Essay on Human Guinea Pigs: Prisoners

Imprisonment is one of the primary ways in which social control may be achieved; the Sage Dictionary of Criminology defines social control as a concept used to describe all the ways in which conformity may be achieved. Throughout time imprisonment and its ideas around social control have varied. Imprisonment has not always been used for punishment, nor has it always thought about the prisoners themselves. However when looking at imprisonment it is important to consider the new penology. Therefore, it needs to be clear what the new penology is. The new penology is said, not to be about punishing individuals or about rehabilitating them, but about identifying and managing unruly groups in society. It is concerned with the managerial

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.

During post-Soviet Czechoslovakia, people strove for control over their lives but rarely achieved it. In The Guinea Pigs by Ludvik Vaculik, Vasek Sr. tries to make a life for himself and his family. He has high hopes for them, and he thinks that they have a happy and prosperous life. However, a combination of circumstance and insufficient pay prevent him from doing things that he wants. As the novel progresses, the narrator feels like he has less and less control over his life until he tries to seize back control and ultimately fails. Vasek has so little control over his job at the bank that he buys guinea pigs in order to have something he can control. Despite the fact that he loves his family, Vasek’s lack of control in his job, leads to suffering for his family and his ultimate death.

For my analysis, I decided to read the 2006 book Punishment and Inequality in America by author Bruce Western. The book takes a look into the relationship among crime, incarceration, and inequality and what really connects them together. Western shows that although there was a decrease in crime rates about 20 years ago, the reason behind this decrease is not what it may seem and that the decrease may of even come at a significant cost to those effected by the prison boom. Through my analysis, I hope to explore and convey what Western has claimed and examine if his arguments hold truth or not in dealing with our prison systems. On top of this, I will attempt to connect a few theories we as a class have learned about throughout the semester to what Western has has claimed in his book.

Some basic prisoner’s rights are: freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, the right to communicate, and the right to medical treatment. Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment falls under the eight amendment. This right is tricky because there are different definitions of what falls under the category of “cruel and unusual”. For an act to be considered cruel and unusual it is usually thought to be inhuman with no doubt about it.

Whenever you imagine prison, you think up ideas and violent images that you have seen in the movies or on TV.   Outdated clichés consisting of men eating stale bread and drinking dirty water are only a small fraction of the number of horrible, yet “just” occurrences which are stereotypical of everyday life in prison.   Perhaps it could be a combination of your upbringing, horrific ideas about the punishment which our nation inflicts on those who violate its’ more serious laws that keeps people frightened just enough to lead a law-abiding life. Despite it’s success in keeping dangerous offenders off the streets, the American prison system fails in fulfilling its original design of restoring criminals to being productive members of society, it is also extremely expensive and wastes our precious tax dollars.

Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means

The author of Descent into Madness discusses how systems of criminal justice that engage in high levels of disorganization become nothing short of a breeding ground for discontentment among prison inmates. The other main point is that prison staff psychologically are hungry for power. This manifests in the myriad of ways that they treat the inmates in an effort to feel powerful through by retribution through their

Many individuals believe that the criminal system and its institutions are flawed. These critiques have been brought on by the ineffectiveness of prisons to reform individuals, the ineptness of the system to reduce crime rates, the lack of focus on victims of crimes, as well as the racist, classist and sexist practices existing in these institutions. Therefore, we can ask ourselves if the elimination of the current penal system and the implementation of alternatives would better allow

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,”

They need health care just like everyone else. There is a show called 60 minutes in. Where people offer to stay to see what jail is really like. It is an eye opener to me because the sanitary conditions were bad... People controlled who stayed where by a Pod boss instead of the guards which is a big issue. On one show that I had seen sewage was leaking in the cells and people where getting sick, One inmate was throwing up blood the nurse saw him for maybe a few seconds and called it a stomach bug. While we tend to view people in prison and jail as dangerous and threat to society it isn’t always that way. All people deserve

According to the article titled “Do Inmates Have Rights? If So, What Are They?”, “every inmate has the right to be free under the Eighth Amendment from inhumane treatment or anything considered “cruel and inhumane”. They should have this right because not all of them deserve to be treated poorly or be put somewhere inhumane.

Pigs are unable to move in their cages. The baby pig ears, tails are cut off and their teeth are chopped off to prevent them from harming other pigs. They are castrated without any pain killer. The baby pigs are given antibiotics to promote rapid growth. Their body grows, so fast, the legs become crippled. Many pigs are ill, but are kept alive to be shipped off to slaughter to get a profit. The pigs that did not make it to slaughter are shot with a gun to prevent them from eating the farmer’s feed. Pigs are abused by beating them with a gate rod to be moved from one place to another. Most pigs arrive at the slaughter lame or dead from the crowdedness during transporting. Pigs are electrically shocked to move on the killing floor of the slaughtering

or the same criminal behavior, the poor are more likely to be arrested; if arrested, they are more likely to be charged; if charged, more likely to be convicted; if convicted, more likely to be sentenced to prison; and if sentenced, more likely to be given longer prison terms than members of the middle and upper classes.1 In other words, the image of the criminal population one sees in our nation’s jails and prisons is distorted by the shape of the criminal justice system itself. It is the face of evil reflected in a carnival mirror, but it is no laughing matter.