The Impact Of Inmate Characteristics On Perceptions Of Race Relations

Overall, the United States prison system and society’s view of African Americans needs to change. People need to make sure that the mistakes society has made in the past do not repeat themselves. In order to fix many of the existing problems it is important to focus on reforming the prison system. Doing so would prevent many future cases of injustice and racial

Racial inequality in the American criminal justice system has a strong effect of many realms of society such as the family life, and employment. Education and race seem to be the most decisive factors when deciding who goes to jail and what age cohort has the greatest percentage chance of incarceration. Going to prison no longer affects just the individual who committed the crime. Instead, the family and community left behind gain a new burden by one individual's actions. The United States still has a large disparity between Whites and Blacks and now a growing Hispanic population. This racial disparity in the educational

When we think about prisons, jails, and courthouses, our minds are meant to draw a connection to cold, hard, justice and fair punishments for guilty and deserving parties. Yet, in our judicial and prison systems around the world, this idea is nowhere close to reality. From inhumane punishments, to mass incarceration, and “trapping” people in the system based on race or financial status, justice is far from being served.

In part 3, Morris (2002, p.171) discusses why prison conditions matter and why penal reformers, including himself, have devoted their lives and travelled thousands of miles

Racial disparity in the correctional population refers to the difference in the number of minorities versus whites represented inside institutions. “The American Correctional Association acknowledges that racial disparity exists within adult and juvenile detention and correctional systems. This contributes to the perception of unfairness and injustice in the justice system ("ACA Policies and," 2004).” “Blacks comprise 13% of the national population, but 30% of people arrested, 41% of people in jail, and 49% of those in prison. Nationwide, blacks are incarcerated at 8.2 times the rate of whites (Human Rights Watch, 2000).” This difference in proportionality does not necessarily

In the prison system today, there has been an explosion of minorities being incarcerated for offenses that may not have gotten jail time if they had not been of a certain race. Although the overall numbers of incarcerations may have dropped just slightly for the first time in over 35 years, the amount of inmates

The existence of racial disparity and structural inequality within the criminal justice system renders the concept of true justice for all unobtainable. The statistics of convictions and prison sentences by race definitely support the concept that discrimination is a problem in the justice system as well as the insignificantly number of minority judges and lawyers. There are a multitude of circumstances that influence these statistics according to the “Central Eight” criminogenic risk factors. The need for programs and methods to effectively deter those at risk individuals has never been greater and the lack of such programs is costing society in countless ways.

Prison classification is an important process in the U.S. correctional system and community corrections. Every state utilizes different types of classification method to classify their inmates. Penal institutions in the U.S. have evolved tremendously in terms of sentencing procedures, decisions and classifications. Studies from Clear et al. (2013) indicate that offenders in the United States, which consists of men, women, and juveniles, were all confined together in the same prison in the early 1800’s (p. 296). Modern correctional facilities do not mix the entire population of men, women, and juvenile offenders in the same jail or prison, but rather, in separate correctional facilities with different levels of security and monitoring. In our current era, correctional facilities for men, women, and juveniles have rehabilitative programs and modern identification systems that have the capability to measure “static risk factors such as criminal history or severity of current crime” (Christensen, 2008, p. 18). This case study will examine Pelican Bay State prison’s racial base classification system, and whether its practices are considered as a violation of an inmate’s civil rights.

One major problem of prison overcrowding is the effect it has on prison organizational stability. The more prisoners and people put in jail have made it harder for prison guards and staff to monitor and control them. The entire prison system must make enormous changes in order to accommodate for the number of inmates versus the number of prison guards (O’Leary). This often results in a misclassification of offenders. Many who come through the system are classified based on the amount of space available instead of on the security level and programs that would be most suitable for them (Howard). “It is not uncommon to find inmates, classified as medium security, incarcerated in maximum security institutions, while other inmates are in medium security who were previously considered candidates for maximum security” (Howard). Misclassifying offenders often leads to “slow progress through the corrections system as well as a slow exit” (Howard). This in turn only prolongs and increases the overcrowding problem (Howard). The corrections programs should be reformed to meet the needs of the inmates rather than the inmates having to adjust to meet the requirements of the system. Offenders need to be on specific rehabilitation programs that are customized to fit their needs, such as alcohol and drug abuse programs and so forth.

needed as workers and were therefore used as so . What are Blacks needed for

The Mass Incarceration in the United States is a major topic of discussion in our society and has raised many questions about our criminal justice system. There are few topics disputed as much in criminal justice as the relationship between race, ethnicity, and criminal outcomes. Specifically, the large disparities that minorities face regarding incarceration in our country. Minorities such as Hispanics and African Americans are sentenced at far higher rates than their white counterparts. There are multiple factors that influence this such as the judicial system, racial profiling by law enforcement, and historical biases (Kamula, Clark-Coulson, Kamula, 2010). Additionally, the defendants race was found to be highly associated with either a jail or prison sentence; with the “odds increasing 29 percent for black defendants, and 44 percent for Hispanic defendants” (King, Johnson, McGeever, 2010).

If I was a prisoner warden and had to address racial tensions between inmates, I would start by figuring out who is part of which gang and who is not. Racial tension comes from groups who think they are better than others. After the inmates who are affiliated with gangs are grouped together I would then figure out who the leaders are and place them in confinement. I believe this would help solve racial tension because this strategy will break down the gangs. No new leaders would want to step up in fear that they would be put in confinement. I would then make sure that overcrowding is made a priority, less overcrowding means less chances of a gang war. A sheriff in Los Angeles believe racial tension could be stopped, if it was properly managed.

Some prisoners are plagued with Post Incarceration Syndrome, a combination of psychological problems. These problems are institutionalized and antisocial personality traits, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,

In the editorial, “ The Stain of Racism in New York’s Prisons” by The New York Times Editorial Board, is about the way minorities are mistreated in New York’s prisons. This editorial shows many various examples of bias in siding with one side of the argument. This article shows bias with fallacy, connotation, and denotation.

The main argument in this article is re-offending rates are high, as prisoners are not prepared socially or emotionally to return to society. According to Morris and Morris (1963: 309) prison staff are more concerned about feeding, clothing, and housing inmates while they are inside of prison, rather than what they will do after they get out of prison, “not with whether he will turn again to crime, but whether he will be up to mischief in the prison.”