State Prison Systems In The U.S. example essay topic

PHCCHistory of Prisons " I Intro to Corrections Dale L. Smith 02-01-01 BIBLIOGRAPHY. Dredger, Sharon Doyle, and Kevin Marron. 'Canada: Special Report -- The Prison System. ' Maclean's. Toronto, Canada. April 15, 1996 p. 24+...

'Haiti: Human Rights Practices, 1995. ' Country Reports of Human Rights Practices for 1995. March 1996... Honda, Harry W. 'A Grim Organ Harvest in China's Prisons' World Press Review.

June 1995. p. 22-23... Lawrence, David Aguila. 'In Latin America, Revolting Jail Life. ' Christian Science Monitor.

April 14, 1997. p. 6... 'Prison. ' Microsoft Encarta. 1993... Swift, Richard. 'Criminal Justice' New Internationalist.

August 1996. p. 7-22... 'The Russian Federation: Broken Promises and Shattered Lives. ' Amnesty International News. London, England. June 1996 p. 3-6... 'Turkey: Prisoners on Hunger Strike Close to Death-Stop Ill Treatment of Prisoners Says Amnesty International.

' June 13, 1996. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Illustration 1 n 2. Illustration 2 n 3. Illustration 3 n 4.

Illustration 4 n 5. Illustration 5 n LIST OF TABLES 1. Table 1 n 2. Table 2 n 3. Table 3 n 4. Table 4 n 5.

Table 5 n The PRISONS According to Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, 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 un convicted, 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 capital punishment with incarceration as the primary punishment for felons in 1789. By the mid-19th century most states had followed suit. Two models of prisons emerged in the United States. The first system began in Auburn State Prison in New York in 1817. Prisoners worked together in total silence during the day, but were housed separately at night.

Strict discipline was enforced, and violators were subject to severe reprisals. The second model, the Pennsylvania system, begun in 1829 in the Eastern State Penitentiary at Cherry Hill, was based on solitary confinement for convicts by day and night. There was a lot of debate about the two systems. People who favored the Pennsylvania model focused on its hope of rehabilitation, the theory being that a felon alone in a cell with only a Bible to read would become penitent.

This is where the term penitentiary came from. The Auburn system was criticized as being virtual slavery, because prisoners were often put to work for private entrepreneurs who had contracted with the state for their labor. Prisoners of the system were never paid leaving a good profit for the business owners and the state. People who believed in the Auburn system said that the idleness of the prisoners in the Cherry Hill penitentiary sometimes caused madness. The activity of the prisoners and the profits from their labor meant the state didn't have to finance the prison.

Most states adopted the Auburn approach. European countries adopted the Pennsylvania model. Private business had always been opposed to the industrial Auburn model prison. They considered the unpaid prison labor unfair competition.

Early trade unions challenged the idea. As the labor influence grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dramatic changes occurred. By the 1920's labor and humanitarian critics achieved their goal of severely restricting prison labor. The United States Congress enacted the Hawes-Cooper Act (1929), which deprived prison-made goods of the protection afforded by the Interstate Commerce Act and made such goods subject to state punitive laws. During the depression of the 1930's Congress completed the task by prohibiting transport companies from accepting prison-made products for transportation into any state in violation of the laws of that state. This legislation, the As hurst-Summers Act (1935) effectively closed the market to goods made by prisoners, and most states then terminated prison industry.

The American prison began to use the idea of rehabilitation again as the principal goal of incarceration because thousands of prisoners were left idle. They began to classify prisoners according to the likelihood of rehabilitation. A wide variety of institutions, including reformatories, work camps, and minimum-security prisons were established. The idea of rehabilitation led to probation and parole. Even a separate system of procedures and courts for dealing with juvenile offenders was established.

