Correctional System in America - Essay Example

Correctional System in America Order No.263898 January ‘09 Correctional System in America Criminology expert Alexis M. Durham (1994) feels that even after 300 years of struggle with crime and punishment-related issues, America today seems less able to deal with punishment and correctional issues than at any other time in history.  What exactly is wrong with the correctional system and has it failed and if it has failed why it has failed. These are the questions that are being asked today. To answer these questions one must know why a correctional system is required. Most individuals know what is right and what is wrong. But some individuals are confused and fail to understand and are confused about the concept of right and wrong. Hence they break the laws of society. It is these people who not only need to be punished but must also be made to go through the correctional system so that they know what is right and what is wrong and do not commit the same offence after imprisonment. A good prison system should ideally have the following objectives: deterrence, incarceration, retribution and correction. But today most of the prisons are busy addressing only one of these and that is incarceration. They do not have effective programs to help the prisoner understand the reasons for their imprisonment, to correct them or follow up programs to see what happens when the person is released. Estimates point out that two-thirds of prisoners commit offence within three years. The correctional system in America has seen many changes. It has evolved from the dungeons, public torture and executions of medieval times to the courts, prisons and impartial law of today. Now do the present day punishment and correction systems deliver the goods? The truth is that Americas correctional system has failed even though many may argue that Americas prison system not only works, but is the best in the world. They believe that since statistics show a lower crime rate, the government has succeeded in instilling a healthy respect for law. Of course the current system of punishment is more advanced and certainly more humane than that of earlier times. In the 21st century the state budgets for the American correction system are usually one of the largest, if not the largest. More new prisons are constructed than churches and schools combined. The prison budget in some states exceeds that of the education budget. America in the past two decades has seen one of the largest expansions in its jail, prison and community corrections populations. Yet today everyone and that includes the public, the government, the prison administrations and even prisoners and their families agree that the prison system is failing. Prisoners today are subjected to excessive cruelty. Violence, that includes sexual assault, is widespread in prisons. Living conditions are unhygienic and the health and medical care provided to inmates is inadequate. This means that prisoners and workers are highly vulnerable to diseases like hepatitis, AIDS, hepatitis and TB. Such conditions have often led to frustration, anger, depression and violence among inmates. Effective educational and vocational programs are rarely offered to inmates. Prisons have rarely succeeded in their goal to rehabilitate criminals. Offenders who enter prisons find themselves coming out more often than not much worse off than when they entered. Even if prisoners are provided with educational and training opportunities to improve ones self the violence and depravity that are plentiful in American prisons makes it very difficult and nearly impossible for an offender, even if he is strong, to come out of the prison unharmed. This poses a threat to the society as well. Because these offenders who come out after their sentences are worse than before and the society is forced to deal with these new members who have not changed. This happens because of some of the fundamental problems in the structure of the prison system. Some of the problems prisoners face on entering prisoners are loss of dignity, financial exploitation, absence of discipline among the staff, racism, imbalance in the structure of the prison system, with the system heavily tilted towards security at the expense of the goal of the Correction Department which is to provide a safe and secure environment for inmates as well as providing rehabilitation and correctional programs. Excessive control with the prison staff bogged down by rules and regulations is another problem. The correctional system has to contend with several issues and this may be the reason why it has not been effective. Rising costs is one of the issues. The system is growing in size day by day with a resultant increase in costs. Another important issue is that the prisons are enormously overcrowded with fewer personnel to supervise, again because of the cost factor. The inmates are exposed to dangerous conditions because of overcrowding. Because of lack of personnel the violent offenders are not being supervised to the point they need to be. There is no doubt that prisons are not benefiting anyone, either the inmates, the correctional officers, or the society. Prisoners suffer from the harsh realities of prison life, lose connection with the outside world, are