Usually, prisons and jails have tried to find ways to control inmates’ just through physical restraint, and hardware such as “locks, steel doors, security glass, and alarm systems” (National Institute of Corrections (U.S.), 2009). Staff safety is understood to hinge on upholding physical walls between staff and inmates. Securing inmate and staff safety is of the ultimate importance in a correctional facility. Overcrowded prisons and jails are not only an excessive risk to inmates, but also a bigger risk to the correctional officers who are working in the overcrowded prisons or jail. According to Bartollas (2002), violence in the correctional system comes in many different ways. They are considered as methods and manners, such as inmate on inmate violence, riots, major disturbances, staff brutality against inmates, assault of staff by offender, and self-inflicted brutality. The extraordinary level of violence in many prisons continues to remain high. “A culture of violence, the presence of gangs, and the trafficking of drugs in prisons make it difficult to provide a safe environment for staff and inmates” (Siegel & Bartollas, 2011, p. 355). Methods and techniques are used to maintain inmate custody and control in correctional facilities. Physical layout of the facility has to deal with how many staff will be on duty and also how the inmates are located in the facilities. The inmates that are in for more violent crimes or tendencies are usually house in a different population within the prison than the inmates that are in for less aggressive crimes. Techniques such as weapons defense, cell extractions and avoiding the fight are used to not only keep the officers safe but also the inmates (Wagner, n.d.).
Before entering a jail or p...
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...g will go smooth. I do believe because there are more inmates than officers that the officer should always have back up with them at all times to ensure their safety from the inmates.
References
Bartollas, C. (2002). Invitation to corrections: With built-in study guide. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
National Institute of Corrections (U.S.) (2009). Inmate Behavior Management: The Key to a Safe and Secure Jail, August 2009. S.l: s.n.
Prisoner Discipline - Part 1: The Foundation for an Effective Discipline System | Institute for Jail Operations. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.jailtraining.org/node/181
Siegel, L. J., & Bartollas, C. (2011). Corrections today. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Wagner, J. (n.d.). Jail & Prison techniques used by U.S. Correctional facilities. Retrieved from http://www.jimwagnertraining.com/images/Jail_and_prison_techniques.pdf
The jobs of correctional officer are some times overlooked. Correctional officers are playing a huge role in society because they need to perform important tasks. A correctional officer’s job is not easy and can become very stressful at times. Correctional officers are required to enforce and keep order, supervise inmates, help counsel offenders, search inmate cells for contraband, and also report on inmate actions. Correctional officers need to contain power over the prisoners in order to enforce the rules of the prison, or else the prison will not function correctly. In the book, Conover says, “The essential relationship inside a prison is the one between a guard and an inmate…the guard, it is thought, wields all the power, but in truth the inmate has power too” (Conover, p. 207). In the book, the importance of power the prisoner’s hold can be seen through the sudden increase of prisoners, the Stanford Prison Experiment and through the contraband they make.
...rulson, Marquart, Vaughn, Bever (2010). Additional research has revealed that individual-level risk factors, like gang history, recurrent prison confinements, active criminal justice status, previous arrests and convictions, substance abuse history, and others are associated with prison misconduct and violence among inmates (DeLisis, Caudill, Trulson, Marquart, Vaughn, Bever (2010). In other research inmates’ psychological characteristic were studied such as anger in relation to their criminal history, these variables also relate to misconduct in prison.
Incarceration has been the center of the United States justice system ever since the opening of the nation’s first prison. In order to understand how the aspects of the first corrections institutions correlate to later correctional practices seen today. Whether it was temporary or permanent, there has always been some form of detainment for offenders, and they were always held against their will. Imprisonment of offenders in earlier times was done primarily to hold the accused until the authorities determined the offender’s actual punishment. Jails and prisons create a vicious and expensive cycle of crime that usually just end up overcrowding correctional facilities.