By the 1960's work-release centers, community correctional centers, and halfway houses were established. Programs such as vocational training, guidance counseling, and psychotherapy were begun also. In 1975 a study of more than 240 such programs revealed that they were not successful. Rehabilitation is no longer the only objective of correction agencies. Today, the American prison system consists of a variety of institutions. More than 50 percent of all prisoners continue to be housed in maximum-security facilities.

Only 11 percent of the prison population is housed in minimum-security institutions. Maximum-security institutions are massive building, with high masonry walls or electric fences. The primary concern is security. Prisoners are under constant surveillance, their movements are severely restricted, and many are required to stay in their cells almost the entire day. Outdoor recreation is minimal.

Visits, when allowed, are often conducted by telephone with a glass partition between the prisoner and the visitor. Minimum-security prisons, on the other hand, are often built on a campus like arrangement, which allows prisoners freedom within broad bounds. Prisoners may have rooms with opaque doors rather than cells that are under constant surveillance. Visits are usually private and rarely monitored.

Close contact with visitors is encouraged in order to enhance the prisoner's ties with family and community. In 1945 approximately 133,000 persons were confined in state and federal prisons and reformatories. Today, there are one-and-a-half million people in prison and another three-and-a-half under penal control outside prison. The US incarceration rate is the highest in the world, partly because of the high crime rate, partly because of mandatory sentencing policies.

Many people believe that American prisons are unnecessarily brutal places, more likely to teach hatred and violence than remorse. All prisons have a culture of some sort, but it is generally violent and abusive, based on gangs. Prison staffs are aware of this culture but are helpless to change it. There has been an increase in prison violence over the past few years coinciding with big cuts in educational and vocational programs at all levels. In recent decades most state prison systems in the United States have come under legal scrutiny, and the courts have found them severely deficient. Many have been declared unconstitutional in the sense that the conditions-including idleness, overcrowding, poor medical care, substantial violence, and lack of rights accorded prisoners-render confinement in these institutions 'cruel and unusual' punishment and hence in violation of the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Such judicial decisions have increased the pressure on state prison authorities to replace their antiquated prison facilities with more modern and humane institutions. Prison systems around the globe all seem to share in the same problem of overcrowding. Amnesty international condemns Russia for overcrowded prisons, for incarcerating those who refuse to mandatory join the army, and for torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials. They say prison conditions are inhumane. Russian prisons are grossly overcrowded and thousands of prisoners have no individual bed. They have to sleep in shifts, often without bedding.

Many cells are filthy and pest-ridden, with inadequate light and ventilation. Food and medical supplies are frequently inadequate. The insanitary conditions mean that illness spreads rapidly. Lung, circulatory and skin diseases, especially tuberculosis and scabies, are widespread. Mental illness is also common.

In July 1995, 11 prisoners died of heatstroke in an overcrowded prison in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region. Up to 25 people were being held in cells meant for 10 and the aid temperature rose as high as 123 degrees. An attempted mass suicide had occurred at the jail in the previous year in response to fierce beatings taking place there. In February 1996, when Russia acceded to the Council of Europe, it committed to suspend all executions pending the full abolition of the death penalty within three years. The executions continue. Russia has one of the highest execution rates in the world.

The Christian Science Monitor calls jail life in Latin America revolting. In April 1997, there was a riot in a prison in Bogota, Columbia. The spotlight on the riot revealed that more than 2,000 inmates in Bogota's El Modelo prison have no beds, often sleeping in hallways. Some cells built for two people contain up to 10.

In one cell lock, 600 inmates share one shower and two toilets. Contrarily, drug-trafficker's cells are neat and clean. Usually, they have a cell with a bathroom to themselves, free use of telephones, access to luxury goods, food, and drugs. Due to the close contact with underpaid guards, almost anything becomes permissible with a high-enough bribe. The prisoners give the guards a choice to accept bribes or die.

