Comparing Running A Prison As The Warden And The Constitutional Rights Of Inmates

Most people are aware that prisoners possess zero authority in the prison system. They have no control over any aspect of their daily lives, but instead they are minded by prison jurisdiction. Prison guards and wardens possess the power to do anything that they please within those brick walls. This is an issue that society has been aware of for many decades; however, there has been little to no effort to change the conditions. Many prisoners have sought to inform society of how these prison authority figures abuse their power by producing many different types of media. One of those individual’s is the poet, and former prisoner Carolyn Baxter. While being incarcerated in the New York City women’s correctional facility, Baxter wrote a poem entitled 35 Years a Correctional Officer. In this poem she expresses the motif of power by telling the story of a correctional officer who was in fact abusing her authority to satisfy her own needs. Baxter reveals this motif by cunningly using the literary elements of situational irony and tone.

Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakers to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders.

All of the twenty-four amendments are designed to protect the citizens of the United States no matter if they are in prison or walking around free every day. Although, prisoners only still have a limited amount of rights while incarcerated they still have rights that must be followed or allowed to them because if they are not given to

American prison systems encompass all three spheres of criminal justice: law enforcement, judiciary, corrections. Within this system, a massive problem exists. America is known as the “mass incarceration nation” (Hamilton, 2014, p. 1271). Comparatively, the United States encompasses the majority of global prisoners, yet the population is nowhere near that proportion. Just how “free and equal” is this system? Since Gideon v. Wainwright, the racial divide in the criminal justice system has grown, which is contradictory to its intentions. The American criminal justice system has failed to provide the justice and protections it promises. There are many injustices caused by the mass incarceration of American citizens, especially those of minority descent. More harm is done by incarceration to the individual, their community, and the nation, than if other forms of justice were used. The criminal justice system is divided, with racial and income disparities defining the nation in way never intended.

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.

Also, inmates have the right of the First Amendment such as freedom of speech or press, the right of the people peaceably to assemble, establishing of religion and redress of grievances. Because of the preferred position of this amendment, it is surprising that some of the early prisoners’ rights cases concerned rights protected by it consist of access to reading materials, and freedom of religious practice, according to the book.

By 1970s the federal judges made changes on prisons and jails throughout nearly every state. The changes such as law libraries, legal assistance, communication to the outside is easier, religious rights are protected, inmate complaints, and due process rights are now all being emphasized. With a big change that no one knew how it could work is inmates in solitary confinement now suffer less neglect than before. From the huge threat of lawsuits and public exposure placed mostly in the correctional bureaucracy on higher guard. Wardens now refrain from the traditional disciplinary actions which may cause a judicial intervention. From this change, it has brought in improved management, new administrators and reformulated policies. The impact of the extension of rights has not been measure, but former evidence shows courts decisions have brought a broad effect. In O’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, the court had ruled that Muslims should be granted the right of free exercise to practice their religions. Hudson v. Palmer, had noted that the protection from search and seizures had not applied within the confines of the prisoner’s cell. Rhodes v. Chapman when two inmates are put in a one-person cell this could be seen as cruel and unusual punishment. In Wolff v. McDonnel this had extended out certain due process right giving more procedures when in prison. All these decisions helped out a prisoner and as well correctional staff as it brought prisoners protection. It gave the staff

The Corrections In America of our course explains that Wardens are also known as superintendents. Is considered Wardens is the Chief Executive officer of the prison. “ The warden’s primary responsibility is to mange the operations, supervisory staff, support staff, and inmates.” (Allen, Latessa & Ponder, 2014, p.160). The warden also has assistants that are known as deputy wardens. Like in any other job (more like supervisor) each oversees a different departments within the correction facilities. For example one deputy warden handles the management department, custody, another industry and one for treatment programs.

The prison or corrections hierarchy could also be thought of as a chain of command. The chain of command in a corrections institution establishes the responsible person next in line for a corrections officer to address his or her issues and concerns. The command structure of a correctional institution is similar to the ranks and configuration found in a police department; however, different titles may be used to describe various ranks (Perez & Moore, 2012). In similarities to a police organizational structure, the correctional structure has evolved tremendously throughout the century. Recall Sir Robert Peel’s vision of a professional police organization and compare it today’s professional law enforcement organizations in the United States.

Title: The Prison Industry in the United States: An Odd Form of Protection of Human Rights

The ways of old where a warden or corrections administrator stayed away from the outside world and ran their institutions like their own kingdom do not exist anymore. “A greater emphasis on democratic values, prison effectiveness, and social expectations regarding imprisonment aims has forced prison officials to change how they lead and manage their prisons (Stojkovic, 2010, p. 1488). What ties all of this together is prison oversight and political interest, which will be the basis for prison management and leadership during this century (Stojkovic, 2010). If administrators do not learn how to adapt to these changes, they might find themselves out of a job or worse.

As the United States is confronted with the fallout of mass incarceration, the need for competent correctional personnel to ensure public safety and see that other staff and inmates are safe is of great concern. The prison administration staff is composed of employees who perform a public service of high risk and importance for safeguarding the civil society. However, the roles of prison facilities have drastically changed over the years and they are now no longer regarded as mere custodial institutions. The natures of these institutions have thus shifted from custody to training, education and the rehabilitation of prisoners. The new prison administration is expected to perform medium complexity activities that involve planning, organizing

Every person is born with certain rights that are granted or guaranteed to him or her by the Constitution of the United States of America. These rights cannot be taken away or infringed upon by anyone…or so one would believe. There are certain circumstances when these rights can be restricted. One of these circumstances is when an individual makes the decision to break a law and they are sentenced to jail or prison. There is a fine balancing act that must be walked when keeping a persons rights intact and also doing what is best and safest for the institution. Even in prison there are rights that cannot be restricted at all (these will be explained later in the paper). There are guidelines that every prison or jail staff member must fallow to protect themselves, the prisoner’s and the security, safety, court requirements, visits, and other functions of the facility.

There are many differences between leadership and management styles. Leadership should not solely be confined to one particular style. An effective leader moves from one style to another based on the situation. Thus, being an effective warden requires a broad collection of leadership styles based on his or her institution. Many prisons are run using the authoritarian leadership due to the type of facility they are running. These three styles all have their uses. As a warden it is important to evaluate the situation and then determine the style that best suits the

Dignity is often defined as an individual’s deservedness to be respected and treated humanely, as an individual possessing worthiness at the most general level. From my perspective, dignity is the nourishment and affirmation of one’s self-worth; in other words, fuel that every human possesses and should have preserved to remain fully human. However, prominent 19th century social reformers like Jeremy Bentham were critical of the notion that prisoners ought to possess declared rights. Bentham thought it was naïve to reason that declared rights could exist outside the law, and his criticism derives from a theoretical commitment to a system where law, punishment and proper government are erected through legislation. Conversely, today our corrections system is aiming at focusing more so on human dignity than in past years. In Brown V. Plata, Anthony Kennedy reasoned that dignity should be the foundation of our American Criminal Justice system. As I will discuss in the following paragraphs, Brown V. Plata has allowed for a number of substantial improvements in the moral and ethical treatment of incarcerated individuals. Additionally, I will interpret the view of human dignity throughout early and modern America by offering a critical analysis on felon disenfranchisement, solitary confinement, and the supermax in Modern America.