How jails differ from prisons - Research Paper Example

How jails differ from prisons March 21, How jails differ from prisons Jails and prisons are facilities in the criminal justicesystem for holding those who are booked for offences, pending trial, and those who have been convicted. Differences, such as organizational and administrative differences, however exist between the two facilities. One of the organizational differences between jails and prisons is their sources of funds. Municipal and county governments fund jails while state and federal governments fund prisons.

Even though the facilities may enjoy a level of autonomy, due to expected level of expertise in service delivery, possible need for accountability to the funders identifies differences in funding stakeholders in the facilities’ organizational structures. Internal organizational structure of jails also identify sheriff, an elected officer, at the top of a hierarchy structure and subordinate law enforcement officers while the Bureau of Prisons administers prisons (Whitehead, Jones, and Braswell, 2010) and the structure identifies administrative differences between the two facilities.

It also important to note that sheriffs, who manage jails, are elected officials and voter power may influence their administrative decisions while Bureau of Prisons director are appointed and even though politics may influence the appointment, a level of administrative expertise is expected (Clark and MacCreaigh, 2006). Another difference is the facilities’ target hosts as prisons are also organized to host people who have been sentenced for felony offences and those serving long period sentences.

Jails are however organized to host people who are yet to be tried or those who have been tried but are yet to be transferred to their designated facilities such as juveniles and those with mental illnesses (Gaines and Miller, 2006).Jails and prisons are facilities in the criminal justice system for holding arrested and convicted people but their organizational and administrative scopes are different. Organizational structure, objectives, types of expertise, sources of funds, and types of people that each of the facilities holds identifies the differences.

ReferencesClark, S. and MacCreaigh, E. (2006). Library services to the incarcerated: Applying the public library model in correctional facility libraries. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Gaines, L. and Miller, R. (2006). Criminal justice in action. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.Whitehead, J., Jones, M., and Braswell, M. (2010). Exploring corrections in America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Routledge.