The Picture Of The Prison

According to statistical data found in the Bureau for Justice Records, there are a number of problems that most prisons in the country face. The records indicate that the number of adult federal and state inmates increased from `139% in `1980 to 260% (Walker, 1999). As a natural default, the United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. This in itself brings about one of the major problems that are faced in modern incarceration which is overcrowding in most prison facilities. The number of offenders in the country has increased rapidly over time while the country prison system has not really been able to cope with this rapid increase. Prisons intended for one or two inmates are now crowded with more than fifty individuals. Because of this most prisons are overcrowded and most of the facilities available are unable to cater for the needs of all the prisoners (Siegel, 2009).

There are three models of prisons that have been prominent in American since the early 1940’s: custodial, rehabilitative, and reintegration. Each model is designed differently based on its overriding goal, and this affects the physical design, policies, and programs that are implemented within each of the models.

As of 2015, 2.7% of adults in the United States were under correctional control, the lowest rate since 1994, however that is still roughly 6.7 million adults (Kaeble & Glaze, 2016). While the correctional population has declined, correctional facilities in the United States are still grossly overcrowded, with many facilities at or surpassing capacity. A report in 2010 by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation showed that on average, facilities were at 175% capacity (Brown, 2010). However, as of midnight on October 31st, 2017 the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported that their facilities, on average, were 132% occupied (Brown, 2017). Not only is prison overcrowding a burden on the facilities themselves, but also on the inmates. Prison overcrowding, that is, housing more inmates than the facility can humanely facilitate (Haney, 2006), places a strain on all resources throughout the correctional facility, including on the healthcare that’s offered, educational programs, and most dramatically on the physical space available to house inmates (Ekland-Olson, 1983).

In 2007, a group of criminal justice experts got together and agreed reform was needed, and the legislature joined the discussion. Lance says that lock up numbers had been ballooning since the 1980s. Lots of prison violence prompted the solitary lock-up of prisoners in the 1980s, mostly a result of how the prison system was run. Turnkeys were used in the early 1980s. These were inmates who were given authority to do the job of guards, enforcing prison rules. They were chosen based on their ability to get things done. They were brutal and violent, and they were the ones in charge of “correcting” prisoners who messed up. William Wayne Justice put an end to the use of turnkeys in the mid 1980s, but problems escalated when he did because there was no proper control to replace turnkeys. Guards on duty then had already learned to relinquish their power to inmates. These guards had no proper training on the use of force. They had no experience handling trouble in the prison themselves. With no one in charge, violent prison gangs emerged to “keep the peace,” exponentially increasing the problems of prison violence that the elimination of turnkeys had hoped to fix. I asked Lance what was the first essential step in controlling a prison population is developing a staff of professionals through adequate training. Violence in prison has to be detected and addressed immediately for officers to maintain control. Lance is very critical of TDCJ’s

The U.S. corrections system, a subdivision of the criminal justice system, continues to undergo change. From its beginnings as laws written in stone, the corrections system has sought to punish offenders. The origin of the corrections system dates back several thousand years and has witnessed various perspectives and goals. The best method of administering punishment to these prisoners has remained an issue of dispute for many years. Events through history, such

Standing as one the most dominant agencies operating within the criminal justice system, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a detrimental factor that has proven to materialize the very aspects of which to expand the dynamics of maintaining care, control, and custody of federal inmates. Albeit as it may that the agency’s establishment fails to loom too far into the crevices of history, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has surpassed a multitude of platforms that has propelled its strengths today far beyond what its founders could have imagined. However, given the magnitude of such feat as the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been bombarded with, challenges such as, but not limited the swift rate of inmates incarcerated, has greatly hindered the

In America, crime rates are going up and prisoners are being released from prison with a wrong sense of direction resulting in their finding themselves back behind bars within a short period of time after being released for an action that could have been prevented if the proper precautions had been taken. Prisons need to put forth the effort to resolve these issues and make America’s streets secure again. The criminal justice system in prisons is a rising concern in this country that is affecting many and it is time it was improved by reforming the inside of prisons, providing prisoners with more when released, and keeping them under surveillance after release to help ensure they will not return to prison, thus keeping crime at a lower rate.

The criminal justice system has become an ad hoc medical and social service delivery institution with more than eight million offenders under correctional control. Offenders have more physical, substance-abuse disorders, social and psychological deficits than the general population. According to Estelle versus Gamble, correctional institutions are required to provide reasonable care for all offenders who are incarcerated. Other issues such as psychological and social services have become a burden. A recent survey of prison administrators sheds light on the capacity of offenders that needed medical, psychological, and social services for offenders. The survey also dissected the analysis of the organizational factors that may affect whether an

In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the

Twenty miles northeast of california's state capital sacramento, lays a castle like structure known as folsom prison. Folsom prison is the second oldest prison in california but Folsom was the first prison in the world to have electricity do to the first hydroelectric powerhouse in California. San quien was the first prison to open in california but after 6 years the prison became over populated and corrupted. After the gold rush the state decided it was time to open a new prison. In 1873 prisoners from san quien were shipped to folsom to help build the foundation of the prison. Folsoms construction of the cell blocks started in 1878 and the prison was opened in 1880.

At any given time, a single corrections officer, can expect to be outnumbered by upwards of 400 inmates (Conover, 2011). It can be chilling to work in the midst of hundreds of inmates, some of which initiate attacks and inappropriate relationships. However, other issues have impacted the psychological health and physical safety of the staff. Detrimental factors have included heavy workloads, the prisons physical structure, and a lack of support from both peers and superiors. Each workplace issue has been in addition to role problems, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2011). It is believed that anyone of these undesirable facets of prison should be enough to deter the public from attempting to enter such

These measures were taken to ensure public safety but are now posing a problem for our correctional facilities. Overcrowding and budgets are among the problems brought about by these measures. Both the state and federal correctional population throughout the United States have steadily seen significant increases in their population, every year for the past decades. Based on the census found on the Bureau of Justice website, the data collected between June 30th 2000 to December 30th 2005 showed that prisoners held in custody between federal and state prisons increased by 10%. (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”, p.1 -2)

Correctional organizations whether it is local, state, or federal will all have numerous different masteries as well as many different staff members that complete those different tasks. The text (Carlson) explains that prison and or jails are both expected to accomplish several sometimes-conflicting goals when dealing with inmates. Among many of those, punish, incapacitate, and rehabilitate as well as deter others from violating society’s rules (Carlson & Garrett, 2008, p. 195). The concept that "all employees of a correctional institution

“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime

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