Prisons: Rehabilitation And Imprisonment

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

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

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

     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

There are three main purposes of the prisons, these are punishing the offenders, protection of the population from the offenders and rehabilitating the offenders. Punishment is seen as the most obvious intention of the correctional system for the people who have been found guilty of crimes. Theoretically speaking, this is supposed to act as a way of deterring one from repeating a particular criminal activity and it is also intended to serve as an example to other people as to why they should avoid any form of criminal activity. Incarceration is an example of punishment in the correctional systems, on the other hand death penalty and other lesser penalties like probation are meant to be punitive.

Prisons have barbaric beginnings from the medieval dungeon and torture chamber in the late 18th century. They have always combined punishment with rehabilitation. The only difference is the way in which they are punished. French philosopher Michel Foucault said, “Punishment has changed from disciplining of the body to disciplining of the soul”. In 1779 the British government agreed to the Penitentiary Act which

In the study they defined a prison as a physical structure in a geographical location where a number of people, living under highly specialised conditions, utilize the resources and adjust to the alternatives presented to them by a unique kind of social environment (p88, 1954). In prisons the inmates are assigned numbers which becomes their primary identity in the sense that they are referred to by that number and no longer by their names. All their personal possessions are taken away. They are required to wear uniform and are given plates, glasses and other things, from the prison itself. Prisoners are supposed to follow a daily schedule and even are assigned jobs.

The failure of imprisonment has been one of the most noticeable features of the current crisis in criminal justice systems. At best, prisons are able to provide a form or crude retribution to those unfortunate to be apprehended. At worst, prisons are brutalizing, cannot be shown to rehabilitate or deter offenders into society. If anything, American prisons are not fulfilling their purpose.

Prisonization is a prison model that discuss the process on how the inmates learn the customs of prison life and the culture. Prisonization is also the process of been more socialize into a stable status that allows the prisoners to become more adapt to their environment. Some prisoners ended adjusting to prison life by engaging with other prisoners and learning the lingo inside the prison doors. Prisoners can pick up other bad habits such as homosexuality, gambling, inmates can also develop bad attitudes towards other inmates and guards. Prison Culture is another model that focuses more on the prisoners attitude that are developed among inmates in order to protect themselves within the prison for survival. Deprivation is a model that discuss

The modern prison system was established first in Europe, late in the eighteenth century. The concept of the prison as a penitentiary, a place of punishment and personal reform, was advocated in this period by the English jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham, among others (Coyle). This led to the establishment of the first penitentiaries in the United States in both Pennsylvania and New York early in the nineteenth century. Ever since their creation

During the 1970s many saw a change in the history of prisons with a transformation of penal and sentencing policies that resulted in mass incarceration in the United States (Prison history, 2015). We have witnessed the change from the old days up until now, but the prison system is a work in progress we find many that still engage in inmates working on farms, and some doing hard labor. In the early day's crime was sinful, today we consider crime as a social problem. Where the existence of jails has always been there very few were imprisoned. Prison history has changed over the years and will continue to change as society change, how we make this system better is a question for officials and

The completely inhumane and shocking state the early prisons were in, was revealed to the public by the prominent prison reformer, John Howard. His book, The State of Prisons, was a detailed record of his observations on the conditions of most penal institutions around Europe. He illustrated how, “the conditions in prisons were surprisingly uniform, but uniformly bad.” Its publication in 1777 was the first major effective instrument in the cause of penal reform. The locals aided in initiating the movement and by 1780s prison state was in the political light first in England and eventually became a major political matter to all western societies. The movement resulted in a significant reform of rules and development for coherent philosophies

Prisons, a concept that is considered normal for society today. People serving time for acts of crime they have committed. The idea of prisons has been around since 1750 B.C. It all started with the Code of Hammurabi, using the punishments to redirect the people to how society wanted. Fast forward to the 1600’s when people were given a choice, die or get on a boat to go to an uninhabited island to live out their life. Then even further in time to today. The death penalty is being taken away, cruel and unusual punishments are banned, and the quality of our nation’s correctional facilities are considered some of the worst in the world. There are many things that make our facilities seem so dreadful and corrupt. Some say that. Others say the fact that some prisons are run for profit ruins the system. But the main one we all hear about is overcrowded prisons. The stuffed prisons can cause problems for everyone.

Prisons and jails are both referred to as incarcerations. A prison is where people get physically confined and lack personal freedom, and also those awaiting trails and those serving a term exceeding one year are confined here, while a jail is where inmates are housed prior to their trials on local level and those serving a term of one year or less. The society is protected from the offenders by them being confined in prisons, where their behaviors can be monitored, or they can be placed in community-based facilities which are secured and also offer an opportunity for the prisoners to acquire skills and knowledge through work related activities. The jail on the other hand serves the purpose of detaining law offenders of which they shall

There was a time when criminals could anonymously wander within the populous and commit crimes, without getting caught or getting severe punishments. Now, with the idea and creation of prisons, the ability to lawfully punish criminals exists. The innocent are now safe. But is modern prison truly beneficial? London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, is known as the birthplace of modern imprisonment (“History of Prisons”). Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher that was highly against the idea of the death penalty, created a concept for a penitentiary that would be used to detain criminals as prisoners as a form of punishment. By the 19th century, Jeremy’s concept became a reality and prisons were being built for the sole purpose of