Deck 13: Prisons and Jails

Question 1

What types of criminal punishments were used before the advent of imprisonment as a criminal sanction? How have early punishments influenced modern correctional philosophy?

Answer 1

The following are the types of punishment used before the advent of imprisonment as a criminal sanction :
During early days, punishments were very inhumane and cruel. They type of punishments were as follows :
• Branding
• Workhouses
• Flogging
• Exile
• Public humiliation
• Mutilation
It is suggested that U.S. returned to public humiliation and physical punishment, and most of them considered these option unacceptable. But many other countries suggest that such punishments will provoke rather than deter.

Question 2

What are the demographics (social characteristics) of today's prisoners? What gender and racial disparities, if any, exist in today's prison population?

Answer 2

The following are the social characteristics of the current prisoners :
• Several people are sentenced to the state prisons and have been convicted of violent crimes. In this, most of prisoners are convicted for drug crimes.
• Imprisonment varies drastically among several states in the country.
• There has been huge growing disparity among imprisonment rates for whites and black people. In late 20s, there were around 1,172 white men imprisoned for every 100,000 white men and 8,367 black men for every 100,000 black men.
• In U.S., almost 17% black people have been sentenced to the prison.
• In the past, majority of the men have been sentenced to jail compared to women in U.S., but the incarceration rate for women has been increasing drastically in the current scenario.

Question 3

Trace the historical development of prisons in the United States, beginning with the Pennsylvania system. How has correctional practice in America changed over time? What changes do you predict for the future?

Answer 3

The development of prison in the U.S. is given below :
The Pennsylvania structure was created by Q in the year 1790.The Auburn method was related to as congregate but quiet system, which was developed during 1820. In this appearance, prisoners were in custody in a congregate manner but needed to sustain silence.
During 1876, the reformatory theory was used to indeterminate sentencing in an effort to restore inmates. It fell as a victim to the beginning of the industrial prison era where state found the occasion to exploit on convict labor.
During 1890, industrial prisons were created. The end of the industrial prison age was brought regarding moratorium on free market prison industries implemented by the Ashurst Summer act 1935.
The punitive year followed, described by an improved objective on custody and institutional protection an out of sight, out of mind philosophy in American attitude towards inmates.
During 1945, the management period evolved. Based on a medical representation of corrections, the philosophy implied that offenders were sick and could be rehabilitated through proper treatment.
The community-based setup, started in the mid-1960s, represented a society away from traditional imprisonment and an effort to reform offenders' performance within restricted communities. Increased recidivism rates, ensuing in public dissatisfaction, eventually led to a warehousing policy in the late 1970s. Warehousing seeks to avoid recurring crime but abandons any anticipate of rehabilitation. It has resulted in high rate of overfilling in prisons all over the country.
The mid-1990s experienced the materialization of the just deserts era. Its importance is on individual responsibility for one's actions, with the obligation of deserved penalty as the logical significance of unfair actions. Just deserts continues to be the most important perception in the criminal justice ground at present, although there are some signs that it is beginning to diminish
Clearly, each age has been based on dissatisfaction with the effects of the preceding philosophy, leading to a "trying something different" approach. The period's emphases seem to pass continually through a punishment to rehabilitation (punishment cycle), with the focus changing to occupy social attitudes toward criminal offenders. The repetition of prison industries, efforts taken to improvising of the quality in jail life, and the progress towards private prisons and regional jails symbolize the ongoing efforts to determine improved ways to manage incarceration of convicted offender.

Question 4

What is the just deserts model of corrections? Explain the pros and cons of this model. How did it lead to an increased use of imprisonment and to prison overcrowding?

Question 5

What are today's prisons like? What purposes do they serve?

Question 6

What is the relationship, if any, between changes in the rate of criminal offending and changes in the rate of imprisonment in America during the last decade? What is the reason for that relationship?

Question 7

What role do jails play in American corrections? What are some of the issues that jail administrators currently face?

Question 8

What will be the state of private prisons two or three decades from now?

Question 9

What is the role of private prisons today?