There are 40,500 living in a system designed to hold 28,332. The ability of rich inmates to bribe officials allows them to live well. For common criminals, overcrowding and lawlessness barely allow them to survive. This harsh double standard is found across Latin America, where most countries suffer from pervasive corruption. In Bogota's El Modelo prison authorities recently discovered that drug lords have been making calls to countries from Nigeria to the United States. US Embassy sources have long alleged that Cali drug cartel bosses continue to direct drug smuggling from behind bars.

Politicians don't find jail to rough either. Fernando Botero, President Ernesto Samper Pisano's former defense minister went to jail last year for admitting knowledge of a $6 million contribution to Mr. Samper's campaign from the Cali cartel. Samper was cleared by Congress of any knowledge of the drug money. Mr. Botero is under what amounts to a comfortable house-arrest in Bogota's military academy. Columbia has a notorious history of luxury jails for powerful criminals and Mexico is gaining the same reputation.

In Mexico the prisons are self-governed by the prisoners. The prison officials rely on gangs within the prison for enforcement. The leaders of the gangs are rewarded. They have their own rooms or several rooms, order meals from fancy restaurants, and, sometime, have girlfriends living in prison with them.

Criminals with money and influence easily avoid doing time in the overcrowded prisons with inhumane conditions. Politics as well as corruption can cause the double standard. Peru's jails stand out also. Punishment for terrorism and treason, a charge which is very loosely defined in Peru, requires the convicted person to spend his first year in solitary confinement.

Then adult family members may visit once a month for 30 minutes. Children may visit for a half an hour every three months. Peru has built a special prison just for people accused of terrorism or treason. It is at a high altitude, averaging about 40 degrees Fahrenheit with no heat. Politically connected terrorists are spared Peru's rough treatment. In 1994, a death squad connected to the military was convicted of murdering nine university students.

They went to a comfortable jail for a short sentence. In Venezuela Vagrants Laws were designed to keep 'undesirables' off the streets. Police can arrest anyone whose behavior is considered criminal suspect. According to human-rights activists, street people, often mentally ill or alcoholic, are the traditional targets.

Imagine walking down the street and being stopped by police. They arrest you and throw you into a cell, where you remain for five, possible ten, years. Your crime: A police officer doesn't like the way you look. Your defense: you have none.

You are just 'suspicious. ' This is a real situation in Venezuela where 93 men and women are in prison for never having committed a crime or even being accused of committing one. The law's real crime is the penalty. A prison sentence of up to five years, which can be extended if a judge finds the person likely to commit a crime upon release. The Vagrants Law violates Venezuela's own constitutional guarantee to due process yet it is still in effect more than 50 years after it was implemented. Any Venezuelan will tell you that there are two types of justice -- one for those with money and one for those without.

'If you have dark skin and you are from the barrio, you will go to jail and you " re forgotten,' says one human rights lawyer. Concern for the rights of the poor is not a popular cause in Venezuela -- it doesn't reap any political favors or money. Judges and police accept bribes for case dismissal. Physical appearance, social status, and an address in a good suburb is enough to guarantee bail regardless of the severeness of the crime. With two-thirds of Venezuela's population falling below the poverty line, this leads to overcrowding in prisons. The Venezuelan prison system is considered the worst in Latin America.

Gang warfare in Venezuelan prisons include all types of guns, including high-powered sub machine guns and hand grenades. With low paid guards being routinely bribed, drug and arms trafficking is prevalent. Everyone in Venezuelan prisons must have a knife even if they cannot afford a gun. According to one prisoner, 'Here you have to watch your back all the time -- no one's your friend. ' Another man who served 23 years for murder says he lost count of how many inmates he murdered during his sentence just to stay alive. 'Its kill or be killed.

' Most of this violence is because of overcrowding. The violence is directed at other inmates as opposed to the guards. Venezuela has 31 penal institutions with a total capacity to house 15,500 prisoners. The current population is above 25,000. One of the worst is Catia, where 2,100 inmates are squeezed into a building designed for 700. Men sleep on the floor in hallways, in an open-air courtyard and in hammocks.

