Attica Prison Riot: A Day that Changed Prisons Forever - Term Paper Example

 Attica Prison Riot: A Day That Changed Prisons Forever Abstract The correctional process essentially has around seventeen high level functions which are common to most if not all correctional facilities. This paper will attempt to describe how these processes work as a whole and how these processes in turn complement and interact with the criminal justice system. I will also discuss the eighth amendment and the role it plays when an individual is sentenced and incarcerated. Sentencing structure, rehabilitation within the prison system, and finally the Attica Prison Riots will be reviewed. The Correctional process has approximately seventeen specific steps. I will try to explain and expand on each of these processes for a better understanding of how the processes work together in such a way allowing the Department of Corrections to successfully play its part in the criminal justice system and what part it plays. The process begins with reception andcommitment. The Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center is located in and run by The Colorado Department of Corrections. It is a 400 bed maximum security compound that all newly sentenced inmates will go through before being sent to their permanent location. Before prison assignments are made, physical, psychological, and vocation assessments will be made. This is where it is determined if the inmate is going to need a prison that has handicapped accessibility, mental health care, or medical care. These factors may make a difference in what prison the inmate is assigned to. 35 new inmates a day are processed through here and it is the centers job to determine where the best placement for that inmate would be (Caudron). The employee turnover rate here is between 6-7% annually making it one of the most stable systems in all of Colorado. They are headquartered in Colorado Springs with over 6000 employees, two thirds of which are correction officers. Challenges this Reception Center faces, as with many others, are overcoming the stereotype when recruiting new employees, staffing Nurses and other Specialists, due to the fact they make more money outside of the system, and working within the states rigid personnel regulations. Absolutely every state run, private, and federal prison uses some form of classification. Inmate housing decisions come only from classification and successful classifications systems improve safety and reduce cost. The primary objective is to separate inmates by security class as well as those who are of little threat or in danger of being victimized. Inmates with medical, physical or mental health issues must be dealt with separately. Misclassification and overcrowding are the number one risks associated with improper classification. Facility’s stay close to full capacity and it is important that mistakes aren’t made. Maximum, medium, and minimum security classifications help to initially establish where an inmate needs to be. Inmates can have their custody status updated when it is felt that they present less of a threat (Austin). Other functions that are common to every prison are case management, security, discipline, housing, bed management, medical, grievances, programs, scheduling, gang management, property, trust accounting, visitation, release and discharge, and community supervision. Some of these business functions, such as case load management are very similar to what you would find in that position anywhere else. Scheduling, trust accounting, property, bed management and medical are just as they sound; only they are in a correctional facility. Gang management teams are given special training at the prison and kept updated with in service hours on what gangs are within that particular facility. Distinguishing marks or tattoos, behavior patterns, any possible altercations with other gangs or known disagreements, basically anything that they know about the gangs are related to the officers so that they can be aware of all situations at all times. Programs with the prison system can vary. Many will have NA or AA programs, most have chapels and religious services available for the inmates. Outside groups with approval are allowed to volunteer, providing the inmates with betterment programs. It is also a job of classification to assist an inmate with location or housing issues once released from prison. Often inmates will be without remaining family members or friends with whom they can initially reacclimatize to society, classification can put them in touch with half way and community centers designed for this purpose. Issues within the Department of Corrections vary by State, with Federal issues being consistent within all federal prisons. Overcrowding remains at the top of the list in most prisons. Many inmates feel that overcrowding conditions within prisons are a violation of amendment eight of the United States Constitution, which states that ‘cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted’ within the United States justice system (http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am8.html). Other issues include rampant reoffenders, lack of reentry programs within the prison system, early release and gain time, understaffing and constant budget cuts within the corrections sector, contributing to most of these issues. The ‘Second Chance of 2005’ is a Federal act expanding reentry services for those leaving prison. Designed to reduce recidivism rates within the department of corrections by presenting tools addressing substance abuse, and mental health issues that inmates may have, this act was also implemented to strengthen family units and support for inmates returning to society (Wilkinson). Many released