Prison Life - Research Paper Example

 Prison Life The prison system of the United States underwent a dramatic reform about two centuries ago and it slowly developed to the system of prisons that we are now accustomed to in the country (Norman Johnston, 2009). The United States prison system is commonly seen as a system to set aside those who break laws and are a threat to society. It is meant to show these deviants that there will be accountability for ones action. However, how well have these prisons managed to set right the wrong doers and how efficient is the system really? This paper will look at the purpose of using prisons and how prisoners are rehabilitated and once again integrated back into society and how prone they are of recidivism in their later life. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has stated on its webpage that their main purpose is to create a society that is free of any threats and to imprison offenders in a facility that for them is safe and away from where they can do more harm. These facilities are humane and help offenders to be able to return to society and live a life without any further criminal activates (Federal Bureau of Prisons). However, the purpose of the US penitentiaries can not be solely defined to be of quarantine. It can be used as a means to deter those who break the law or may be considering the possibility of doing so. If an individual does break the law and end up in a US prison then the goal changes from deterrence in the general sense to that of deterring a relapse into criminal life. Sentences are also looked at to be a way of obtaining justice or revenge from those who have committed some heinous crime and finally prisons act as isolators. They keep those individuals inside a secure facility who are not able to rehabilitate into the society and have eventually become a threat to the public (Britannica). All these purposes are accepted by the public yet how effective are the methods used by the state authorities. Once in prison, offenders have to go through daily life thinking hard about the way that they behave and what they say because the wrong move or word could land one in trouble. So survival instincts kick in and individuals sometimes join prison gangs. The process of prisonization led to the adaptation of the prison values and of its culture and made the prisoners more prone towards a criminal lifestyle later on in life (Victoria R. DeRosia, 1998). These aspects undermine the entire point of incarceration. If we send offenders to a facility to help them manage their criminal tendencies and protect the public then what will we do to protect the said individual from delving deeper in the criminal lifestyle while in prison. This points out the safety conditions of the prisoners themselves. Even if the system has been made to protect the public, it can later cause problems as rehabilitation is not always productive or effective. Neither is incarcerations, for incarceration can lead to animosity towards the government and the people and can even teach inmates better survival techniques as prisons are a perfect place and pick up dangerous ideas. Current conditions of prisons in the United States vary from the more liberal and university campus-like environment to the extremely harsh and rule based one. Minimum security prisons have more or less better condition in terms of living standards. Offenders are given more visitation privileges and allowed to walk freely so as long as they are not disrupting the environment. Maximum security prisons on the other hand are another issue seeing as how only the worst are put in these penitentiaries. These are guard towers and think stone walls that surround the perimeter and electrical fencing along the walls. The Pelican Bay prison in California is one of the most notorious of prisons in the country and is a super max facility that houses the worst of criminals inside its perimeters. The inside of the prison has been kept modern with clean and sterile surroundings and video cameras constantly watching the activities of all prisoners (Inside Prison, 2006). Though there have been active reports of abuse of the prisoners from the guards at the prison. There have been several cases against the guards at the prison itself for allegedly setting up certain meetings which resulted in the killing of inmates by other prisoners. Sometimes two prisoners were purposely left alone in a cell and the end result was a death of the prisoner. Amnesty International has even pointed out the travesties that certain guards commit yet the California Department of Corrections has ignored these insights and little has been done to improve the conditions or the security of inmates (Amnesty International, 2000). Whether the prison system is effective or not and whatever the conditions many be inside there is a time when prisoners are let out of these facilities to once gain join society. Yet there have been cases when those who have committed a prior crime once again commit an offence and are sentenced to prison, recidivism. One study showed that during the year 2000 to 2004 there was an increase in recidivist sentences by a margin of 2.4% which, though not an alarming rate, is something of concern. There have been recommendations from different areas on how to better curb the rate of recidivism in the United States. Daniel Karpowitz and Max Kenner in their study on recidivism expressed that there is a link between recidivism and education. They provided statistics pointing that there were almost 20% illiterate adults in prisons. Adults who have no special skills or education of any sort do not have any means of affectively settle down in society once they are released and fall back into a life of crime. Education, they argue, can help these men and women to manage to make a living for them working a job rather then end up in prison once again (Karpowitz, D. & Kenner, M.). A further study found that an inmate who manages to complete every six months of education in prison will be able to reduce recidivism chances later. Another way to counter the increase in the trend would be to properly sentence each and every offender in accordance to his or her crime rather then doing it according to a general rule. Effective sentencing along with a proper rehabilitation and punishment alongside proper help from the prison authorities and the support of programs can be detrimental. Making prisoners feel useless and unable to change the course of their future is a sure way of beating them down and causing greater chances of crime later (Warren, R. K., 2007). It then falls on the rehabilitation programs introduced in prisons to make sure that inmates are shown all possible ways to improve their quality of life later on after release. Some prisons have an education program which is at time carried out by university programs such as the Bard College in New York. A survey carried out in 1995 concluded that about one fourth of the total prison population of the United States was enrolled in some educational course (Law.jrank.org). These courses aim to establish a ground for which these inmates can later receive employment on. Skill training is also helpful and mostly those who already have some sort of low level skill and can even provide training in how to manage money and even managerial