The Difference between a Jail and a Prison - Essay Example

The defendants who are kept in jails are individuals who have to serve a sentence for misdemeanor offenses, felons who have to do jail time as a condition of their probation and people who are awaiting trial and cannot make bail. (Bergman & Berman, 2008 ). Jails are also used to temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities. They are also used to retain mentally ill patients until they are sent to appropriate mental health institutions. .( Carlson and Garrett, 2007) Jails sometimes run community programs as alternatives to incarceration.

Jails also hold offenders who are in contempt of court, are crime witnesses and are in protective custody. They also hold convicted felons who are going to be sent to state prisons. (Carlson and Garrett, 2007). Jails generally do not give emphasis to how inmates behave the following release. There are exceptions e.g. alcoholic treatment programs and domestic violence programs that seek to reduce the likelihood of repeated domestic violence. However, their prime focus is on safely managing people.

(Goldstein, 2006). Prisons are long term confinement facilities housing felony offenders and parole violators serving sentences greater than one year. The federal and state government-run such establishments and nowadays even private companies are allowed to take up the contracts for running prisons. (Caputo, 2004).Compared to jails, prisons are typically larger and range in custody level from minimum security to maximum security where the nation's most dangerous criminals are confined. (Caputo, 2004).

Prisons are self-sufficient and self-contained. These self-contained facilities have recreational yards, workout rooms, auditoriums for viewing feature films and small stores for the purchase of toiletries and other goods. (Champion, 2007)The functions of prison according to Champion are to provide societal protection, punish offenders, rehabilitate offenders and reintegrate offenders by preparing them for re-entry into society through vocational and educational training, counseling and other institutional measures.

(Champion, 2007)Provisions for the death penalty are in place in state and federal prisons. Federal prisons may be minimum or maximum security.Maximum security prisons hold 52 percent of all state prisoners. These are built to house dangerous criminals and to prevent them from harming security guards is one another. Minimum security prisons, on the other hand, have more freedom of movement, privileges, and contact with the outside world. However, it is the medium-security prisons that hold 37 percent of all state prisoners.

(Sellers, 1993)