Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Studies on prison systems
Studies on prison systems
Studies on prison systems
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Understanding the organization of prisons and how the are can is a very complex mechanism. In “Stateville: The penitentiary in Mass Society”, Jacobs seeks to understand the organization in the Stateville prison system, one of the world’s toughest prisons. Giving the history of the prison does this and how things ran under different wardens, and how things were coupled throughout different organizations. When looking at these things Jacobs also points out issues in the prison and how they happened under what type of organization. By doing this, Stateville is easily relatable to understand leadership and authority. One of the first topics discussed by Jacobs is the history of the prison and prison organization. The beginning days of Stateville …show more content…
During the time period of 1936 through 1961 there was a change in the establishment of authority with a new personal dominance of Warden Joseph Ragen. The system that was imposed by Ragen had a goal of creating a stable social order at this penitentiary. However, Jacobs mentions that the absence of interference by outside forces enabled him to develop his authoritarian system of internal order. Seeking to achieve his goals for Stateville, Ragen demanded absolute personal loyalty and officers were given an “Officer Rule book”. In return it was set to establish loyalty of the employee to the warden, and the warden was also obliged to the employee. However, the biggest part of Ragens system was that of personal dominance. In addition to Ragen’s system the system was also based upon internal security so intense that the ultimate perimeter security would never need to be tested. He created a system of charismatic dominance within his time as a warden at Stateville. Once Ragen left the prison the problem of organizational succession …show more content…
Relations during this time with the prison and the outside world are discussed, as well as how these relations dominated life inside of a prison and developed new challenges within the prison. After Ragen left, Frank Pate become his successors. Pate faced a problem because he neither sought nor exercised the charismatic authority of Ragen. The Prison remained an imperatively coordinated paramilitary organization, which still required its warden to personify its goals and values. Jacobs goes on to discusses how what Pate did, was not the same direction or ideas that Ragen was doing or had. Jacobs’s counties this discussion with the challenges and issues that prison had during the time of 1961 through 1970. Jacobs blames that the loss of a warden who could command absolute authority, the loss of local autonomy, it heightened race problems among blacks, and the penetration of legal norms exposed severe strains in the authrotitarian system, and says pate cant control
I feel that this book gives a rough, inspiring and passionate warning that the rush to imprison offenders hurts the guards as well as the guarded. Conover reminds us that when we treat prisoners like the garbage of society, we are bound to treat prison staff as garbage men -- best out of sight, their own dirt surpassed only by the dirt they handle. Conover says in one part of his book, “Eventually admitting that being in a position of power and danger brings out a side of myself I don’t like.” I feel both prisoners and officers deserve better.
...they want to be not only respected but also being able to survive in the prison environment. In prison, there are so many inmates and not two inmates are the same. The inmates will disrespect the officers by calling them names, giving officers difficult times, but it goes the other way around too. It is disturbing image after learning that sometimes it is the officer’s fault and not just the inmates’ wrongdoings. There will be times when officers and inmates will engage in a conspiracy crime and times when the female staff is engaged in sexual actions with an inmate. Conover wrote this book to allow the audience to see the prison society from many different point-of-views and give future officers an early insight to becoming a correctional officer.
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
Lappin, H. G., & Greene, J. (2006). Are prisons just? In C. Hanrahan (Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints: America’s prisons (pp. 51-98). Detroit: Bonnie Szumski.
Alexis de Tocqueville’s observation of the American prison system brought out several interesting facts about America and how it governs itself. He talks of the danger of greed for money, the importance of forming associations, and the power of influence in town government. Although many of his observations have since changed, many of them bring about legitimate points about American government and society.
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
The authors begin the book by providing advice on how a convict can prepare for release from prison. Throughout the book, the authors utilize two fictional characters, Joe and Jill Convict, as examples of prisoners reentering society. These fictional characters are representative of America’s prisoners. Prison is an artificial world with a very different social system than the real world beyond bars. Convicts follow the same daily schedule and are shaped by the different society that is prison. Prisoners therefore forget many of the obl...
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...
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.
Ralph, P.H.(1997). From Self Preservation to Organized Crime: The Evolution of Inmate Gangs. In J.W. Marquart, & J.R. Sorensen (Eds.). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles: Roxbury
Through two metal, cold doors, I was exposed to a whole new world. Inside the Gouverneur Correctional Facility in New York contained the lives of over 900 men who had committed felonies. Just looking down the pathway, the grass was green, and the flowers were beautifully surrounding the sidewalks. There were different brick buildings with their own walkways. You could not tell from the outside that inside each of these different buildings 60 men lived. On each side, sharing four phones, seven showers, and seven toilets. It did not end there, through one more locked metal door contained the lives of 200 more men. This life was not as beautiful and not nearly as big. Although Gouverneur Correctional Facility was a medium security prison, inside this second metal door was a high wired fence, it was a max maximum security prison. For such a clean, beautifully kept place, it contained people who did awful, heart-breaking things.
An American resolution: The history of prisons in the United States from 1777 to 1877 by Matthew Meskell. Stanford Law Review.
In this critic, I will be analyzing and comparing two books. The first book is “A question of Freedom a Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison” by R. Dwayne Betts. The second book is “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing” by Ted Conover. In this comparison will first give a short summarization of both books. Second I will be answering the fallowing questions, what prisons are discussed? What types of prisoners are there- age, race, sex, level of crime? How current is the information? What are the conditions of the prisons? How are the prisoners treated? How are the guards and their viewpoints represented? How are the prisoners and their viewpoints represented? What forms of rehabilitation are there? What are the social relationships with other inmates? What opportunities are available to occupy prisoners? What point of view is the author taking – critical, Positive, does she/he write from the viewpoint of a guard, a prisoner? What evidence is/are the author’s points based on and how is the evidence presented - for example, first hand observations, Statistics? Also what changes, if any, are proposed or discussed by the author? How does the information in this book compare with what you’ve read in the text and articles and what you have observed on a class trip? Lastly what is your opinion of the information and viewpoint expressed in the book?
“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime control model.
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html