Correctional Housing Assignments And Proper Offender Classification

Solitary confinement is a mandated arrangement set up by courts or prisons which seek to punish inmates by the use of isolated confinement. Specifically, solitary confinement can be defined as confinement in which inmates that are held in a single cell for up to twenty-three hours a day without any contact with the exception of prison staff (Shalev, 2011). There are several other terms which refer to solitary confinement such as, administrative segregation, supermax facilities (this is due to the fact that supermax facilities only have solitary confinement), the hotbox, the hole, and the security housing unit (SHU). Solitary confinement is a place where most inmates would prefer not to go.

Next, the use of segregation units is a necessary tool in a prison environment. The use of segregation is as old as the American judicial system. Though the units differ from one facility to the next, prisoners in a typical solitary confinement-like setting are locked in a cell for all but an hour a day, during that time they are allowed to exercise or shower. A segregation unit is often called "the hole". According to PBS, disciplinary segregation is supposed to be a short term process that lasts for up to 15 days(Childress). Although, most inmates are spending an extremely long amount of time in the hole. Being isolated for a long period of time can have long-term effects on the prisoners.

Maximum and Supermax prison is designed for full attention to security and surveillance. In these institutions, the inmate’s lives are organized into a militaristic approach to control the inmate’s movements, by limiting/eliminating situations that could lead to a breakdown in discipline like escaping, harming themselves, others and/or prison staff. The facilities have concrete walls that stand 20 - 30 feet high and have been sunk deep into the ground to prevent prisoners from tunneling. The fences are electrically charged and lined with barbed wire. Unlike medium and minimum facilities which can have multiple occupants to a room, max and supermax facilities can only contain one occupant because these inmates pose a threat to other inmates.

Classification is a key management tool that helps jail staff make educated decisions about inmate housing arrangements, custody levels, staff precautions, work assignments, and program involvement. The classification process begins with interviewing the inmate to determine the security level that best suits the inmate. It determines the best and safest housing for the inmate. Classification reassesses inmates after a brief time in incarceration to determine programs and privileges for the inmate. There are many goals and benefits in classification. Classification protects inmates from one another, weaker from stronger, mentally ill from heathier inmates. It also identifies and addresses security risk like contraband traffickers, gang members, and escape risk. Inmate classification also strengthens security, effectively uses resources, provides a platform for consistent decision making, improve efficacy and effectiveness, and reduces liability for jail. Classification procedures are basically the same the inmate is asked a series of questions about their lifestyle, criminal history, current charges, and gang affiliation. The inmate is also observed for behavioral and mental health problems during the classification. Based on the outcome of the interview the inmate is temporary housed to the best needs for the facility, and the inmate. The inmate receives orientation and a

Solitary confinement has had a long history in the American prison system. America is the first country to adapt solitary confinement into the prison regiment. Pennsylvania had the first special housing units for inmates or “SHU”. When Europeans came to America to look at the new model for prisons in Pennsylvania they wrote reports describing to the European parliament on how prisoners were treated like caged animals. Many of them quickly realized that this was not what prisons were set out to accomplish. The purpose of a prison is to rehabilitate criminals and bring them back into society as an individual that has the best mental tools and skills to make their respective communities better. Putting inmates in solitary confinement for more than 48 hours can only lead to awful emotional pain and mental problems which can result in self-destructive behavior to regain the self-control that is being deprived through this process of isolation and expulsion.

Solitary confinement is occasionally used in most prison systems as a means to maintain prison order. Mainly for disciplinary punishment, or as a place to put inmates that are at escape risk, or a risk to themselves and prison order. Sometimes inmates that are sex offenders voluntarily choose solitary as a means of protection from other prisoners. Sometimes solitary can be used to hold pretrial detainees to prevent them from messing with witness, so they can’t try and force a confession. For 23 hours a day inmates are confined to the barren environment that is their cell with high surveillance (Smith, Peter Scharff, 2006.) Inmates have no social contact. Visits and phone calls are infrequent and highly restricted. Visits sometime only take place via video screens. The physical contact one experiences is limited to the interaction with prison guards, weather it be putting on restraints or taking them off.

One major problem of prison overcrowding is the effect it has on prison organizational stability. The more prisoners and people put in jail have made it harder for prison guards and staff to monitor and control them. The entire prison system must make enormous changes in order to accommodate for the number of inmates versus the number of prison guards (O’Leary). This often results in a misclassification of offenders. Many who come through the system are classified based on the amount of space available instead of on the security level and programs that would be most suitable for them (Howard). “It is not uncommon to find inmates, classified as medium security, incarcerated in maximum security institutions, while other inmates are in medium security who were previously considered candidates for maximum security” (Howard). Misclassifying offenders often leads to “slow progress through the corrections system as well as a slow exit” (Howard). This in turn only prolongs and increases the overcrowding problem (Howard). The corrections programs should be reformed to meet the needs of the inmates rather than the inmates having to adjust to meet the requirements of the system. Offenders need to be on specific rehabilitation programs that are customized to fit their needs, such as alcohol and drug abuse programs and so forth.