destroyed completely and go back to society worse off than before they were imprisoned. According to Carly B. Ouellette (2008), “Current prisons are degrading the inmates through its dismal atmosphere, its extreme violence, and its culture. Society does not benefit from the prison system because, although offenders are off the streets while incarcerated, ninety-five percent of U.S. inmates return to the streets and they return as unproductive and sometimes dangerous citizens.” It is estimated that about two-thirds of all offenders released from prisons are rearrested within a span of three years. It is simply because the prison system while providing all material facilities fails to deal with human beings and human reactions. Prisoners including their families’ right from the first day of imprisonment are reduced to subhuman beings. Prisons are meant to punish those who have committed a crime, but usually do so with excessive and unintended cruelty. Jeffrey Ian Ross (2006) has this to say, “The correctional system has become increasingly non-responsive to the needs of the prisoners, their families, and also to the society.” That is why there is a need to reinvent correctional facilities in America. There is serious need to make policy changes in the structure of sentencing and the correctional system. It is time American jails and prisons reinvented themselves or else the number of people wasting away in prisons and coming out unchanged will continue to grow. These prisoners will continue to represent a failed system. It may be impossible to take the human mind away from crimes, but it is possible to revamp the present correctional system and make it safe, cost effective and results oriented. To begin with, the federal government should implement a program, which requires that the correctional departments ensure that all prisoners complete one or more technical training courses. University education should be provided if any prisoner requests for the same. Most inmates have no proper skills which can help them earn a living when they get out of prison. It is necessary that the system must ensure that all prisoners have at least a high school education by the time they come out. Today a high school degree is an entry-level requirement for many jobs. So it is imperative that prisoners are given an opportunity to acquire this degree if they do not have it. This is also one way to try and reduce recidivism rates. Much of the problems associated with correctional system arises because of overcrowding of prisons. Prisons should be small in size since large correctional facilities tend to become impersonal and bureaucratic. The running costs of large establishments are also high. One solution to ease overcrowding is to introduce the practice of furlough which involves supervised release of certain types of offenders. Supervised release that involves measures such as therapy, counseling and traditional probation will help rehabilitate an offender and reduce the chances of the offender committing an offence again. This will effectively cut costs too. Perhaps this may even lead to a more rehabilitated prisoner. This system was there earlier too but the release was unsupervised. Even now innumerable offenders from different criminal backgrounds are released, unsupervised in order to reduce crowding in prisons. Because of the problem of overcrowding violent offenders are released to make room for nonviolent first time offenders. But when the releases are unsupervised and when there is no follow up the offenders are likely to commit offenses once again, defeating the very purpose of the corrections system. Certain offenses like white collar crime do not warrant imprisonment. Such offenders need not be put into prisons. This will help reduce overcrowding and bring down costs. Once the size of prison populations is reduced to a manageable size, correctional officers will be able to manage the prisons effectively. It is also necessary that these officers should be encouraged by providing them with educational and salary incentives. This measure will also help in implementing and managing rehabilitation programs effectively. Correction officers should be rewarded and State corrections departments should be given more money if their inmates commit fewer crimes after release. Also inside the prisons older and violent offenders must not be allowed to mix with young offenders as older and more experienced prisoners prey on younger prisoners often leading to physical and sexual violence. Younger prisoners when exposed to such conditions get used to such an environment over a period of time making it difficult for them to re-enter society once they are released. Violent prisoners should never be mixed with nonviolent offenders and first time offenders. Nonviolent offenders have to be rehabilitated and converted into productive citizens by eliminating the injustices within the correctional system and incorporating effective reintegration processes. There is need for a policy, which will facilitate withdrawal of nonviolent offenders from the U.S. prison system. Many experts have recommended an alternative sentencing system and it has been introduced in many areas to reduce the problem of prison overcrowding. But there has been considerable opposition and many critics