Jails And Prisons Similarities

According to statistical data found in the Bureau for Justice Records, there are a number of problems that most prisons in the country face. The records indicate that the number of adult federal and state inmates increased from `139% in `1980 to 260% (Walker, 1999). As a natural default, the United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. This in itself brings about one of the major problems that are faced in modern incarceration which is overcrowding in most prison facilities. The number of offenders in the country has increased rapidly over time while the country prison system has not really been able to cope with this rapid increase. Prisons intended for one or two inmates are now crowded with more than fifty individuals. Because of this most prisons are overcrowded and most of the facilities available are unable to cater for the needs of all the prisoners (Siegel, 2009).

The clear concise difference between a jail and a prison is the time limit a convicted person is sentenced to and what offenses were committed. In a jail, prisoners are usually confined because they were convicted of a lesser or petty offense. Examples of petty offenses are driving without a license or a misdemeanor drug possession charge. Most of these offenses come with a sentence of a

Prison is obviously not working on rehabilitating prisoners because there are prisoners who are released, but they don't return to prison. Yet, the majority of prisoners released do go back to jail. Criminals think they're not going to get caught or they're so emotionally desperate or psychologically distressed that they don't care about the consequences. To lower the recidivism prisons should offer real rehabilitation to prisoners. Criminals are not all waste people; most of them could just have haven a crisis that make them commit the crimes.

There are three models of prisons that have been prominent in American since the early 1940’s: custodial, rehabilitative, and reintegration. Each model is designed differently based on its overriding goal, and this affects the physical design, policies, and programs that are implemented within each of the models.

“In 2007, one percent of American adults were in prison, which is by far the highest incarceration rate in the world.”( Trachtenberg, B., 2009). Why? Trachtenberg believes it’s because prisons do not rehabilitate people. A violent criminal is sent to prison because he is a threat to society. He is supposed to serve a lengthy term so that he will learn his lesson and become a productive member of society. During his time there he is supposed to learn to appreciate work by cooking, doing laundry, or some other prison job. While he is there he can receive his GED so that he can get a job when he gets out. This plan has good intentions but it has been proven to be ineffective.

Explain how the mission of a jail is much more diverse than the mission of a prison. A prison has a mission and role that has to be played within society. Prisons are for criminals who have been convicted and have already been sentenced. The average stay is usually 33 months where they hold people for state or federal authority and, depending on the particular prison population being served and the capacity of any given facility, they serve to incapacitate, deter, rehabilitate, punish, and reintegrate (Stohr, Walsh, & Hemmens, 2013, p.81). On the other hand we have jails, which have existed much longer than prisons and as such has their missions been ever changing. As with prison, their mission is to incapacitate (even the un-trialed), to deter, to punish, and even to rehabilitate. However, a jail’s mission is much more diverse than a prison’s, especially today. Jails are typically local and/or community institutions that hold people

American prison system incarceration was not officially used as the main form of punishment in United States (U.S.) until around the 1800’s. Before that time criminals were mainly punished by public shaming, which involved punishments such as being whipped, or branded (HL, 2015). In fact, President Lincoln codified the prison incarceration system in the Emancipation Proclamation that indicated no slavery would take place in America unless a person was duly convicted of a crime (paraphrased) (White, 2015). In this era prisons were used more as a place where criminals could be detained until their trial date if afforded such an opportunity. However, one of the main problems with this idea was the fact that the prisons were badly maintained, which resulted in many people contracting fatal diseases. Yet, according to White (2015) unethical and immoral medical experiments were also conducted on inmates’ leading to health failures. Moreover, because everyone was detained in the same prisons, adolescent offenders would have to share the same living space with adult felons, which became another serious problem in that adolescent were less mature and could not protect themselves in such environments

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.

Prisons and jails hold some similar characteristics but are completely different models in which they serve in the criminal justice system. Some of the types of crimes that America faces today are: violent crimes, property, white collar or organized crime, and public order crimes (Worrall, 2008). The criminal justice system sets the regulations and policies of how an offender will be held accountable for their inappropriate actions. The criminal justice system is a process that takes time and money from society. The following information will briefly discuss the main purposes for the jail and prison systems, which will focus on the length of sentencing, funding sources, and private sector ownership. Let’s begin by explaining the length of

The state prisons today were founded on the basis of the 1700s to 1800’s during the Age of Enlightenment. The English correctional facility referred to as a “gaol,” commonly known as a jail. They housed men, women, children, the mentally ill along with the civil and criminals. The individuals suffered from idleness, diseases, despair and malnutrition. The gaols were maintained by local authorities, classification did not exist, and the purpose of gaol was to detain or hold people for court.

Prison life can be harsh, and time spent in a isolation is even worse. A majority of those in prison spend countless hours in idleness. It would be much better if they used that time to reeducate themselves for a productive life on the outside. Some of the prisoners have serious emotional and mental problems that are never addressed and it is illogical to not attempt to correct these problems before they are released.

Living in the prison system is no walk in the park. It is especially worse without there being rehabilitation programs put in place. There are many types of felons in prisons, and a lot of these felons are still continuing to partake in many types of misconduct while behind bars. Most of them are lying, stealing, cheating, conning, raping, and fighting. Many prisoners are also Smuggling in all kinds of contraband. Contraband are items that are illegally brought in the prisons such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, cell phones, and ect.. Some inmates are doing drastic criminal actions, like for example, there has been an incident where inmates held prison officials hostage in attempt to escape (explained by Hopkins in “Lockdown”, paragraph 3). Crimes like this happen in prisons because they think there are no other options.

     The idea of sentencing a criminal for a period of time in a prison isn't working, so prisons should focus more on changing their rehabilitation programs. Life in prison should be like the outside world as much as possible, given the fact of imprisonment. Prisoners would be less prepared if the prison environment is artificial and abnormal compared to the outside world they will have to encounter later on. A prisoner also needs to keep family ties. Research in

Some of the differences between jails and prisons involve the length of stay. Jails are designed for short term stays for individuals awaiting trials or individuals who will serve their misdemeanor conviction sentence in jail. Jails are run by local government agencies, like sheriffs and local law enforcement. Jails hold smaller numbers of individuals, than prisons. Jails run work lease programs, boot camps, educational programs, substance abuse programs and vocational programs.

It is no surprise that prison is supposed to be a place of punishment, where an individual is sent away to pay for their wrongdoings and reflect on their behavior and the harm that it caused others. Many people have this idea that they should rot in jail for the pain they have caused others and that they deserve this type of treatment. In some instances I agree with it to a certain extent but on the other hand it is useful to think about what causes these individuals to lead a life of crime in the first place and what could be done to help these people become better while locked up. Often times the same behavior that got these men and women into prison in the first place is continued while incarcerated. I think this is partly due to the fact that prison is better at punishing people rather than helping to rehabilitate them. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have certain classes and programs implemented in our prison