Prison is an institution for the confinement of persons convicted of criminal offenses. Throughout history, most societies have built places in which to hold persons accused of criminal acts pending some form of trial. The idea of confining persons after a trial as punishment for their crimes is relatively new.
During the 15th century in Europe, the penalties for crimes were some form of
corporal punishment like whippings for less serious crimes and execution or
enslavement for more serious offenses. In early 16th century England, vagrants
and petty offenders were committed to correctional institutions known as
workhouses. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the government transported
convicted felons to the English colonies. The punishment was thought of as the
hard labor to which the prisoners were consigned. It wasn't until the 17th
century that the idea that persons convicted of crimes could be punished by
confinement and released after a period of time. During the 17th century,
England and other European countries like Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands
began imprisoning debtors, delinquent juveniles, minor misdemeanant, and
felons. Early jails were mostly dark, overcrowded, and filthy. Prisoners were
herded together indiscriminately, with no separation of men and women, the
young and old, the convicted and unconvicted, or the sane and insane.
In America the concept of imprisonment came because of deep religious beliefs.
The English Quaker William Penn abolished the death penalty for most crimes in
the late 1600's and substituted imprisonment. The Pennsylvania legislature
replaced capitalpunishment with incarceration as the primary punishment for
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...l Report--The Prison
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Kingston Penitentiary is located on the shore of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. It has served as the main symbol of punishment in Canadian society. Penitentiary Houses were first created in Great Britain in 1779. It was on June 1, 1835 that Kingston Penitentiary formerly known as the Provincial Penitentiary admitted its first six inmates.
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.
[The guards here believe that] the tougher, colder, and more cruel and inhuman a place is, the less chance a person will return. This is not true. The more negative experiences a person goes through, the more he turns into a violent, cruel, mean, heartless individual, I know this to be a fact
What are prisons for? This is a question that must be asked in order to understand the problems facing prisons. Prisons serve two main functions; separation and rehabilitation. Criminals cannot be allowed to walk around with everyone else without being punished; they must be separated from society. The thought of going to prison helps deter most people from crime. Rehabilitation is the main goal of prison; making a bad person into a good person by the time they are released. These seem like cut and dry functions, but as of late some believe that prisons in the United States have failed in their attempts to separate and rehabilitate.
Prisons have dated back to the twentieth century when the United States had almost two million people confined in prisons or jails. Prisons have been a form of government punishment that has shaped our nation to what it is today. The first jail was established in Philadelphia, in 1970. It was called the Walnut Street Jail and was recorded as the first use of imprisonment through solitary confinement. The basic principles of the new system were to reform those in prison, and to segregate those according to age, sex, and type of offenses charged against them (Schoenherr). The second prison was called Sing-Sing a...
When people think of reform movements, they often look for one key sign, and ask one key question of whether that the reform was a success. Did the reform create a lasting change in the way people view the institution that was reformed? All the great reformation movements, from Horace Mann and his education reforms, to Martin Luther, and the Protestant Reformation, to the civil rights movement, all created lasting change in the minds of the average person. One other reform, often overlooked historically is the Prison Reform movement. As the world shifted from 18th to 19th century ways of life, many key aspects of life underwent tremendous change. As the United States gained their independence from Britain and began to shape their own identity, the reforms and revolutions that occurred in this infantile stage of its history played an immeasurable impact on the future of the entire country, with the most notable and impact reform being the reformation of prisons from the 1820s until 1860.
Throughout the history of the United States and including the western world. Corrections have served the country by convicting and sentencing offenders depending on the seriousness of the crime. Along with that today, offenders are either placed in probation, incarcerated or taken to community-based corrections. Even though, corrections have always tried to find ways to deter crime by correcting criminals, the poor economy in our country has been the cause for struggles in the correctional system. Some of the causes of economic issues are the cut of budget, over crowing, lack of programs for people with mental illnesses, and lack of innovation.