believe that this type of sentencing is too lenient and may prove to be dangerous to the community to the community. Alexis Durham (1994) has proposed a variety of remedies such as intensive supervision, home confinement, electronic monitoring, fines, restitution, community centers and day- reporting centers. Interest in the privatization of punishment has increased substantially during the past decade. According to him the rising costs of incarceration and steady increases in the incarcerated population have stimulated governmental enthusiasm for the transfer of certain correctional responsibilities to the private sector. Today the need to increase prison capacity has almost become a national problem, the private sector involvement in the construction and also the management of correctional facilities is a viable option. The government should not look at whether those who wish to provide correctional services are private or public but instead focus on who can provide the best service at an affordable cost. There is a strong case for private correctional systems. Katelyn Crane (2008) has this advice, “Take the power to punish away from those who are doing a bad job and give it to someone else. The government is restricted by its lack of funding and by trying to please everyone at the same time. The logical solution to such a problem is to delegate the responsibility to someone who is not bound by such considerations.” But the question arises here whether private operators can be trusted to run prisons at a less cost without sacrificing quality and accountability.” As for accountability, Richard P. Seiter is of the opinion that “Every private prison operates under a written contract with government that specifies everything from the cost per inmate to required staff levels for every shift. By introducing competition and innovation, privately run prisons have helped create a modern and efficient criminal justice system in which the public and private systems work closely together and learn from each other. In sum, the modern private prison industry has contributed to the reduction of prison overcrowding.” There are many pros and cons for privatization. In this connection, Phil Smith’s (1993) thinking makes us ponder. He has said, “Should we, as a society, shift responsibility for the ultimate sanction by which we measure normative behavior to those whose motive is profit? The deep philosophical issue is perhaps unanswerable, but the ramifications are disturbing.” Jails and prisons should not become fortresses .There should be continuous inspection and even the public must be allowed to see what goes on behind bars. This will serve as a deterrent against abuse of inmates. Another type of rehabilitation program that can reduce recidivism rates and consequently crime rates is drug treatment. Addressing the problem of drug addiction must become a part of any rehabilitation program. A report produced by the JFA Institute, a criminal-justice research group based in Washington recommends “shorter sentences and parole terms, alternative punishments, more help for released inmates and decriminalizing recreational drugs as steps that would cut the prison population in half, save $20 billion a year and ease social inequality without endangering the public”. In conclusion one can only say that it is clear that the present correctional system is not working as it should be. The system has failed in preparing prisoners for going back to society as productive members. Something has to be done about it and some policy changes have to be made. Edward Raver (2007) has rightly said that by continuing with what is being done and hoping people will change, things are not going to be different. He further says, “If civilization is going to survive itself, then a better system must be created to ensure its safety.” Education, drug treatment and vocational training will certainly go a long way in reducing recidivism rates. References 1. Crane Katelyn (2008), Americas Prison System: A Failed Experiment, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1147958/americas_prison_system_a_failed_experiment.html?cat=17 2. Durham Alexis (1994), Crisis and Reform: Current Issues in American Punishment Jones & Bartlett Publishers 3. Mikkelsen Randall (2007), Prison System a Costly and Harmful Failure: Report Retrieved from http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/19/5330 on 31/12/08 4. Ouellette Carly (2008)The Injustices Inflicted on Nonviolent Offenders in the U.S. Correctional System Retrieved from http://escholar.salve.edu/pell_theses/22/ on 1/1/09 5. Raver Edward (2007), Understanding The American Corrections System Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/137619/understanding_the_american_corrections.html?cat=17 on 1/1/09 6. Ross Jeffery, (2006), Jailhouse Blues, retrieved on 31/12/08 from http://www.forbes.com/2006/04/15/prison-jeffrey-ross_cx_jr_06slate_0418ross.html 7. Sieter Richard (2005), Public and Private Correctional Partnerships: Deflating Myths and Promoting Reality, Testimony before The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons Retrieved from www.apcto.org/pdf/Private-PublicCommis-Nov2005.pdf on 31’12/08 8. Smith Phil (1993), Private Prisons: Profits of Crime, Fall 1993 issue of Covert Action Quarterly Read More