Prison Is The Most Common Form Of Criminal Punishment

The delivery of punishment has changed significantly over the centuries. Up until the 19th century in England, imprisonment was not regarded as a punishment, it was merely used while the offender waited to be sentenced to their ‘real’ punishment (Bull, 2010; Hirst, 1998). Corporal punishment such as flogging, branding and mutilation, death by hanging, and transportation to other continents such as America and Australia were common punitive measures through the ages, until well into the 1800’s (Newburn, 2003). Although these extreme penalties are no longer acceptable or practised by criminal courts in England or Australia, in some ways, the past has

There are five state prison systems in which exist in today's penitentiary systems and they are maximum-security prisons, close-high security prisons, medium-security prisons, and open security facilities. Variations between these five systems are common and uncommon because in a

One of the many things that has been highly controversial and still is to this very day is how to properly punish and treat criminals. Here in America we now have the Eighth Amendment to protect us from cruel and unusual punishment. This was based off of a Parliament Act of 1689 that created England’s Bill of Rights. Before England had come up with the idea that humans should have guaranteed basic rights, it wasn’t a matter of whether or not a criminal would die, as much as it was a matter of how they would die. Torture devices such as the guillotine, the stake, the brazen bull, and the rack were used to spread the idea of fear and punishment that was ineffectually used by leaders to try and control their people throughout the history of Europe.

The concept of the prison has existed for more than two thousand years. It probably goes back as far in time as practice of cannibalism, where victims had to wait for their turn in contributing to the chief course in the menu of their captors. Examples of prisons can even be found in the Old Testament when Joseph was incarcerated in Egypt. It was not until the 19th century that a clear shift occurred from corporal punishment to imprisonment. As societies prospered and the industrial revolution began, the formal prison system, as we know it today, developed. Throughout most of the world, the correctional system is administered by the state, and it is considered a key function that the government must fulfill: protect its citizens by

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

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

These categories are maximum, medium and minimum custody. The maximum-security prisons are the ones where they buildings have high fences, with gun towers and different fences between the cement fences for make it harder to the inmates to escape from prison. The maximum-security prisons have some characteristic like “secure cells, armed guards and technology such as electric perimeters, laser sensors, electric locking system, metal detectors, X-ray machines, video surveillance”. (schmalleger, 2016). All this security helps to decrease the rate of inmates that attempt to escape from prison. In the maximum-security prisons we found the more dangerous inmates or the inmates that are waiting for their death row. Most of the inmates spend more of the time in their cell. They have probably like one or two hours to do some activities outside their cell, a perfect example of this are the inmates that wait the death row” they spend most of the time in their cell, they are highly surveille, even when they take a shower they have guards for close supervision” (schmalleger,

     A prison is an institution for confining and punishing people who have been convicted of committing a crime. A prison is supposed to punish criminals by restricting their freedom of where they can go, what they can do, and with whom they may associate. In America, 1.1 million

For centuries governments have acted on behalf of society removing and punishing criminals with the goal of protecting its citizens. Criminals were arrested and locked-up in jails awaiting their sentencing. Once sentenced, they were publically humiliated, tortured, or killed. Early forms punishments were cruel and mostly focused on retribution.

With the exception of probation, imprisonment has been the main form of punishment for serious offenders in the United States for over 200 years. Americans can be said to have invented modern incarceration as a means of criminal punishment. Although Europe provided precedents, theoretical justifications, and even architectural plans for imprisoning offenders, Americans developed the blueprints for the typical prisons of today and devised the disciplinary routines, types of sentences, and programs that prison systems of other countries subsequently adopted or modified (Rafter & Stanley 1999).

Wallace Stegner once said, “Nothing in our history has bound us to a plot of ground [since] feudalism once bound Europeans” (Stegner 301). The only exception is being imprisoned. For those who brake society’s set laws, “Prisons and their many variants are built environments whose intended purpose is punishment, deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation” (Awofeso). Prisons began to be more widely used because the early Catholic Church disapproved of physical punishments. In 1298, Pope Boniface VIII authorized that incarceration and lack of liberty will take the place of the “eye for an eye” way of settling disputes previously employed (Awofeso). Today,

Prison is an institution for the confinement of persons convicted of criminal offenses. Throughout history, most societies have built places in which to hold persons accused of criminal acts pending some form of trial. The idea of confining persons after a trial as punishment for their crimes is relatively new.

Jails have no such facilities as compared to prisons. The convicts have access to food and water, bathing facilities, there are also socialization places which are restricted and the security is not as tight as that of prisoners, (WiseGeek, 2003).

Fear of jails and prisons is instilled in us from a young age. We are supposed to learn the common sense between right and wrong behaviours to avoid living our lives incarcerated. Throughout this paper, I will discuss several aspects of our criminal institutions. With the help of the documentaries Miami Mega Jail and Behind Bars in San Quentin both by Louis Theroux, I will go into details about the remove, punish and rehabilitate method, the details of the inmate society and if the public is safe from these criminals once they are released.

When an individual is introduced to the prison life, after violating rules and laws, he or she must come to terms about the journey he or she are about to take behind bars in prison. No one can save them, or do their time for them, and a majority of their freedom has been stripped from them either temporarily or permanently. Prison life deals with all walks of life and is not discriminative toward any race. In this paper I will discuss my perspective on prison life, policies I would enforce an inmate’s need for respect, changes on correctional policy, and why people commit crimes.