In this section of his book “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison”, Michel Foucault describes the panopticon. This is an architectural design used in many prison systems. There is a central tower surrounding by a ring-shaped building divided into cells. Each cell has two windows, one facing the tower and the other on the outer side.…
Catherine Portacio Introduction to Constitutional Law Dr. Beahm In the United States alone there are just about 2 million people currently incarcerated; that is more than 20 percent of the entire global imprisoned population. Angela Y. Davis is a professor of history of consciousness at the University of California who shows, in her book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, how alarming the US prison system situation isn’t as old as one average individual may think. Just about 30 years ago the entire prison population stood nearly at 200,000 people in the US; that is a tenfold hurdle in just one generation. Davis started off by explaining the drastic change in the number of prisons built in California; 3 prisons were built between 1852 and 1952; from 1984 to the present, over 80 facilities were constructed which now house about 160,000 people.…
One could question whether these arguments are sufficient enough to justify this concept, then again, that is solely individualistic. In contrast, the arguments against this concept are many. Schwartz and Nurge, (2004) argues that the benefits of private prisons are hardly noticed, there are many unexpected long term costs due to factors such as recidivism, compliance of monitoring, legal factors and enforcement measures. According to Anderson (2009) employees at private prisons are very likely to have stocks invested in the company, which consequently, generates profit, which may affect their level of professionalism, which may be a disadvantage for the prisoners, by receiving additional to their sentence, due biased professionalism of correctional…
In the PBS film Prison State, filmmakers follow the lives of four individuals throughout incarceration in the Kentucky Criminal Justice system, as well as efforts made to reform the system and the effect on inmates. They also studied the impact of criminalization of Juveniles for minor crimes, and the incarceration of the mentally ill and drug addicted. Among the many staggering statistics revealed on the Kentucky Criminal Justice System in the film, was the amount spent on housing the growing inmate population. According to the film, the state of Kentucky’s spending jumped by 220%, about half a billion dollars, in housing inmates between 1999 and 2010.…
Bryan Stevenson, an established lawyer with a degree from Harvard Law School and an author of his own personal memoir titled Just Mercy, constantly battles the problems within the criminal justice system. In Stevenson’s memoir, he makes multiple arguments about the unfairness and the need for change within the criminal justice system. One such argument is that of individuals with mental health problems not being properly diagnosed during their trials, therefore receiving lengthy prison sentences such as life in prison. In order to convey his message about the neglect of the mentally ill in American prisons, Stevenson uses numbers, as well as stories that pull at the heartstrings of his readers. Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson’s memoir was written…
Health care professionals must place aside their personal feelings and provide professional care to incarcerated individuals, as…
In 1990, the federal government enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act statute requiring prison facilities to provide accessible and usable by persons with disabilities. The Standards of the American Correctional Association (ACA) published operational standards designed to enhance correctional practices for the benefit inmates, staff, administrators, and the public. ACA standards provide a guide in operating jails and prisons effectively as self-contained communities in which all necessary goods and services are provided in a safe, secure, and controlled manner. Last but not least is The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights striving to improve the health and human rights of criminal justice populations by effectively address the dimensions of public health and human rights crisis of the prison population into law, policies, and practices. One of their goals is to advance the continuum of health care for prisoners from admission through their release into the…
Pfeiffer’s article “A Death in the Box” discusses the unfortunate reality that the mentally ill are forced to face within the criminal justice system by detailing the life and tragic suicide of a young mentally ill woman named Jessica Roger. The article centers on the debate about the punishments given to mentally deficient inmates and reveals the main underlying problem the system faces in that “when people with mental illness end up in prison, the need to treat them collides with the need to keep prison order, and everything about the system favors the latter” (Pfeiffer 3). While maintaining order may seem to be more important at first glance, misinformation and improper treatment of the mentally ill inmates can lead to a worsening of the condition, behavior, or even physical and psychological harm to the people involved. Even worse that the neglectful actions the prisons exhibit when treating the patients, the disciplinary action enforced on those suffering from illness are unjust as the “mentally ill inmates are punished for exhibiting symptoms of illness that the system has failed to treat” (Pfeiffer 3). Therefore, not only does the criminal justice system neglect to provide the mentally ill with assistance and treatment, but also forces disciplinary action upon those they fail in the process leading to a population of mentally deficient inmates slowly having their life sucked away by a corrupt…