from prison, statistically, will be returning. Programs providing inmates with healthy living arrangements, follow up care such as addiction or mental health care counseling, support groups, and employment placement are needed if recidivism rates are to be reduced (Pogorzelski). Over four million are thought to be currently disenfranchised due to felony conviction and incarceration, it is a federal concern that many will remain permanently displaced, reentering the system multiple times. Mandatory minimum laws, three strike laws and habitual offender laws keep a repeat offender in the system. Federal sentencing guidelines are designed to reduce the risk of recidivism and improve these odds (Krauss). Under federal sentencing guidelines an individual is sentenced based on a complicated method of the defendant’s offense level, measured with a criminal history score and following a 43 point vertical axis and a six category horizontal access. This complicated system was designed to keep sentence disparity to a minimum meaning that defendants are sentenced equally across the board for similar crimes, despite judge opinion. Contradictory to this, recidivism has not been improved and has only actually worsened. Sentencing guidelines do keep sentence disparity down but often victimless crimes cause a defendant to be sentenced to lengthy sentences that do not fit the crime, following sentencing guidelines versus Judge’s discretion in an individual’s case. Sentencing goals are designed to promote respect for the law, to reflect the seriousness or nature of the crime, to provide just punishment for crimes committed, to deter the defendant from future criminal activities and to protect the public from the offender while also providing the defendant with rehabilitative education or programs (Champion). There are four different types of sentencing schemes; indeterminate, determinate, guidelines based and mandatory. Neither jails nor prisons are able to keep up with the criminal population, leaving facilities dangerously overcrowded. In some prisons or jails the level of overcrowding may actually approach cruel and/or unusual punishment (Champion). In May of 2011 California was required by the Supreme Court to release thousands of inmates on the grounds that the prisons were grossly overcrowded, to the point of being cruel and unusual with very inadequate health care ('Cruel & Unusual' Prisons’). With such overcrowding and inmates already constrained, violence and disease are easily bread. Mass incarceration is continually our number one problem in corrections with hundreds of thousands of non-violent individuals being sentenced to prison terms that may have gotten merely probation or community control thirty years ago. Judges are not schooled in behavioral sciences and are therefore required to follow sentencing guidelines, regardless of the details in a case or the overcrowding of their State’s prison population. Pelican Bay State prison in California was issued an injunction in 1995 by Judge Thelton Henderson after instances of severe inmate abuse and neglect were found, he stated that conditions were ‘beyond evolving standards of humanity or decency’ (Domanick). Whether bybuilding facilities to hold inmates or by reducing the prison population, Henderson, above all, wants to ease overcrowding, which he regards as the root of the system's main problems. Henderson joined forces with two federal Judges in 2009, ordering the release of 43,000 inmateswithin two years, reducing the problem of overcrowding. California State prisons consistently are at the top of the list when it comes to overpopulation and crowding. With such close quarters diseases uncommon to the public community are a given. Often pairs are assigned to sleep in conditions designed and built for one. TB, spread by droplet contact, meaning that no blood need be shared, is found quite frequently in the prison population. Though attempts are made to keep these inmates separate it is often too late before the condition is discovered and many in a dormitory exposed already to the disease. In 2006 the prison systems health care in California was found grossly negligent, with inmates dying in prison from easily treatable conditions such as asthma. Added stress due to time spent in cells, (up to 23 hours a day) and the criminal lifestyle found in prisons cause an inmate to age 10-15 times faster than the average population, leaving them with acute health care problems. The strong gang presence represents another threat that is increased with the overcrowded tight conditions. Constant watch must be maintained with members confined together in stressful and tense climates, further escalating the chance of violent and dangerous encounters between opposing gang members. With little room to separate these individuals it is a cruel and often helpless situation along with a constant struggle to avoid victimization. Many feel they must join a gang affiliation in order to be safe within these confines. In 1971 New York State maximum security prison Attica experienced the most violent and upsetting prison riot of the country’s history. Twenty-nine inmates along with ten guards were killed in the riot involving 1,200 inmates and lasting five days before control of the prison was regained. The inmates held hostage thirty-eight guards and delivered up a letter of written demands. Demands included food, water and provisions for the inmates, that the facility hire a significant amount of black and Hispanic guards, religious freedom, medical treatment and realistic rehabilitative programs. Complaints included inmates being sent to solitary confinement over very minor infractions, being allowed only one shower per week despite if the inmate was assigned a work