George Lambardi Prison Summary

In the lecture given by Mr. George Lambardi there was a great deal of talk of how the number of prisons in Missouri have continued to increase and his work as the Department of Corrections director. Through the talk that Mr. George Lambardi made I was able to see how the mitigating factors leading to increases in the prison population and the efforts of those working within the prisons to help prisoners were both related to different interpretations of what the social institution of the justice system was supposed to do those that had broken the law. Also, the lecture could interpreted through the lens of conflict theory between those in power, the legislative and judicial sentencing members, and those in the out-group, current and former inmates. One interpretation of the role the social institution of the justice system should have towards prisoners is to simply punish them and this may be one of the reasons that the number of prisons continues to rise in Missouri. For those who believe that prisoners, who have violated the mores of society, should be greatly punished for their wrongdoings. As George Lombardi talked about, the bias that the public has about offenders has led to an increase in mandatory minimums which leave people in prison for extended periods of time without a …show more content…
Lambardi gave was informative on the reasons for the increasing prison population and how improvements were being made in the Missouri prison system. Through his lecture I was able to make connections to the idea of the social institution as many believe that the justice system should play the role of punishment whereas there is now a push by some for the justice system to work towards reforming those who break the mores of society. I also felt that this lecture could be looked at from the perspective of conflict theory as those who pass legislation and dole out sentences have power over the convicts and the two groups often clash with each