Over the last couple of decades, prison systems have adopted the use of solitary confinement as a means of punishment and have progressively depended on it to help maintain obedience and discipline inside the prison structure. Solitary confinement is a form of incarceration in which a prisoner is isolated in a cell for multiple hours, days, or weeks with limited to no human contact. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the United States represents only 5% of the world's population yet houses 20% of the world’s prisoners (ACLU). Two of the biggest problems with our modern day criminal justice system is the overwhelming number of people that are incarcerated in the United States and the overwhelming number of convicts who return

Solitary confinement in America is becoming a big issue with the way humans are treated such as higher rates of insanity, higher risk for self-harm, inhumane treatment, no outside contact or contact with other beings and also this special unit is becoming over used across America. Solitary confinement or ad seg is the disciplinary unit in most prisons where the inmates are housed when those inmates get in serious trouble or those individuals are being protected from other inmates in the jail. This special unit in the jail is referred to as the ‘hole’, special housing, restricted housing and also administrated segregation to the jail staff. Ad seg is a single man jail cell usually 10 x 10 with one bed, a toilet and sometimes a little

Each type will have their restrictions, including the amount of time someone can be placed in confinement and what must be provided to the prisoners placed in solitary confinement. Emergency confinement states that a prisoner can be placed in confinement in any cell for no more than twenty-four consecutive hours and no more than forty-eight total hours in any fifteen-day period, with at least one hour of out-of-cell recreation for every twenty-four hours (LRS, 2017). Allowing this limitation on the length of time someone can be placed in solitary confinement will help avoid situations resembling the 16-year-old being placed in confinement allegedly for a total of 75 days locked in a room or in a padded celled with little human interaction (Anderson, 2017). Along with emergency confinement, short-term and extended segregated confinement regulations are also introduced through bill A.3080. “Short-term segregated confinement means segregated confinement of no more than three consecutive days and six days total within any thirty day period. Extended segregated confinement means segregated confinement of no more than fifteen consecutive days and twenty days total within any sixty day period (LRS, 2017). The implementation of the different restrictions towards on each type of confinement will help establish a system that will ensure prisoners are being treated

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Solitary Confinement is the confinement of a prisoner in a cell or other place which he or she is completely isolated from any and everyone. Merriam Webster also states that even some prisoners are held from 22.5 to 24 hours a day. Solitary confinement is sometimes referred to as isolation, segregation, separation, and cellular confinements so that it seems different from solitary confinement or too make it sound like a less harsh punishment. Solitary Confinement is a huge controversy in today’s society, although some might of forgot due to the fact that there’s an orange oompa loompa celebrity as our president, but this has been a problem since it was introduced in 1829. “In 1829, the first experiment in solitary confinement was at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. It was based on a Quaker belief that prisoners isolated in stone cells with only a Bible would use the time to repent, pray and find introspection.”(Timeline on NPR.org) A large population of people believe that solitary confinement is a violation against anyone 's human rights. On the other side of this argument, some people believe it is a necessary form of punishment and that it does not violate anyone’s human or constitutional rights. In my personal opinion, Solitary confinement violates both the 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article five of the Declaration of Human Rights. I don’t understand how isolating someone for that

The author starts by acknowledging just how many states have adopted the many strategies of reducing the amount of prisoners housed. The author argues that offender classification has been shown to be the key to successful correctional management. The author reviews five overcrowded prisons where classification procedures were abused and contributed to the harmfulness of overcrowding.

Solitary confinement is isolation from other inmates as a punishment for when you fight or get in trouble in prison. People Say that Solitary confinement is like being in a prison inside a prison, and that the second prison is the prison of your mind. “The worst scars are left in your mind,” they say. The prisoners that already have mental issues are put in solitary confinement more than non mentally challenged inmates. More than them simply because they have the issues and they can’t “act right” but how are they supposed to act right if they don’t know what acting right is.

For centuries solitary confinement has been around. According to de Merriam Webster Dictionary solitary confinement is: “the state of being kept alone in a prison cell away from other prisoners”. This method is used as a disciplinary action for prisoners who commit devastating crimes, put other people’s lives in danger, or for the protection of oneself. Being under solitary confinement requires to be kept 23 hours on a cell per day during the period of time estimated depending of the gravity of your fault. This means staying alone by you, not interacting with society.

The purpose of the ICC is to make proper housing assignments, change housing assignment for valid reasons, reassign inmates to the jail population when being released form disciplinary segregation and/or administrative segregation, place certain restriction on inmates such as staff escort and restraints, and remove inmate from participation in programs and recreation for a valid reason. The ICC can also recommend programs for inmates, especially in cases of inmate assignments to specialized programs or cellblock-based program such as therapeutic communities. The ICC can also review reports from the confinement staff and make recommendations to the jail command staff on the housing and conditions of confinement concerning an inmate.