Life in Prison

1824 Words4 Pages

Over the centuries one of the most common forms of punishment is imprisonment. As times past by the prison has taken on various shapes and forms. The quality and most conditions of prisons have changed in order to provide better living conditions for the inmates, but the main purpose of the prison has never changed, the online article Welcome to Stop the Crime states that “ a prison have four major purposes, these include retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation” (stoptheaca.org). This shows that the prison is there to ensure that criminals pay back society for the crimes they have committed; it also serves as an area to keep criminals from hurting innocent civilians and it is also there to transform prisoners to law abiding citizens. The prison life is a common topic discussed between boys of all ages, and it is very common to hear past prisoners convincing them that the prison life isn’t hard at all and that it’s very simple. Although some prisoners try to make the prison life sound fun and carefree when it’s compared to the life of a free individual it can be clearly seen that the prison life is much harder. While prisoners still have some rights left intact most of the rights they had before they went to prison are striped from them. The prisoners are left with just enough rights for them to survive and to maintain a certain standard of living. Based on the online article some of the rights that prisoners are left which include “the right to be free from Cruel and Unusual Punishments, the right to be free from sexual harassment, right to complain about prison conditions and access to the courts, the right to special accommodations if disabled, the right to receive medical and mental health care, the right to ... ... middle of paper ... ...l with. But getting into and staying in a gang isn’t that simple, inmates that want to join a gang is tested, they have to show proof of the crime they committed and based on the crime they can either join the gang or be beaten by the gang members. Like most other groups there is a leader, the person that calls the shots, the gang leaders also develop rules that the members have to follow and the punishments for breaking the rules. In prisons the inmates may not be restricted with chains or ropes but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t restricted; the rules of the prison to the prisoners are equivalent to them being tied down by a rope or chain. The rules of the prison take away most of the simple things they were allowed to do in civilization, it do this by placing restriction on all the various things that the prisoners might enjoy or might make their stay easier.

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