. Those who reoffend are mostly younger and have negative attitudes towards police and legal system. The re offenders mostly offend near to the release so timing plays an important role in this fact. Thus to protect the public steps should be taken. Although it is a difficult situation but public safety is a priority to be served. The primary mission of the law enforcement is to maintain law and order in the society which is not possible without peace. Thus the involvement of the police in prisoners reentry in the community is important. Police have to stop the former prisoners from committing new crimes, it is part of there every day business to make contact the former prisoners. This is why the rate of arresting former prisoners is higher than the general people. During the last several years, police have started making partnerships to reach out the entities to reduce crime, and they have realized important benefits for public safety. 3. Conclusion Prison is a sad realistic need of the criminal justice system. It cannot be omitted from the society completely. Countries like America, having a large number of crimes occurring cannot maintain law and order without jails. Although the studies above prove that the prison is not the final solution to stop crimes. It has negative effect on the prisoners and they are likely to make crimes again. The most important point to pounder about is to stop released prisoners from re offending. Awareness, education and skilling the prisoners are the most important needs to minimize the criminal minds into useful individuals of the society. Instead of wasting their talents prisoners should be taught both text and skills, so that when they are released from prison they are educated and skilled to do jobs. Trust building and making their existence fearless is another aspect of the situation. Not only legislative improvement is required but also the world outside the jail needs to open up for such people. Factors like mental illness and substance abuse are however still there. Such criminals should be helped the particular responsible people. The betterment is required without complaining about the situation because it is a phenomenon of the society that cannot be ignored or removed completely. 4. References Falk, G., 2010, The American Criminal Justice System: How It Works, How It Doesnt, and How to Fix It: US, Greenwood. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2012, Protecting Society & Reducing Crime Retrieved from http://www.bop.gov/ (Accessed December 10, 2012) Herivel, T. and Wrigt, P., 2003, Prison Nation: The Warehousing of Americas Poor: NY, Routledge. Read More