Evolving Perspectives On The Ethical Treatment Of Prisoners

The Abu Ghraib torture scandal left a large blemish on the occupation of Iraq and George Bush’s War on terror. As stories of the torture happening in the Abu Ghraib prison began circulating, American citizens had trouble comprehending the acts of evil their soldiers had committed on Iraqis. Some began to see a correlation between Abu Ghraib and the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. Though the guards in both situations were brutal to their captives, distinct differences lay in the severity of their actions. Abu Ghraib’s guards were much more vicious to their captives, and this can be attributed to the prejudices the guards felt against their captors, the environment, and the lack of training, compounded with a lack of accountability in the leadership.

A 2014 U.S. National Research Council reports discovered that in 2012, around one-fourth of the world's whole detained populace was housed in the United States. On a normal, 1 in every 100 Americans are in detainment facilities (Freudenberg, Daniels, Crum, Perkins, & Richie, 2005). One correctional facility practice has come under contemplation in recent years because of the separation of prisoners into special management for the purposes of severe punishment. It is commonly known as solitary confinement, segregation, isolation, and special management. This practice frequently involves sending prisoners in small, confined (precisely a box) for months, or even years. Long-haul detainment as an option apparently is more sympathetic sentence for detainees who have carried out terrible wrongdoings, and may not be considerably more caring than capital punishment. Turns out that keeping prisoners imprisoned in isolation for long-haul sentences can have genuinely harmful impacts on prisoners.

Name: Lecturer: Course: Date of Submission: Mass incarceration in American Prisons Introduction More than 2.3 million Americans today are prisoners, a population that represents more than a quarter of the number of prisoners in the world. This means that 760 Americans in one hundred thousand are prisoners in America (Detotto and Pulina). The rise in prisoners’ numbers has sharply risen since 1980 with the cost of maintaining the prison going to over four hundred percent within the same period.

This book is contains information on how detainees are treated in prisons created by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Some of the prisoners did have felonious conviction and were to be deported. Nevertheless, many of the individuals interrogated were immigrants looking for refuge and were being held in prisons as if they were also offenders. The obnoxious management described in this source anticipates demonstrating how non-citizens have been assumed to be lawbreakers.

The United States is one of the largest countries in the world so high incarceration rates are expected. However, this rate has drastically increased in the past forty years, surpassing those of countries such as China, which has a population four times larger than the United States

The ethical treatment of prisoners is a surprisingly contentious topic, considering how much is known about the conditions and contexts in which human beings function optimally, both physically and mentally. However, ethical discussions frequently have very little to do with what best allows human beings to thrive and function, but instead concern themselves with formulating rules and standards of acceptable behavior, usually out of the mistaken belief that these rules or standards represent some kind of objective, universal ethics. A problem arises when dealing with prisoners, because in many people's minds, the crime or offense of which a prisoner is accused warrants the denial of a certain subset of their rights, but there is not universal acceptance of which rights may be denied and to what extent, due to a disconnect between different modes of ethical thought. Believing in objective, universal ethical standards actually means that anything is justifiable; because these imagined objective standards do not actually exist, people are free to imagine them however they see fit. More utilitarian ethics rooted in conceptions of the social contract are far more useful for determining social policy, because they do not purport to represent objective ethical standards; rather, they acknowledge that ethics and morality are socially constructed, and as such they seek to rationally determine the best practices for achieving any particular goal. By examining two especially

America has the highest rate of incarceration per capita of any other industrialized nation. That is an amazing fact. Don’t believe it? Then do some research. The World Prison Brief, a database hosted by the International Centre for Prison Studies, provides an online table* that list the world’s prison population broken down by nation. With a total population of over 320 million, the U.S. ranks at 698 prisoners per 100,000 people. That beats just about every nation in the world, including China and Russia combined.

The United States is the world leader in both positive and negative arenas. As a nation, we are leading the world in the number of incarcerated individuals. While the ethnic composition of each state will vary, documentation shows that “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 % the imprisonment of whites.” (Nellis, 1) Consequently, most sentences are issued at the state level and not the federal level. In our attempt to be tough on crime and rid our nation of her drug problem and criminal action, we have created a new more pressing issue, an unethical system of law and society.

