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More often than not, if John Q. Public is asked the purpose or goals of our American correctional system the reply is incapacitation, retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation. However, what we are really asking for our corrections system to do is to secure and supervise the individuals cast out of society through the judicial process regardless of their individual needs and abilities. The purpose of this particular study is focused on the management of special needs inmates and the burdens incurred at various levels. For this study, special needs populations are defined as prisoners who exhibit unique physical, mental, social, and programmatic needs that distinguish them from other prisoners and to whom jail and prison management and staff have to respond in nontraditional and innovative ways (Schmalleger & Smykla 2013). The special needs populations included individuals suffering from mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and dependency, the elderly, sufferers of chronic and communicable diseases, and physical disabilities.

The inhumane conditions seen in state prisons today eerily mimic many of the same issues seen in state psychiatric institutions prior to the 1970s. These institutions sought to solve the problem off overcrowding by deeming many of them stable enough to leave, even though many of them were not. The patients were placed into group homes instead of hospitals. This caused an influx of people with mental health problems into a society where they could not function. Many of them inevitably ended up committing crimes, pushing them into the

Before the 1820s, most prisons resembled classrooms where inmates lived in large rooms together like a dormitory. The newer prisons of the era, like New York’s Auburn Prison, shepherded men into individual cells at night and silent labor during the day, a model that would prove enduring. Women at Auburn, however, lived in a small attic room above

Male prisoners also continue to make up the majority of the prison population. However, women prisoner rates have been on the rise and have exceeded that of male growth rates since 1995. In fact, due to the increase of the women prison population, various issues have arisen which require women to be treated differently from men. Such issues correctional facility’s face because of this increase include program delivery, housing conditions, medical care, staffing, and security (American Corrections, 2016). These problems are in part due to the different social and economic differences women are faced with in prison and while preparing for their release back to society.

Prison reform was a viable aspect of the Reform Movements in the 1800s. Reformers wanted to evidently punish prisoners but they also wanted to make sure they maintained a sense of humanity. They did this by reconstructing prison systems, seeking ways to treat the mentally ill and more. Document A highlights the importance of good treatment to prisoners in order for them to be rescued and eventually work to become viable members of society. This document

Providing legal services to underserved communities can be both challenging and rewarding. I anticipate such a career after graduating from law school. My upbringing and experiences influence my desire to serve rural areas with limited access to legal services.

By the end of the year 2013, California must reduce its state prison population by 46,000 inmates, which is at least 137.5 percent of its design capacity intended to hold 80,000 inmates only (Galik, 2013). With the staggering record of prison inmates, resources have become limited, creating a bigger concern for the health and safety of inmates and prison employees. If there are no solutions to reduce the prison population from overcrowding, one other major concern many people fear is the early release of serious offenders back into society.

After listening to and or reading the transcripts of Locked Down: Gangs in the Supermax by Michael Montgomery, one gets a glimpse of prison life, sociological issues inmates and staff face, and the subculture of prison life faced by staff and prisoners alike on a daily basis. However, instead of delving completely in to the situational circumstances of prisoner life, it is more important to understand the history of this Supermax prison and why it was constructed to begin with. Further, it is important to understand the philosophy of the need for the Secure Housing Unit, which is the most secure and isolated portion of Pelican Bay Prison.

After teaching Sunday school at a prison and seeing first hand the conditions, Dorothea Dix was appalled and wanted to know if the conditions were as bad at other prisons. What she found was that many prisoners were beaten, were housed in very poor conditions, and were not getting the help that they needed. It seemed that they were just locked away and largely forgotten by the public. Dix also noticed that it made no sense to lock someone up in debtor’s prison for a debt they owed but not allow them to pay the debt off while in prison. By this logic if you were ever imprisoned for a debt there was no telling when you would be able to be released, if ever. But what upset Dix the most was how the mentally ill were

I was born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland to William and Norma Marshall. My father was the grandson of a slave, who worked as a waiter at an exclusive club. My mother was a kindergarten teacher. Both set of my grandparents owned grocery stores, but my father wanted to be independent of them. Fortunately, my family and I enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class living. One of my father’s favorite pastimes was to listen to cases at the local courthouse before returning home. Then he would debate the lawyers ' arguments with my brother, William and me. I believed debating court cases with my father and brother sparked an interest in me becoming a lawyer. Also, my parents placed great importance on education, encouraging my brother and I to think and learn.

At the same time, the seeming success of the Elmira Reformatory led to recommendations that that success be more widely publicized. With greater publicity, came thousands of visitors to Elmira and other states began to call on their own prisons to be modeled after the Elmira Reformatory where inmates were “wisely and humanely treated” (Brockway, 2012, p. 238). The Elmira Reformatory was widely recognized as a “new departure in the treatment of adult male felonious prisoners” (Brockway, 2012, p. 242).

The women, who have all been sentenced to less than a year at Riker’s, attended biweekly lessons about parental discipline, communication skills and how to be positive role models in their children's lives. This was the first time the Osborne Association-run program, called FamilyWorks, has been open to female inmates at Riker’s. It's funded by the city Correction Department, the City Council and the federal government. For some, the voluntary course is an important step toward regaining custody of their children upon release from jail. For others, it's a chance to understand the impact their incarceration has had on their children.

These incarcerated or homeless people according to Fred Osher, another author from the New York Times, brings out that the number of these individuals, with serious mental issues, are up three to five times that of the general population of the country. In addition to this large amount of people, they no doubt need to be provided with treatment. And although this can be given to a degree in prisons, the individuals are often left untreated altogether or under-treated, because of lack of staff available to help, according to Jamie Fellner, author of How to Keep the Mentally Ill From Getting Behind Bars. Yet, these are the worst places for mentally ill persons. They need support from others, but cannot really get that in prisons, because it is meant for criminals, not sick people. Not only are prisons not made for these mentally weak persons, but prisons, according to Fellner, are the worst place for the mentally unstable. At asylums and other facilities there are some long term residents, who may have to live there for the entirety of their lives, yet not all of them do. This is coming from the first hand experience of Ann-Marie Louison, who worked as a social worker for a number of years in a state-run mental hospital, where residents were able to receive good care. Through the care given at these types of facilities people potentially can go back to living their lives normally, because they are able to receive

According to the prisons inspectorate, the ‘health’ of a prison should be measured according to safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement (HMCIP, 2013). Choose one of these factors, and using academic research to support your argument, discuss to what extent this represents a critical element of imprisonment in contemporary society.

Prisons have many policies set in place to help aid inmates’ with adjusting to prison life. No matter what policies are set in place to help aid inmates they will always have a hard time especially for first timers. According to Frank Schmalleger and John Ortiz Smykla (2009) new inmates face major problems because of the loss of liberty, lack of material possessions, the depravation of materials and services, the lack of heterosexual relationships, and feeling unsecured. I think that inmates can be helped with the adjustment process by initiating and enforcing a program to deal with such issues. I think I would eliminate policies that are designed to make prison life unpleasant and concentrate more on policies that help inmates progress in their educational and rehabilitation programs. One policy that is very important to inmates is to feel safe in their prison environment. As a result there have been many debates on the rights of the inmates. I think the most important policy I would enforce is educational programs that will