Summary: The Role Of Contraband In Prisons

A private prison or for-profit prison is a place in which individuals are physically confined or incarcerated by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate, either for each prisoner in the facility or for each place available, whether occupied or not. Such contracts may be for the operation only of a facility, or for design, construction and operation. (Wikipedia)

Passing through security, there’s a handoff of cocaine, heroin and electronics to prisoners’ in exchanged for thousands of dollars. Inside, guards “stash” prearranged delivered packages in bathrooms and storage closets. Correctional officers become a middleman between inmates to their outside contacts who provides the illegal cellphones and drugs. Many inmates trade sex with prison guards in exchange for the illegal exports.

The scanner is used to scan paper documents and put them onto the computer so

Scanners: They are used to convert a document or image into an electronic file that can be used and stored on a computer, Sometime scanners are part of a printer but usually scanners that are the most efficient are small scanners that can be attached to a computer through an USB cable they can scan single sided or double sided documents very fast. They can scan in colour or in black and white. Scanners are essential when a company needs to keep hard copy of their files in law firm in a medical environment or in an accountancy department.

After viewing the documentary: America's War on Drugs - The Prison Industrial Complex, it is clear that the Criminal Justice System is in desperate need of reconstruction and repair with policies such as the mandatory minimum sentencing act which has proven to be unsuccessful and unjust in its efforts to deter 'criminals from committing illegal acts' as seen with the increase of incarcerations of the American people and the devastating effect it has had on those in prison and the family members of those incarcerated.

In 2011, I spent time serving in prisons with a church organization who’s goal was to change the systemic problems within the prison system. This caused me to examine all aspects of inequality and oppression that disproportionately affects people of color.

By reducing the number of low-risk parolees returning to prison for technical violations of their parole, intermediate sanctions can be implemented rather than a costly return to prison. This can reduce overpopulated prisons by several thousand. Public-private partnerships can also be used to address the cost-effectively of overcrowding problems. As a result, many states are adopting improved probation and parole programs with assessment tools. These reform programs allow state's policy to execute probation violations to result in immediate but small consequences, such as a two-day stay in jail. New technologies also present opportunities to use alternatives to incarceration, particularly for low-risk offenders. These alternative forms of supervision are usually a small fraction of the cost of incarceration. The use of Global Positioning System monitors, rapid-result drug tests, and ATM-like reporting kiosks offer authorities ways to monitor offenders without the high cost of locking them up. These new capabilities are giving judges and prosecutors confidence they can protect public safety with sanctions other than a costly prison

3. Contraband is more than drugs and weapons, contraband is any item that the jail determines that is unauthorized for an inmate to possess, and there are numerous legal everyday items that can be a threat to the security of the jail if it was introduced into the facility. Detainees who are considered low risk and exempt from more thorough searches may be pressured by others who wish to smuggle in contraband into the jail.

The United States used War on Drugs as the reason to have mass incarceration and arrest people of color, especially the black people. The government arrest the black people into jail by accuse them selling or consuming crack cocaine, however, it is the government (CIA) who allowed guerrilla armies to bring the crack cocaine to the black neighborhood. The War on Drugs is just one of the excuse that government used to put black Americans into jail and this mass incarceration is their tool for social control. This way, they can separate the white people and people of color and maintain their racial hierarchy.

There have been many issues on how inmates have been receiving contrabands while being incarcerated. It is much easier to get drugs inside prison than on the streets and because of that, anything can get passed through prison walls. There is no longer a boundary between the outside and inside prison cells. The drug dealers inside have their people and connections on the outside that they rely on for their drug deliveries. Those who partake in these drug deliveries are mostly correctional officers who want to make quick money. The other half who help smuggle drugs in prison are visitors. There have been countless encounters of drug smuggling behind prison visitation walls. For example, the most common one is hiding the drugs up a person’s genitals. A pat down is always required and no officer is going to check up on someone’s rectum or genital. These methods have been the easiest way for inmates to receive their packages. Some prisons have caught on to this technique and installed X-ray machines and even drug sniffling dogs. Yet mules have managed to still get their drugs inside.

Bill C-12 is known as ‘The Drug Free Prisons Act’ and has been described as “An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act”. (Blaney, 2015). The law states that the Parole board must give a urinalysis to a prisoner before they are granted parole, but if the prisoner fails to provide or the urinalysis comes back positive the Parole Board cannot grant parole considering drugs are illegal in Canada. This creates a huge harm not only because of what societies understands of what addiction is, but it also ignores the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders research that drug abuse and the dependence of it can be considered a mental illness because of it “chang[ing] the brain in fundamental ways” (National Institute

Cell phones smuggled into prisons are the fastest growing form of prison contraband, posing a danger that extends beyond prison walls. The GEO Group is implementing a new application of patented high-tech equipment for detecting and locating hidden contraband cellular phones. The equipment, the ORION Non-Linear Junction Detector (NLJD) manufactured by REI in Algood, Tennessee, responds to electronic components, allowing the user to detect and locate electronic items (such as hidden cellular phones), even if the electronic item is turned off or not transmitting. This technology offers a working solution for correctional facilities to manage contraband cell phones. (Estevez & Gutierrez, 2011)

The start of the experiment consisted of filling up four beakers with de-ionized water to 150 ml. After the beakers were filled to the appropriate amounts they were then labeled with the

Michel Foucault is a very famous French intellectual who practiced the knowledge of sociology. Foucault analyzed how knowledge related to social structures, in particular the concept of punishment within the penal system. His theory through, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, is a detailed outline of the disciplinary society; in which organizes populations, their relations to power formations, and the corresponding conceptions of the subjects themselves. Previously, this type of punishment focused on torture and dismemberment, in which was applied directly to bodies. Foucault mentions through his literary piece, “the soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy: the soul is the prison of the body (p.30). However, today, the notion of punishment involves public appearances in a court and much more humane sentences. However, it is important to note and to understand the idea of power and knowledge; it is fundamental to understand the social system as a whole.

Technology has become the bedrock for different parts of the correction system. The main force of expenditures and study in the corrections field is for the use of monitoring offenders. Different technologies that allow for better control pf the offenders can save lives and help prevent new crimes from emerging. The point of these technologies is to reduce the chance of recidivism by deterring criminals from behaviors that they may commit if otherwise left to their own devices. “The role of staff in the correctional institutional environment will never be obsolete but the use of technology can enhance and enable staff to perform their jobs more efficiently and in a safer and more secure way.” (Mannix 2) There is also an increase use of