skills employed in businesses. Another form of rehabilitation is therapy aimed at those who have mental illness. Even drug abusers have been given therapy to overcome their addiction and help them resist the urge of a relapse. Therapy is used to modify the behavior of certain offenders, mostly sex offenders through the process of cognitive-behavioral treatment. The use of rehabilitation programs has been in play for quite a long time and though it may be deemed as effective it is not quite a priority amongst certain facilities. Programs such as those of education have been bankrupt and many became defunct due to financial constraints and inability to manage teaching prisoners. Lack of funds from the public were a major issue as the people are not ready to invest money in people who are seen as criminals alone in their eyes, and grants from other areas can only sustain the programs for a limited period at a time. Rehabilitation programs are a step forward into introducing a new side of the inmate into society yet it is not clear how effective these would be when the individual is finally released into society. Much of the United States public is in favor of allowing ex-convicts to enter the job market and live a normal life yet there is a threat to the public. Michigan released a prisoner early on parole and after some time the same man was convicted of killing a 69 year old man (John S. Hausman, 2010). The reason of the early release from the authorities was that the current number of inmates in the prison were burdening the system and resulting in money being excessively spent on their well being. An early release, they say, helps to lessen costs and reduces the chances of a second conviction. Parole officers have been charged with keeping those who were convicted previously from committing crime again and keeping the society safe from the individual. Many of those prisoners who have been released earlier then their conviction dates are those who have not been incarcerated for violent crimes and were more or less through with their sentences. The state of Kentucky has taken this approach and has released non violent and non sexual offenders early arguing that these inmates are the least threat to society and do not require monitoring. Yet some states have been known to release those who cost those more to keep inside their facilities which are usually the elderly. Their medical costs add to the cost of food and space that they occupy. These prisoners are less prone to committing crime again due to their age (Barton Aronson, 2003). The release of prisoners in the community needs to be monitored diligently. Offenders who have been convicted of committing crimes before are more prone to fall into the trend of being regular criminals and are the ones who need more watching then others. Though this is not to say that only one-time offenders such as a case of attempted rape and similar should be let go. Offenders have to be carefully placed in society at a time when they are better than they were when they arrived at a prison and have some skill and education to let them lead a better life. There have been times when there is difficulty in finding jobs or getting admission in an institution and so prisons should try and establish an affiliation with certain institutes and work places that allow prisoners to get a job there for some time. These measures can help to keep these people off the streets and away from dangerous activities and not lash out at the public. Those prisoners who have been released in the community on the basis of parole can be monitored with the help of gps devices as have been used previously. This approach can cut down on the manpower that will otherwise be required. More so, these can more effectively send back data regarding the jurisdiction that the prisoner is allowed in and if they have crossed outside. In conclusion, this paper has focused on the dealings of the prisons of the United States. The main purpose and ideology of these systems and whether they actually uphold the ideas for which they were established and the conditions that these prisons are under. The living standards and way of life that prisoners are living in and the issue of torture in certain penitentiaries which go against the concept of human rights that the United States of America so proudly upholds. The entire concept of rehabilitation and the way it is carried out has been outlined along with how effective the idea is against recidivism and helping prisoners cope with life outside prison. On the final note there was a discussion of the effect that a prisoners release has on citizens in general and the public. This paper has also introduced several ideas on how to better improve and secure the safe release of prisoners in the society and to ensure the security of the public as well as the prisoner themselves. The prison system is vital in keeping the public safe and even the prisoners yet these institutions are not always an affective way of rooting out crime. There are many issues that the prison system has been failing to look into such as abuse of prisoners and so on, and it is only through effective means of providing a safe and engaging environment of these individuals can the government rehabilitate them. References About the Bureau of Prisons (2010). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.bop.gov/about/index.jsp DeRosia, V. R. (1998). Living inside prison walls: adjustment behavior (pp. 23-24). Connecticut: Preager. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=5-m-b-IgbM4C&pg=PA17&dq=prison+life+in+US&hl=en&ei=-Pj4S-KnJY2h_AatgOXKCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=prison%20life%20in%20US&f=false DOCUMENT - USA: CALIFORNIAN PRISONS: FAILURE TO PROTECT PRISONERS FROM ABUSE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S CONTINUING CONCERNS. (2000). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/079/2000/en Hausman, J. S. (2010, January 12). Law enforcement officials lament early release of prisoners. Muskegon Chronicle. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/01/public_safety_officials_lament.html Johnston, N. (2009). Prison Reform in Pennsylvania. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.prisonsociety.org/about/history.shtml Pelican Bay State Prison. (1996). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.insideprison.com/Pelican-Bay-State-Prison.asp Prison. (2010). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/477205/prison PRISONER REENTRY THE STATE OF PUBLIC OPINION. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.njisj.org/reports/eagleton_report.html Rehabilitation - Correctional Programs In The United States Read more: Rehabilitation - Correctional Programs In The United States http://law.jrank.org/pages/1935/Rehabilitation-Correctional-programs. (2010). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1935/Rehabilitation-Correctional-programs-in-United-States.html Sentencing Guidelines Commission State of Washington. (2005). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.sgc.wa.gov/PUBS/Recidivism/Adult_Recidivism_CY04.pdf Warren, R. K. (2007). Evidence-Based Practice to Reduce Recidivism: Implications for State Judiciaries. Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://nicic.org/Downloads/PDF/Library/023358.pdf Read More