A Culture Of Injustice By Jerome G. Miller 's Article ' American Gulag '

Prisons hide prisoners from society. “If an inmate population is shut in, the free community is shut out, and the vision of men held in custody is, in part, prevented from arising to prick the conscience of those who abide by the social rules” (Sykes, 1958, 8). The prison is an instrument of the state. However, the prison reacts and acts based on other groups in the free community. Some believe imprisonment

When we think about prisons, jails, and courthouses, our minds are meant to draw a connection to cold, hard, justice and fair punishments for guilty and deserving parties. Yet, in our judicial and prison systems around the world, this idea is nowhere close to reality. From inhumane punishments, to mass incarceration, and “trapping” people in the system based on race or financial status, justice is far from being served.

Even though prisoners are incarcerated, they still are entitled to certain rights. There is a lot of debate about which rights prisoners should have because they can’t have too much freedom, and they also can’t have too little freedom. If inmates have much freedom, chaos would reign over the facility. No inmate would learn to truly change their ways and fit back into the community successfully. If too little freedom is given, inmates would be neglected and treated like animals. The perfect balance is needed to achieve a functional correctional facility.

According to the deputy director of the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, how does the growing number of prisoners reflect a human rights problem? “As many of the people caught up in the criminal justice system are low income, racial and ethnic minorities, often forgotten by society,”

It is obvious that there are several race disparities within the criminal justice system. For decades minorities (black Americans to be specific) have been subject to higher drug related arrest rates than whites, even though there is no evidence to show that black American use or sell drugs more than whites (Spohn & Belenko, 2015, p. 143) . You made a great point about the prison race population versus the overall race population of the United States. I too agree that since a majority of the population is white, majority of the prison population should be white. However, as we all know, that is not the case. According to research, black Americans constitute for roughly twelve percent of the American population, however practically

The first minorities that are often discriminated against are African Americans, more specifically, African American males. As of 2009, Johnson (2014) states that 39.4 percent of blacks represented the majority of the prisons (as cited in Bowman, 2014b, p. 324). According to Hartney and Vuong (2009), African Americans are more likely to get less favorable results than whites when it comes to the death penalty, prison sentencings, recidivism, etc. They’ve also stated that blacks are more likely to be sentenced to prison, while whites are sentenced to probation. Blacks are treated quite differently than the white inmates. Some studies have found that African Americans expressed great concern over the justice system, and have distributed their fear by becoming angry and hostile when they become incarnated, thus leading to more violent conflicts. Not only that, blacks are more prone to be viewed as intimidating by white prison employees, which is why most african americans are kept under surveillance besides the white and hispanic prisoners (Hawkins and Ross, n.d.). Prisons have also showcased different ways that African Americans are discriminated. A few examples are that white inmates were given better work tasks, while blacks were left with the custodian jobs. The prison system has also denied blacks of being able to transfer over to better housing and better tasks, which has led African Americans to complain about these discriminating acts (Hawkins and Ross, n.d.).

At one point the United States Court System paid no attention to inmate complaints and concerns. However, that changed when the Supreme Court took an interest in prisoner litigations. Lawmakers finally began to see inmates as American citizens who still were afforded certain liberties according to the United States Constitution. Once perspectives began to change about the prisoners and their rights, petitions addressing the violations of inmate’s civil liberties started to flood into the courts. The American court system is aware that prisoners do have some rights, but they would naturally be fewer than free citizens (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). The limitation of rights is mandatory to sustain security in prisons or jails. The federal government stepped in and

Within this paper, you will find a comprehensive review of the United States prison system, and why it needs to analyzed to better support and reform the people of this country. I plan to persuade the other side (politicians and society) into seeing that the way the prison system is now, is not ethical nor economical and it must change. We have one of the world’s largest prison population, but also a very high rate of recidivism. Recidivism is when the prisoners continuously return to prison without being reformed. They return for the same things that they were doing before. So, this leads us to ask what exactly are we doing wrong? When this happens, we as a nation must continuously pay to house and feed these inmates. The purpose of a prison needs to be examined so we can decide if we really are reforming our inmates, or just continuing a vicious cycle. What is the true purpose of prison besides just holding them in a cell? There must be more we can do for these hopeless members of society.

Equalizing the constitutional rights of prisoners and the functions of the jail or prison can create great strain on not only the correctional facilities’ staff but on the inmates as well. The treatment of prisoners is typically left completely to the prudence of prison administrators and other correctional officials. With that being said, this paper will discuss the differences between harmonizing those constitutional rights of prisoners and the functions of the facility. It will also explain the rights that prisoners are required to have, and how these rights are balanced within other aspects of the correctional institution.

The video “Life in a Supermax prison” depicts the life in a maximum-security prison. Suggests that the more dangerous the inmate is the less freedom and civil right will be granted to them. While prisons or prisoner with lesser offences and good behavior in some cases have more opportunities to exercise their rights. These aspects are different when regarding prison and jails in the earlier era, because all of the condition were harsh regardless of the offense in the earlier era. Life in prison consist of the deprivation of many rights and aspects to a health life mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically in earlier eras and in this day in time.

In many cases we are forced to believe that the prison system is fair and equal to all, although that may not be the case. The prison system at first glance seems fair and equal but after looking closer you will find many times it’s not fair at all. For example, “an African American male could spend more time in jail for possession of crack than a white man with the same amount of powder cocaine” (Harmon 372). This is just one example of how society has been taken advantage of in the prison system. Some people are subject to years in prison although they should not be while others enjoy life even though they should be in prison. The injustice in the sentencing of prisoners is an ongoing problem in society, as some criminals get of easy for horrible crimes others criminals suffer unfairly all because of color of their skin.

Although inmates may not have full Constitutional rights while incarcerated, they are entitled to basic human rights, freedom and dignity. U.S. penal systems have been reformed at the beginning of the 1960’s. The reason for this reformation is to prevent inhumane treatment, provide inmates with religious freedom, and due process (Smith, 2010). The U.S. Supreme Court

A prisoner’s right to have access to the courts is considered by most to be their most important right, “because it is the right upon which all other rights turn” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). Without this right, most prisoners would not be able to appeal anything or file lawsuits challenging poor conditions, policies, or violations of their rights (Carlton & Garrett, 2008). “These rights include the Eighth Amendment right to be protected against cruel and unusual punishment, the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law and to due process protections in prison disciplinary hearings” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008).

Inmates are being mistreated bad, and dehumanized. Also prisons are overcrowded and do not proved enough needs for inmates such as food, bed, and medical care. Important stakeholders such as the public, judges, and guards are important to taking a step further in solving the problem. They will use their voices for inmates. It’s important the Prison condition and treatment do not go unnoticed because inmates are people too, and they are part of our community that need our help. With the help of the public, spreading awareness, and protesting the government will help change the jail system. And Guards can step up new improve guidelines on how to deal with inmates

While lawful incarceration deprives prisoners of most of Americas Constitutional rights, they do maintain a few constitutional rights. Federal courts, while hesitant to impede with the internal administration of prisons, will interfere to rectify violations of the constitutional rights that prisoners are still entitled to. A prison guideline that oversteps on a prisoner’s constitutional rights is lawful only if it is reasonably related to the safety of the inmates or the rehabilitation of that prisoner.