The prison gangs that exist in the United States are a major concern for all those involved in the criminal justice system. From the humble beginnings in 1950 with the Gypsy Jokers Gang, to modern day entities like the Aryan Brotherhood, gangs have grown to numbers in the tens of thousands and are at times out of control (Orlando-Morningstar, 1997) Through the use of assault, bribery, intimidation, and murder, the gangs have become a powerful force inside and outside of prison. Law enforcement officers today have the tremendous task of arresting and maintaining discipline of these offenders once locked away in jail or prison. It is paramount that the correctional officers that are in charge of overseeing these criminals maintain the standards and are strong willed and trustworthy. The gangs inside have their own rules and laws that they abide by. The correctional officers must use the rules and laws that govern the system to keep peace and order, because with this chaos and anarchy will reign supreme.
In the United States prison system inmate’s struggle and face conflicts within the culture, they live in on a daily basis. Prison life is very structured and within this system, there are multiple layers of racism, bigotry, and injustice. As a result of extreme conditions and the prison climate, many prisoners often experience stressful situations that influence their mental health. In addition to mental health issues, many prisoners often experience emotional, social, organizational, and arduous physical conditions while incarcerated. Due to these harsh conditions, further research is needed in our prison systems to evaluate the impact of our prison culture and the climate that these inmates are subjected to when incarcerated. Corporate
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
During the early half of the 19th century, there were two new models of prisons being built in the United States. Along with the new styles of prisons being constructed, two new styles of correctional systems were developed, the Pennsylvania system, and the Auburn, New York system (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Although the designs of the actual prisons were dramatically different, both systems shared similar ideals, with regards to how inmates should spend their days. Ultimately, the Auburn system prevailed as the more popular system of corrections in the United States, with some of the system’s correctional philosophies being used well into the 20th century (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Before discussing the actual philosophies, which were used to manage the inmates in each system, we should first look at the difference in the design of the prisons used in each system.
A reality where the prisoner is dehumanized and have their rights and mental health abused. “I have endured lockdowns in buildings with little or no heat; lockdowns during which authorities cut off the plumbing completely, so contraband couldn’t be flushed away; and lockdowns where we weren’t allowed out to shower for more than a month” (Hopkins 154). A prisoner currently must survive isolation with improper shelter in the form of heat. Issues compound with a lack of running water and bathing, a proven severe health danger, especially for someone lacking proper nutrients such as a prisoner in lockdown. These abuses of physical well being then manifest into damage of prisoners’ mental well being. “Perhaps I should acknowledge that the lockdown-and, indeed, all these years-have damaged more than I want to believe” (Hopkins 156). Even for the experienced prisoner the wrath of unethically long lockdowns still cause mental damage. Each and every isolation period becomes another psychological beating delivered as the justice system needlessly aims to damage the already harmed inmates. The damage is so profound inmates even recognize the harm done to them by their jailors. An armed and widely used psychological weapon, the elongated lockdown procedures decimate mental health each and every time
It is said that prison should be used for more serious crimes such as rape, assault, homicide and robbery (David, 2006). Because the U.S. Prison is used heavily for punishment and prevention of crime, correctional systems in the U.S. tend to be overcrowded (David, 2006). Even though prisons in the U.S. Are used for privies on of crime it doesn 't work. In a 2002 federal study, 67% of inmates that
In final analysis, this research project looks to provide a new way of understanding the current prison situation and its various manifestations. A comprehensive report of how things might be for those closely involved in the punishment and rehabilitation process might enable policy-makers and the public alike to change their ideas and help them perceive what it might mean to be in the position of officers or prisoners. The higher objective of this project will be to bring, through new knowledge, the necessary reforms that could leave both the taxpayer and those in the prison system more satisfied.
Firstly, in order to gain a better understanding of the problems that plague or correctional system we must fully understand the enormous overcrowding problem that exist in the majority of or state and federal prisons. Since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled and only the numb...
Stohr, Mary K., and Bill Quigley. "Corrections: The Essentials." Google Books. SAGE, 2011, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.
The first purpose of the prison is that of Public protection via incapacitation of offenders; this is considered to be the only purpo...
“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime control model.