Milk crates and wooden boards supported by buckets serve as beds. With no staff doctors, medicines are brought by relatives. Prisoners with aids are left to die. Of the 25.000 inmates in Venezuelan prisons, 17,000 are still awaiting sentence. Suspects must wait an average of three years before their case comes before a judge. Inmates often serve more jail time before their trial than the maximum sentence for their accused crime.

In Haiti prisoners and detainees are held in overcrowded and inadequate facilities. They continue to suffer from a lack of the most basic hygiene facilities as well as inadequate health care, including necessary medical treatment. They must rely on family and friends for food and medicine. Haiti's constitution provides for an independent judiciary and the right to a fair public trial but two hundred years of rampant corruption and governmental neglect has left their judicial system poorly organized. In June 1996, prisoners in some 35 Turkish prisons went on a hunger strike to protect ill-treatment and obstruction of medical treatment. Authorities have been abusing prisoners throughout the years often beating them to death.

Three prisoners were beaten to death at Buca Prison in Izmir in September 1995, and four prisoners died of beatings at Umraniye Prison in Istanbul in January 1996. Members of prisoners' families staging non-violent protests in sympathy with the hunger-strike have also been ill-treated and detained for hours or days. In China reports of prison conditions are even more gruesome. Human-rights advocates charge that the Chinese government is committing legalized murder to harvest body organs form healthy prisoners. In China, human organs have become merchandise available to the privileged. There is a great demand for human organs such as kidneys among high Communist Party officials, who receive faster and better-quality health care than do ordinary citizens.

According to published reports, by October 1994, 10,000 kidney transplants were performed in 90 hospitals throughout the country. About 90 percent of those kidneys came from executed prisoners. One Japanese patient admitted to paying $30,000 for a kidney. This is not a well-kept secret.

The supply of marketable human organs has been extended to Hong Kong and other countries. While alive, prisoners in China are in the labor camps being forced, in the name of reform, to create wealth for the nation. They reclaim wasteland, build roads, dig reservoirs, and manufacture products for export. When dead, even their bodies are used to make additional profits for the Chinese government. In Canada prisoners reported that they were denied access to lawyers, outside exercise, and for days at a time were not allowed to shower. Officials were also accused of using excess force and segregation.

Like most other countries around the world, Canada's prison system is overcrowded and maintains a violent environment. Few of the lessons learned in any prison are positive and most prisoners return to society in worse shape than when they went in. The lessons they learn in prison make them dangerous as well as dysfunctional. Prisoners around the world in tense and overcrowded penitentiaries live in an environment where a knife to the throat or a metal pipe to the back of the head is a socially appropriate response to an insult. People may be attacked for looking someone in the eye, glancing into someone else's cell, or taking too long in the shower.

Prisoners must be ready to defend themselves at all times and failure to retaliate will be looked at as a sign of weakness. They learn to make weapons out of toothbrushes, pens, chair legs, and other household objects. Universally, the best way to earn respect in prison is to act with extreme violence and get in the first blow. Guards reinforce many prisoners' belief that violence, intimidation and force are normal ways of dealing with problems. The prisoners know what lies in the system. For drug dealers, a prison system is a business opportunity.

When societies put their drug users in jails rather than treatment centers there will always be a demand for drug dealers in jails. Prisoners who are nonusers feel pressured to indulge so their peers don't suspect them of being informants. People tend to use hard drugs like heroin in prison because it metabolizes faster and won't show up as readily on a drug test. Heroin is plentiful but needles are scarce and are shared with as many as 15 prisoners. This causes prisoners to return to society with a heroin habit and a high risk of HIV infection. Prisoners around the globe are deprived of real opportunities for growth and change.

The idea of incarceration as punishment endangers us all. APPENDICES Any appendices should appear after the text of your term paper. BIBLIOGRAPHY Use the Bibliography Task Wizard to help you quickly and easily create a bibliography for your paper. Pick the same style as your footnote style.