Inmates held in the United State’s prison system face critical exposure to numerous violations of their basic human rights. Abuses of power present themselves in a myriad of ways, including; the unregulated approach in which prison facilities enforce solitary confinement, the misuse of “compassionate release” policies and the judicial system’s wrongful imprisonment of individuals suffering from mental illness and, or mental disability. In most cases, prisoners will experience at least one, if not all, of these disparaging interactions during incarceration. Without federal regulations demanding system accountability, the unjust applications of physical violence, non-lethal weaponry and and needless use of excessive force will continue to take place.

Many of today’s prisons employee a large number of female corrections officers. Unfortunately there still remains a stigma when it comes to women working in close quarters of male inmates. Upon first consideration the problem that comes to mind is that female corrections officer lacks the ability to handle or control unruly male prisoners. As this proves true in a recent situation in were a female corrections officer was brutally beaten by inmates. Officer Benavidez of the Arizona State Prison Complex was brutally attacked by two prisoners. Investigating Officials believe Officer Benavidez was targeted in retaliation by inmates due to a tip she provided, leading to the discovery of a hit list and drugs. The report claims she was quickly over

A culture of injustice combined with racism and religious discrimination has left the prisoner’s rights forsaken. As these matters get more serious, prisoners are having their rights taken away from them. Even the most corrupted inmates have the right to be free from discrimination while imprisoned. Held in conditions that threaten their health and safety, these inmates’ rights are being violated without people’s knowledge. With so many of the world’s population being behind bars, it is essential that they should not denied from their basic human rights. As known, being a convicted prisoner inherently means that one may lose certain constitutional freedoms, however prison officials cannot easily restrict anything they want.

The article “Why Guantanamo Bay must be closed for good” by Jonathan Russell denotes the existence of Guantanamo Bay, a maximum security prison off the coast of Cuba. Russell begins by saying that Guantanamo Bay is ineffective because it does not prevent terrorism in other parts of the world. In fact, the existence of Guantanamo Bay fuels terrorist to carry out more terrorist attacks as an act of defiance. Additionally, most people who go to the prison do not get the right to a fair trial as guaranteed by the fifth and sixth amendments. The prison is notorious for its torture of its prisoners. Prisoners face waterboarding, electric shocking, sexual humiliation and are even deprived of sleep. The torture is supposed to make prisoners reveal

Not only are the prisoners abused and neglected but they are also isolated for most of the time they serve. Along with the abuses already listed, they deny medical and family visits, food, and pay for prisoners (“Background Note: Cuba” 6). The people of the United States may find out about these horrid interrogations, they have much more to learn. Many people are shocked to find out the Pentagon has denied claims of any abuse in Guantanamo, although the people at the Pentagon admit to finding cases of the torture (Ardiente 2). To authorities this scheme acts as a minor problem, and it’s apparent they aren’t making it as much of a concern as they should. Techniques for interrogation were considered to be life threatening conditions that should not be tolerated by any presidential administration (Woodward 1). Detainees’ had no trial and no charges to bring to court so they went on many hunger strikes to protest (“Guantanamo Bay” 3). As a response to the prisoners’ hunger strikes, the American officials made the detainees undress completely, and they force fed them (Greenberg 5).

Guantanamo Bay, though started with good intentions, only highlights America’s negative side. Marine Major General Michael Lehnert, who played a significant role in the opening of Guantanamo, has drastically changed his opinion and said that it, “Validates every negative perception of the U.S.” (Sutton 1). One example of this occurred in 2006, when President Bush justified the use of “physical coercion” (torture) during interrogations (Fetini 1). Some of these torture methods include isolation, beatings, sleep deprivation, and general abuse. Other tactics such as disrespect for Islamic symbols or sexual provocation are used to encourage stress in detainees (Bloche 1). These immoral methods led to an international outcry. It was later remarked that the Cuban territory upon which Guantanamo is located is being used as a “concentration camp” of sorts (Fetini 1). Guantanamo and its unethical values are being recognized by nations around the world, displaying America in a bad light.

In the United States, one of the major methods in obtaining crucial information has been through the use of Guantanamo Bay. While many have condemned of the torture that is believed to occur there, not only does Guantanamo Bay comply with national and international standards, but it also complies with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (Meese 1) which states