South Carolina Correction Facilities
Corrections are a necessary tool to protect society from those who do harm to others or to others property. Depending on the type of crime that was committed, and if the crime is considered a state or federal charge, also depends on where the person sentenced will do his time. There are four main sentencing options available; prison, probation, probation and confinement, and prison and community split. When a person is sentenced to do their time in prison most likely they will go to a state or federal prison. If a person is ordered probation, it prevents them from going to jail but they have stipulations on their probation. This is called intermediate sanctions, which are the various new correctional options used as adjuncts to and part of probation. Some intermediate sanctions include restitution, fines, day fines, community service, intensive supervised probation, house arrest, electronic monitoring, and shock incarceration.
If a person is sentenced to do time, that person could be sentenced to a county jail up to a maximum security prison. In South Carolina, most county jails or Detention Centers house an average population of approximately 100 county inmates depending on the size of the county and the jail itself. Inmates serving sentences in county jails are ordered by the Magistrate or General Sessions courts for non-violent offenses. The inmates usually serve terms less than one year. The inmates prepare meals in the center kitchen for inmates at the facility and for persons awaiting trial in the county jail. The inmates can also work at county buildings doing janitorial work, doing yard maintenance in various parts of the county, or picking up litter along the roads and highways.
If a person is sentenced to a state prison, depending on the crime, that person could be sent to one of S.C. Department of Corrections’ twenty-nine prisons which are categorized into four distinct security levels: community-based pre-release/work centers (level 1A), minimum security (level 1B), medium security (level 2) and high security (level 3). The architectural design of the institution, type of housing, operational procedures, and the level of security staffing determine an institution’s security level. Inmates are assigned to institutions to meet their specific security, programming, medical, educational, and work requirements.
Level 1-A facilities are community-based pre-release/work centers that house minimum-security non-violent inmates who are within 36 months of release. These units are work and program oriented, providing intensive specialized programs that prepare the inmates for release to the community with unfenced perimeters.
People expect a penitentiary to hold inmates, especially dangerous ones, for as long as the court determines they should serve. Kingston Penitentiary has been doing that for many years. But it has also dedicated to the reform of inmates. What that means has changed dramatically over time. (Curtis et al, 1985)
When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.
County Jail is equipped to hold 221 prisoners, each who must eat three times a day, and have an hour outside for recreation.
Andersonville prison is in Macon County in the southwestern part of Georgia. It was originally constructed as a prison camp for the Union soldiers, it was the equivalent of the concentration camps of World War Two, and it was a significant location in the Civil War, America’s bloodiest war. What took place there is gut wrenching. You will have to read on to find out just how appalling life was in the prison.
There are a number of issues that need to be taken into consideration when discussing the use of supermax prisons. Hans Toch, a corrections scholar, pointed out that the methods used in supermax prisons are not new penal techniques. In fact, those types of prison conditions were adopted in the past and rejected because of increased rates in inmates developing mental illness (Hickey, 2010). Supermaximum security prisons have been associated with past attempts, like the Eastern State Penitentiary, where twenty-four-hour isolation was used and there were no programs for self improvement. The two main problems associated with supermax prisons are the conditions and the transfer procedures/criteria (Pollock, 2010). Pelican Island in California was a target of a court case, Madr...
There are three type of sentencing models used by judges for the sentencing phase of trials; indeterminate, determinate, and mandatory. These sentencing models are used to bring justice to those who are convicted of crimes and must now live with the consequences of their actions. Justice is a word that has a different meaning to each individual person. This paper will discuss, in detail, the meaning of justice, the three types of sentencing models, the pros and cons of each model, and the impact each one has had and continues to have on corrections.
A life behind bars is not an easy life, but a life that many people become accustom to, not because these people want to, but because they have to. The prison life is one that includes adverse challenges, dangerous situations, gang violence, and unpleasant living conditions. As shown in the documentary, Hard Time: Worst of the Worst, the inmates at the Southern Ohio Correction Facility in Lucasville, Ohio are no strangers to the prison life. Opened in 1972, the prison houses some of Ohio’s most dangerous inmates, totaling 2,200 inmates. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is known as a level 4, or a maximum-security facility. Here, correction officers control each and every movement of inmates. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility houses inmates who find themselves in trouble once they are in inside of prison, such as stabbing or killing another inmate. The inmates are then sent to Lucasville to serve “jail time” for whatever act they may have committed while in prison.
Stickrath, Thomas J., and Gregory A. Bucholtz. "Supermaximum Security Prisons Are Necessary." Supermax Prisons: Beyond the Rock. Lanham, MD: American Correctional Facility, 2003. Rpt. in America's Prisons. Ed. Clare Hanrahan. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Have you ever wondered what happens behind prison doors? Prisons are defined as a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment. A prison is also referred to a place of detention. Embodiment of the United States is a concrete power under the Constitution of the United States, which means that prisons are under authority of both the federal and state governments. Different United State prisons contain different prisoners based on the crime or felony committed. Security levels range from minimum-security prisoners to Supermax facilities that house the more dangerous criminals. Dangerous criminals are usually sent to the state prison and less serious offences such as misdemeanors are sent to the local county or city jails to serve short terms of confinement. Prisons are located at the national, state, and local levels that each confines a number of people. At each prison level, a variety of programs are offered to help the prisoners and teach them how to act properly in today’s society. More happens behind the prison doors then the United States leads the population to see.
Intermediate sanctions are a new punishment option developed to fill the gap between traditional probation and traditional jail or prison sentences and to better match the severity of punishment to the seriousness of the crime. Intermediate sanctions served in the community now account for 15 percent of adjudicated juvenile cases (Puzzanchera, Adams, and Sickmund, 2011). All intermediate sanctions are enforced by the United States Criminal Justice System. The main purposes of intermediate sanctions: (1) better match the severity of punishment to the seriousness of the crime, (2) reduce institutional crowding, (3) control correctional costs. Primarily, this is a needed method of punishment to make offenders accountable for the extent of crime and if so let offenders live in their communities to fulfil punishment if not too extensive.
Throughout history, changes have occurred all around us. More specifically, our correctional facilities. As community members commit crimes, our jails and prisons provide the deterrence, punishment, retribution and rehabilitation needed to become a successful member of the community again. When offenders enter into the correctional facilities, restrictive housing and administration segregation play a role in providing safety to inmates and to staff members. By looking at how restrictive housing and administration segregation was established, evolved, and how it plays a role in today’s society, we as citizens can learn about our correctional facilities and the tasks they use to keep inmates safe and correctional staff.
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
closely regulated by the government in order to maintain a safe housing unit for inmates.
The correctional system punishes offenders by sentencing them to serve time in jail or prison. Others forms of punishment include being sentenced to probation, community service, and/or restitution. Jail is a locally operated short-term confinement facilities originally built to hold suspects following arrest and pending trial (Schmalleger, 2009). A prison is state or ...
The Multilevel Research Design. 2002. In: Gillespie, W. eds. 2002. Prisonization: Individual and Institutional Factors Affecting Inmate Conduct. Texas: LFB Scholarly Publishing, pp. 67-68.