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Pros and cons of supermax prisons
Pros and cons of supermax prisons
Outline on supermax prisons
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In the 1970s, prison was a dangerous place. Prison violence and the high numbers of disruptive inmates led prison authorities to seek new ways to control prisoners. At first, prison staff sought to minimize contact with prisoners by keeping them in their cells for a majority of the day. As time went on, the prison authorities began to brainstorm the idea of having entire prisons dedicated to using these kind of procedures to control the most violent and disruptive inmates. By 1984, many states began construction on super-maximum prisons. In California, two supermax facilities were built by the state: Corcoran State Prison in 1988, and then Pelican Bay in 1989. The federal government soon followed suit and in 1994, the “first federal supermax opened, in Florence, Colorado.” It was not much longer before supermax prisons could be seen all over the country (Abramsky). In Wisconsin’s supermax facility, with similar conditions being found in a majority of supermaxes, there are “100-cell housing units” that are in groups of 25 cells. These cells all face a secured central area. Technology plays a major role in keeping the facility to the highest security standards. Every cell’s doors are controlled remotely and the cells include “video surveillance, motion detection and exterior lighting” (Berge). With these technological securities, there are also procedural precautions. Inmates are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day until their sentences are done. This is said to be for prisoner and staff safety, although some feel otherwise. In 2001, 600 inmates at Pelican Bay went on a hunger strike, demanding reform. Those on hunger strike believed that the isolation and deprivation they faced was against their Eighth Amendment rights. ... ... middle of paper ... ...reenhaven Press, 2005. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Technology Is the Key Security in Wisconsin Supermax." Corrections Today 63 (July 2001): 105-109.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. Nicholson, Lucy. "Where Are All The Photographs Of Solitary Confinement?" Prison Photography. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. 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. Vogel, Nancy. “Rehab in Prison Can Cut Cost, Report Says; Crowding Exacerbates High Recidivism Rate by Denying Inmates Useful Treatment, Experts Find.” Los Angeles Times: 0. Jun 30 2004. Proquest. Web. 24 Feb 2014
It was felt that it was better for diseased people to stay outside of the prison walls so the sickness would not spread to the others. The penitentiary was not equipped to deal with death because it had no cemetery but still had to pay for a gravedigger if someone died on the inside.
Prisoners in solitary do not eat, sometimes just to be cantankerous and defiant against the system and sometimes their mental state prevents convicts from eating. The mental state of convicts are the most affected. The American Friends Service Committee states that as many as 64% of prisoners in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) were mentally ill. The committee later list the effects of solitary confinement of prisoners after conducting numerous studies, the list reads as
According to the prior summarized research, the origin of the supermax facility is established. It is identified that these facilities were necessary to create order among inmates in the general prison population. Differing characteristics of inmates can potentially create havoc and chaos in prison environments. Although there are inmates who request placement in supermax facilities, inmates who do not choose to be housed in these facilities demonstrate certain constant factors seen among the population in supermax facilities. It is understandable that gang affiliation, mental illness, and specialized needs for protective custody lead to placement in supermax facilities due to the protection of correctional officers and staff, along with the
Riveland, C. (1999). Supermax Prisons: Overview and General Considerations. Retrieved August 25, 2010, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1a1pkDvbgh0J:nicic.gov/pubs/1999/014937.pdf+Supermax+prisons+consolidation+model&hl=en&gl=us
Metzner, J. L., & Fellner, J. (2010). Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challenge for Medical Ethics. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(1), 104-108.
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
Rhodes, Lorna A. “Pathological Effects of the Supermaximum Prison.” American Journal of Public Health. October 2005. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449421/# __sec3title.
Overcrowding is one of the predominate reasons that Western prisons are viewed as inhumane. Chapman’s article has factual information showing that some prisons have as many as three times the amount of prisoners as allowed by maximum space standards. Prison cells are packed with four to five prisoners in a limited six-foot-by-six-foot space, which then, leads to unsanitary conditions. Prisons with overcrowding are exposed to outbreaks of infectious diseases such as, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
Wilson, Rick. "The Growing Problems of the Prison System." American Friends Service Committee. American Friends Service Committee, 27 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. .
In 21st-century America, detainment is turning into a multibillion dollar industry every year, and will keep on increasing in extension in the coming decades. The “prison industrial complex" incorporates not just those organizations specifically included in conveying discipline (courts, adjustments,
America locks up five times more of its' population than any other nation in the world. Due to prison overcrowding, prisoners are currently sleeping on floors, in tents, in converted broom closets and gymnasiums, or even in double or triple bunks in cells, which were designed for one inmate. Why is this happening? The U.S. Judicial System has become so succumbed to the ideal that Imprisonment is the most visibly form of punishment. The current structure of this system is failing terribly. To take people, strip them of their possessions and privacy, expose them to violence on a daily basis, restrict their quality of life to a 5x7ft cell, and deprive them of any meaning to live. This scenario is a standard form of punishment for violent offenders, although not suitable for nonviolent offenders.
Although it may not seem like a major problem to most people in the United States, prisons are becoming overcrowded, expensive to maintain and have little to no effect on the moral discipline of inmates. The current prison system is extremely inefficient and the purpose of prisons has been completely forgotten. According to Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the primary purpose of prisons is to punish, to protect, and to rehabilitate. Not only is there an increase in prisoners, but there is a rise in the number of repeat offenders. Alternatives such as counseling, drug rehabilitation, education, job training and victim restitution must be better enforced and organized. People do not understand the severity of the problem mainly because
First, the “get tough on crime” policies are finding their way into America’s prison systems as the prison population continues to grow. Americans are tired of crime and encourage their Politian’s to advocate for harsher treatment of convicted criminals. The Federal Prison policies dictate that a prisoner does not have the right to expect privacy in a prison setting, nor have the right to speak freely if protesting; they cannot refuse to work or to choose what work they will do. Prisoners do have a right to visitors in order to stay connected with society. They also have the right to an education.
(2013) Prison: the facts Bromley Briefings Summer. Available from: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Prisonthefacts.pdf [Accessed 01 January 2014]. Sue Rex, A. and Robinson, G. (2004) Alternative Prison Options for an Insecure Society.
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.