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were not previously seen, such as hostile or mistrustful attitude towards the world, social withdrawal, feelings of emptiness or hopelessness, a chronic feeling of threat, and estrangement.” Although psychological issues develop in anyone incarcerated, those discussed are particular from the perspective of a victim wrongfully accused.
From the moment an innocent individual enters the criminal justice system they are pressured by law enforcement whose main objective is to obtain a conviction. Some police interrogation tactics have been characterized as explicit violations of the suspect’s right to due process (Campbell and Denov 2004). However, this is just the beginning. Additional forms of suffering under police custody include assaults,
These victims suffer for years experiencing extreme isolation while trying to maintain their innocence. Their opportunity for parole is undermined because they are viewed as not wanting to take responsibility for the crime which places them at higher risk for reoffending. Coping in prison is unlike coping in the outside world. Goffman defines what he calls the “mortification process” whose purpose is the strip the inmate’s previous identity and forces them to take on an identity based on the crime for which they were accused. The victims must adapt methods that secure their safety and survival. Traits of aggression and intimidation establish themselves in the victim’s personality for self-protection. In Grounds’ study (2004), fourteen of the eighteen men were terrorized by treats of assaults and even death. Three of the men were victims of violence with one being sexually assaulted and the other one stabbed. Inmates may cope with their depression through withdrawal, self-mutilation, or suicide. While in prison fourteen men had experienced intimidation of being assaulted or killed by other prisoner and three were actually subjected to serious violence. Personality traits of aggression and intimidation were learned for self-protection. Victims claim that visitation with family is extremely tormenting. Since physical contact is typically not allowed, it became emotionally
Grounds (2004) contends that twelve of the men met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Their symptoms are directly related to specific threats of extreme violence. Victims gave examples which included nightmares of assaults that occurred while incarcerated and panic attacks in response to police sirens. In sixteen cases, other psychiatric disorders were evident. Ten of them suffered from a type of depressive disorders, five had features of a panic disorder, four had symptoms of paranoia, and three had acquired a dependence on drugs and/or alcohol. In addition, chronic sleeping problems, moodiness, and irritability were increased in all cases. Exonerated victims are often suddenly release which creates problems with adjustment. Their functioning of practical tasks, such as using ATM’s or crossing busy roads, mandated humiliating struggles with coping. Adaptation to new physical surroundings creates tension because of the change in predictable and ordered prison cell environment. Friends and family report confusion about the victim’s withdrawal and avoidance of social contact. These individuals have often lost their sense of purpose. They may have lost their family, homes, and most importantly- hope. Coping with lost time involves managing circumstances that occurred during incarceration such as deaths, weddings, relating to their children, and cultural changes.
There are many consequences
" With violence affecting so many lives, one can understand the desire driven by fear to lock away young male offenders. But considering their impoverished, danger-filled lives, I wonder whether the threat of being locked up for decades can really deter them from crime" (305). Hopkins is definitely not our stereotypical prisoner. Most generally, our view of prisoners is not that of someone who has this profound use of wording and this broad sense of knowledge.
...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.
James Gilligan is an American psychiatrist who presents the causation and prevention of violence from his point of view of working in US prisons for decades in his book “Preventing Violence”. Gilligan provides readers with a multitude of data and theories, but his book (or at least the first four chapters) boils down to the fact that violence towards other is caused by shame. He calls upon his many years of interaction with prison inmates and explains how inmates who committed violent crimes often said it was because they were disrespected, and therefore shamed. However, it’s very important to highlight that it takes not only shame but also an inability to “regain respect” after a shameful event, to cause violence as Gilligan proposes. This
The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...
Guards will no longer call you by name but by your number. For as long as you are there, you are that number. You no longer are treated like a human being but a number. Prisoners start to lose respect for themselves because of this treatment and on top of that, they are now given an abundance of other labels when they are released. Some of those labels include, “convict,” “criminal,” “dangerous,” and “antisocial.” When labels are given to an offender or a would-be offender in a mean manner, their risk of offending increases. This can also be predicted by the reintegrative shaming
Thousands of people statewide are in prisons, all for different reasons. However, the amount of mental illness within prisons seems to go unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. This is a serious problem, and the therapy/rehabilitation that prison systems have do not always help those who are mentally ill. Prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide (Hills, Holly). One ‘therapy’ that has increased throughout the years has been the use of solitary confinement, which has many negative effects on the inmates.
When they are exposed to stimuli, their brain struggles to process it. Inmates reported panic attacks during their time in solitary confinement. Inmates reported difficulty with thinking, concentration and memory. Some cases were very severe and led to states of extreme confusion and disorientation. Inmates reported having aggressive thoughts and fantasies of revenge and causing harm to prison guards.
Markowitz, F. E. (2011). Mental illness, crime, and violence: Risk, context, and social control. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 36-44.
What most if not all people fail to put into though is that many of the prisoners who are presently incarcerated have experienced some sort of childhood trauma. That is actually a very bad thing to have added into prison culture, such as being harsh, punitive, and having an uncaring environment may cause traumatizing flashbacks, which will entail in some sort of violence. That is, some prisoners find that constant exposure to the stringent and uncompromi...
Chapman’s research shows evidence of 211 stabbings taking place in three years at one prison in Louisiana. Bloody riots, rape, robberies, and exhortation are just a few of the everyday occurrences that can be expected when entering a penitentiary.
Zamble, E., & Porporino, F. (1990). Coping, imprisonment, and rehabilitation: Some data and their implications. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 17(1), 53-70.
Despite these repulsive behaviors, the most common vile behavior seen throughout the documentary is the inmates covering their windows with blood from cutting themselves with razor blades. Convicts execute these self-harming habits for countless reasons. Despite these unsettling, eye opening situations, the most disturbing aspect of the film is hearing prisoners discuss their experiences in isolation and how it has negatively affected them psychologically. This typically results in a prisoner cutting themselves, bleeding all over their cell and covering themselves in their own blood. Inmates propose that being placed in isolation hinders their ability to be re-integrated into society once they finish serving their sentence. However, the detainee’s bad behavior in the isolation unit simply leads to their isolation sentencing time being increased. This results in more detrimental behavior of the inmates and an increasing amount of self-harm conduct. Although the warden of the prison is aware of the effect isolation has on the prisoners, he continues to use segregation as a source of punishment for offenders who misbehave and to ensure correctional officers and other inmates are safe from dangerous
“Understanding the Relationship between Mental Disorder and Violence: The Need for a Criminological Perspective.” Law and Human Behavior 30(6):685-706. Silver, Eric and Brent Teasdale. 2005. “Mental Disorder and Violence: An Examination of Stressful Life Events and Impaired Social Support.” Social Problems 52(1):62-78.
For decades, people have been wrongfully accused in court cases and in many cases the individuals serve jail time. Cases are being published about wrongful imprisonment. The article “Ohio Man Sues Police Over Wrongful Imprisonment” by The Associated Press releases information of a man who police accused to be a drug dealer and the man was forced to serve jail time. The second article “Jury awards $175k in false imprisonment case against private probation company” by the Terry Carter release information about a private probation company that was only out for money and not for the rehabilitation of probationers. Although there are many articles that cover false imprisonment these two articles focus on specific cases that have facts to support
Racism is the belief that one race is superior or inferior to another, and that a person’s race determines a person’s personality and traits. There are many situations where people of colour are accused of doing something over a white person because of their skin colour, and that is what happened in “A Summer of Kings” by Han Nolan. More people of colour are wrongfully convicted of crime than white people in today’s society, due to racism still being prominent today. It is still a common issue today, although this novel took place in 1963, which was around the time of the Martin Luther King Jr. movement.