Disparities within prisons in the United States are seen among all levels. As a whole the United States alone makes up 25% of the worlds incarceration rates, 1 in 100 adults are incarcerated, these statistics create concern when researching the prison system. There are many disparities such as race, class, and gender and each of these disparities have numerous causes. The disparity within the prisons do not stop inside those walls, the disparity effects the inmate’s families and follows the ex-convicts into their post-prison life preventing them from making a smooth transition back into normal society. Prisons have levels of incarceration.…
It is distinct that sustained racial segregation worsens existing disparities and nurtures stern societal and pecuniary disadvantage. However, more vigorous implementation of state and federal housing laws can decrease the inequality amongst the minority and majority criminality rates. With such action, accompanied by eradicating civilization over use of penitentiaries to challenge societal issues, can considerable decrease the outcomes of the collateral penalties from imprisonment and forcible flexibility on people of color. Conversely, mass incarceration is not a resolution to redundancy, nor is it a resolution to the massive collection of societal issues that are secreted in a swiftly system of jails and prisons. Though, the great mainstream…
Living behind bars is never easy. It’s something that many people can’t handle. Living in a cell with nothing but a bed and a toilet is something many people couldn't handle. Prisoners have experiences that people would never want to endure and wouldn’t wish upon anyone else. There’s people who are living in overcrowded prisons, disabled inmates are being denied assistance and services for their disability, and mentally ill prisoners being mistreated and taking over prisons.…
The trend of neoliberalist policies in the United States, reducing government regulation while allowing private market interventions to replace these once powers of the government, has shown its effects unevenly to different groups in varying realms of life. Both Wacquant and Molina discuss policy implications with regard to the American prison system and to border control, respectively. Government reducing its effort on certain fronts and yet increasing them on others, seems neutral in theory but in reality, contains consequences, which are examined. A not-previously-seen increase in the rate of incarceration within the American prison system stemmed from a reduction in welfare programs, implemented across the board but disproportionally…
The sole purpose of prison is to punish criminals for crimes they have committed, protect citizens from crime, and rehabilitate those individuals to be honest, law-abiding citizens once they are released back into the public. Wilbert Rideau, author of “Why Prisons Don’t Work”, was in the Louisiana State Penitentiary and has first-hand experience with how the prison system works. Prison is the punishment, but the punishments within the prison are inhumane and ineffective. High re-offense rates show that the public is not being protected from criminals; nor, are they rehabilitating those individuals to be productive citizens. Prisons are harming the individuals inside of them more than helping, prisons do not work.…
A crime is something you can get incarcerated it for. Taking endlessly a man's freedom is the thing that isolates criminal behavior from illicit behavior. Furthermore, when the likelihood of going to prison is included, you have various sacred rights that you don't have when you're caught for a petty criminal offense, including the accompanying: The privilege to a lawyer. The privilege to a jury, which can convict you just if the proof is past a sensible uncertainty.…
Correctional officers are held legally responsible to analyze their prisoner’s mental health needs; which includes the delivery of medications, treatment, and other forms of therapy (Osher et al.). By refusing to comply with the law and neglecting to arrange mental health services to the mentally challenged during custody, the United States government has failed to protect and defend many of its citizens. Criminals with mental disorders may be as guilty as the convicted felon who committed first- degree murder, but they should be treated differently in the criminal justice system. For, they have the mental capacity of an ignorant child and their disorder should be accounted for when imprisoned. “Many individuals with behavioral health disorder under correctional control have diverse and complicated needs, but with appropriate supervision and services, they are capable of recovery and ending their criminal justice involvement” (Osher at al.).…