position or not, and personal conveniences such as toilet paper and soap being distributed once monthly only. Former inmates stated that being beaten was a common occurrence, especially on the way to confinement. What resounded more true and sincere than any demands or other statements was the inmate’s proclamation, “we are men, we are not beasts to be beaten and driven.” Attica was an institution fueled with racist hatred and emotional turmoil over the tight restrictions that come with a notorious maximum security prison, the only unifying condition being subhuman treatment. The incident was a spontaneous action resulting from living conditions within the prison. No deaths were attributed to inmates, with all 39 being the bullets of officials as shown later in autopsy reports (Attica). The Attica riot drew national attention to the problems faced in many correctional institutions, overcrowding, violent gang or racial presences, poor or absent medical care, inadequate staffing and inhumane treatment of inmates as ‘less than human.’ “One can’t rehabilitatepeople by keeping them in cells, “as New York Commissioner Russell Oswald said; “but nor can one rehabilitate people whose life experience has taught them that to adjust to the values and rules of white society is to accept subservience and often degradation.” (Attica - A Judgment on America) This was certainly decided as the case in Attica conditions. After five days the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller gave the order for forces to infiltrate Attica, at which time they began dropping tear gas and firing shots. Hundreds of rounds of gunfire were fired into the yard leaving many among the injured aside from the 39 killed. Because Attica had such a high percentage of black and Puerto Ricans inmates many saw the actions of the Governor in ordering such a violent action as a racial action.At least 75% of the 2,250 prisoners were black or Puerto Rican. All of the 383 guards —too few for that number of inmates, in the opinion of most experts were white(War at Attica). Racial tension in this situation was surely high and a contributing factor. The Governor was defended by President Nixon, who at that time felt the Governor acted in the only way possible to resolve the situation. Negotiations were attempted between the inmates and Governor Rockefeller first through State Corrections Commissioner Russell Oswald. Oswald bargained back and forth and agreed too many of the inmate’s demands, though absolutely refusing on amnesty and the firing of the current warden, stating that it would undermine the entire New York corrections system. Inmates wanted assurances that they would not be faced with physical penalty for the situation, which was not legal in any case, it seemed as though that was a primary concern. Inmates had dug trenches and began wiring the fence with electric before Oswald and the Governor decided the use of force would be necessary. The prisoner’s allowed hostages to speak with media crews and one hostage, Sergeant Edward Cunningham, pleaded with the Governor to take no action and to come to the prison, fearing for his life and stating that he would be a dead man if the Governor did not show up. Sergeant Cunningham was indeed among the 39 killed by force upon retaking the prison. Oswald had met many of the demands, allowing the Black Panther leader Seale to visit the prison and advise the prisoners but when Seale returned for a second visit Oswald denied him entrance on the grounds that he was not going to urge the prisoners to surrender. In a final denial of more time and talks with the Governor the prisoners made way with hostages and appeared as though they were going to cut their throats, assuming a position of executioner. It was at that time that Oswald decided there could be no further delay and the order was given to overtake the prison (War at Attica). Later Oswald stated he knew what President Truman must have felt like when he ordered that the A bomb be dropped. Tear gas was at first used and as officers stormed the yard it was surely difficult to make out officer and inmate. 28 of the guards were saved in the avalanche of violence that followed, between the officer’s gun fire and inmate’s knife retaliations. Inmates later reported that some who had been shot were actually in the surrender position and shot indiscriminately by guards. Immediately following Oswald made a public statement, saying that nine hostages died due to having their throats slashed and one hostage was found to be emasculated with his testicles stuffed in his mouth (War at Attica). This was soon found untrue, casting doubt on the Governor’s and Oswald’s actions to use force. Medical examiners and pathologists concluded absolutely the hostages had each died of gunfire and the Governor eventually stated the hostages died as a result of ‘crossfire’ and there was ‘no indiscriminate shooting.’ Because there were constant threats on the lives of the hostages it was somewhat understandable in the immediate aftermath that Oswald could, would and actually did assume the hostages had died at the hands of the inmates in the way that was threatened. Family members of the hostages found it a difficult fact to accept their relative had died so violently in the effort to rescue them. Other prison security across the nation began being more closely examined. The psychosocial and behavioral aspects of why this had happened and how easily it could happen in other prisons became of great importance. The fact that bargaining took place and some demands granted was looked down on in later analysis as something that would encourage other prison riots. Analysis also suggested that at the beginning of the riot when there was confusion and far less organization it would have been better to immediately take action, using only tear gas and clubs. This could have prevented the loss of 39 lives by gunfire. It is questioned also whether Rockefeller should have allowed Black panther leader to visit the prison as well as so much media contact and whether or not he should have gone to the prison himself when it was insisted upon. To have given in further to the prisoner’s demands would have surely lengthened the ordeal but could have possibly ended it in a different way. There is no way to know what may have happened if Oswald and the governor had chosen different actions though theory upon theory has been developed. The Attica prison riot has been studied for forty years and though we have made many improvements many of the factors that were attributed to the riot are still common everyday factors in our prison system. Overcrowding, strong gang presence, tension in tight surroundings with no rehabilitative or vocational programs, inmates spend a good amount of time ‘working out’ becoming physically more dominant and imposing; all contributors of what could play a part in a successful uprising within the prison system on any day. We now depend on work release centers, gain time, drug programs, and half way houses to help keep our prison populations down. Most cases are not as severe as California though early release is more favored in areas where the population is high. Everglades State prison in Florida recently closed demonstrating that not all States are as crowded as California. This leads to the suggestion that offenders be sentenced to serve term in other states besides their home state which has been an argued alternative. Inmates and inmate activist groups continue to fight this as it places an undue hardship on an inmate and the inmate’s family visitation. States also do not want to support financially the cost of housing out of state inmates. Some groups feel that this is not something society is responsible for should a person be sentenced to prison for a criminal action and that serving terms in other States is almost a must due to conditions but as of yet this has not been ordered. I feel that this might be a good short term solution for inmates serving short, first time sentences. Activist groups feel that it would be ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ to send an inmate out of State but at the same time it is surely a worse punishment to be in inhumane conditions. More correctional facilities are needed to keep up with the demand in those States such as California. Sentencing guidelines and changes in sentence structures have greatly increased and contributed to the rise of the correctional facility population in the last thirty years. Inmates are serving sentences for minor non-violent criminal acts that at one may have carried only probation. I think that this gets an individual into the system earlier and makes it more difficult, as a felon, when returning to society and attempting to reintegrate with society. Conclusion The Attica prison riot certainly made American’s more aware of the conditions within correctional facilities. Many committees and organizations scrambled to study Attica from many perspectives; how it could have been prevented, how we may have better handled the situation, how to prevent a similar occurrence from happening. It has been forty years since the Attica riot and we have had no other prison uprisings of such magnitude though it remains a constant possibility unless measures are taken to ensure that prisons are well-staffed, medical care is provided in a humane way, population control is maintained in each facility, gang education is continued and gang activity within the system monitored, programs provided that are designed to reintegrate the inmate with society, vocational programs to provide the inmate with skills to better equip them for employment as a felon and that the individuals within the prison system are treated in a humane and appropriate way. Racial tension should be monitored though segregation would only further aggravate and compound the problem in an environment such as prison. Educational programs, religious programs and betterment programs should be provided and encouraged so that there is much less ‘empty’ time spent in prison, leading to feelings of anger and hostility and possible violence. Works Cited "U.S. Constitution - Amendment 8 - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net." Index Page - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. . .Attica - A Judgment on America. (2006). New Statesman, 135(4814), 62. Attica: Who's to Blame?. (1973). Time, 101(2), 51 Austin, J. (1994). Objective offender classification is key to proper housing decisions. Corrections Today, 56(4), 94. Caudron, S. (2000). HR Behind Bars. Workforce, 79(6), 44. Champion, D. J. (2008). Sentencing : A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. 'Cruel & Unusual' Prisons. (2011). Nation, 292(25), 6-8. Domanick, J. (2009). ANATOMY OF A PRISON. Los Angeles Magazine, 54(9), 108. Krauss, D. A. (2004). Adjusting risk of recidivism: do judicial departures worsen or improve recidivism prediction under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines?. Behavioral Sciences & The Law, 22(6), 731-750. Pogorzelski, W. L. (2005). Behavioral Health Problems, Ex-Offender Reentry Policies, and the "Second Chance Act". American Journal Of Public Health, 95(10), 1718. War at Attica: Was There No Other Way?. (1971). Time, 98(13), 22. Ward, J. (2006). Jump-Starting Projects to Automate Correctional Processes. Corrections Today, 68(4), 82. Wilkinson, R. E. (2005). Confronting Recidivism: Inmate Reentry and the Second Chance Act of 2005. Corrections Today, 67(5), 54. Read More