Prisons will be a part of society for as long as it is faced with social enemies. Incarceration is the state of being confined in prison, typically for committing a criminal act. Ideologies, resulting in a positive outcome, either for the individual or society, are what dominate the Canadian criminal justice responses to crime. These beliefs are enshrined in the Principles of Sentencing that are included in the Criminal Code of Canada. Section 718 of the Criminal Code states that:
It was a warm August night in Baltimore when police found the bodies of three teenage boys gunned down outside a playground. One of the teens was Franklin Morris a seventeen-year-old frequently suspend from school and left to his own vices. His mother concerned about the direction he was heading reached out for help. A counselor suggested a deterrence program aimed a scaring him straight. At fourteen years old Franklin was featured on the A&E network show Scared Straight.(Cable) A television show that follows around trouble juveniles while they tour and experience the hardened criminal world of prisons, hoping to deter them from the prison system. The show portrayed him as a young man with no boundaries and lack of respect towards the community and his parents. Within three years after the program, Franklin was right back on the street with a more hardened attitude. What could have prevented him from succumbing to a violent life on the streets? And how do we prevent others from ending up in the same situation.
the history of man, it is by no means true that society is unable to
Canada reached its utmost population rate in 2013, with 15,000 inmates; this is a drastic increase of 75% in the past decade. Incarceration rates are rapidly increasing as crime rates decrease. Upon release, former prisoners have difficulty adapting into society and its social norms. Criminologist, Roger Graef states that, "the vast majority of inmates, the loss of local connections with family, job, and home sentences them again to return to crime." Prisoners often result in lethargy, depression, chronic apathy, and despair, making them ultimately rigid and unable to assimilate back into the public. Depression, claustrophobia, hallucinations, problems with impulse control, and/or an impaired ability to think, concentrate, or remember are experienced by prisoners who are isolated for a protracted amount of time; research has indicated that prisons can cause amenorrhea, aggressive behaviour, impaired vision and hearing, weakening of the immune system, and premature menopause. With the lack of system programs, the constant violence, and the social isolation, the prison system fails to prepare prisoners for reintegration to society. Prisons do not provide the proper structural functionalism to rehabilitate former long-term prisoners into society.
But there are people who also disagree with changing the way the prison system works right now. As I found in the article called: "Our Money to Educate Minds behind Bars Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" which appeared in the Chicago Now, the author, Masaki Araya, points to reasons why prisons shouldn 't offer educational programs to inmates. "Why should any money, private and public, be wasted on ‘free’ education to those confined behind bars when we already have law abiding citizens, especially families, struggling and barely getting by trying to pay to attend college?" is one of the points Masaki brings up. Masaki believes that these people have no right to be given free education and rehabilitation programs because they have committed crimes
The origin of the word prison comes from the Latin word to seize. It is fair to say that the traditionally use of prison correspond well with the origin of the word; as traditionally prison was a place for holding people whilst they were awaiting trail. Now, centuries on and prisons today is used as a very popular, and severe form of punishment offered to those that have been convicted. With the exception however, of the death penalty and corporal punishment that still takes place in some countries. Being that Prison is a very popular form of punishment used in today's society to tackle crime and punish offenders, this essay will then be examining whether prison works, by drawing on relevant sociological factors. Furthermore, it will be looking at whether punishment could be re-imagined, and if so, what would it entail?
In "Prison Studies" Malcolm X briefly details how, during his incarceration, he embarked on a process of self-education that forever changed him and the course of his life. Malcolm writes of his determination to learn to read and write, born out of his envy and emulation of Bimbi, a fellow prisoner. His innate curiosity, sense of pride, and ambition to learn and be someone of substance motivated him to study relentlessly. As he learned more about the world he developed a great thirst for knowledge that left him with a lifelong desire that only his continued studies could satisfy. He believed that prison offered him the best possible situation in which to educate himself.
If you think back through history some people may think that prisons and jails have just always been there as a way of punishment for criminals but that is false; they have not always been there. In fact, prisons and jails were used just to hold people until their trial concluded and their actual punishment was determined; people were not separated either. It was completely mixed with males, females, murderers, and thieves. In the early coming of prisons and jails they were very poorly maintained causing many to die due to diseases spreading throughout. Typically, in the 16th and 17th centuries, a person did not go to prison or jail for their actions but instead they would be shamed in public as a way to teach the individual and deter others