The Similarities Between Being Grounded And Being In Prison

Discuss: The tension between rehabilitation and punishment in an incarceration setting. What happens when one is emphasized over the other? Is it possible to strike a balance?

Leonard Peltier is a Native American man currently imprisoned for crimes he did not commit. Peltier is currently serving time in Leavenworth, Kansas, and it is likely that he will live the rest of his life in prison. Examining Peltier’s experiences through several different community systems frameworks will push human service professionals to help not only individuals but whole communities as well. In particular, the ecological systems theory, historical trauma, and the theory of social capital are helpful in making sense of Peltier’s experiences, and seeing them not as random events but as the culmination of years of mistreatment, oppression, and marginalization.

Prison culture or the “values, norms and attitudes that inmates form in terms of institutional survival” (Bartollas, 2013), can be described in one of three models. The Deprivation Model describes the inmate’s behavior as the product of the environment, more specifically the attempt to adapt to that which he is deprived of as a result of incarceration (Bartollas, 2013). An example of such would be the pseudo family unit or physical relationships that inmates form as a result of the absence of such relationships while incarcerated.

Mass black incarceration has a myriad of effects on the culture and society of black communities across the nation. This paper examines these effects, including the reasons for black male incarceration, the widespread nature of it, the effects it has on black women, children and the community. The research was taken from several social scientists well-respected in African-American culture and includes interviews, surveys, raw statistics and data. By compiling this research, it is clear that a common theme is that the black women of African-American

“In a 2006 Special Report, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) estimated that 705,600 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in state prisons, 78,800 in federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails. Growing numbers of mentally ill offenders have strained correctional systems” (NIC, n.d.). Often times it is wondered why mentally ill offenders are imprisonment time are lengthier than other offenders? Could it be that it may be hard to comprehend and abide by prison and jail rules, or are there not enough facilities to aide their need? Moreover, pretrial offenders with severe mental illness encounter longer imprisonment time than other prisoners in many states, and they would require a mental evaluation assessment to stand trial. “The prevalence of mental illness among offender populations indicates a substantial need for mental health treatment. Today, the largest US jails and prisons hold more people with mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders than many inpatient psychiatric facilities” (Kim, Becker-Cohen & Serakos, 2015).

Probation has been called the "workhorse" of the juvenile justice system -- according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, probation is the most common disposition in juvenile cases that receive a juvenile court sanction. In an average year, about half of all minors judged to be delinquent receive probation as the most restrictive sentence.

Shock incarceration is a short period of incarceration followed by a term of supervised probation (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012). Shock incarceration is meant to deter the offender from being involved in future criminal activity (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012).

The European jailing system was the method used by early English settlers for America; at the time the colonists first arrived in this country, all the knowledge they had come from England, France, and Holland, so it only made sense to develop a justice system that they were familiar with and then change it along the way. The earliest concept of common law included a set of rules that were designed to help with problem solving throughout society; these ideas were drawn upon in making decisions that were made by judges from the past. The colonists would eventually develop their own system of criminal justice; these practices are what helped develop the system that America currently uses today (Social Welfare History Project, 2012).

Nowadays, when criminals are being convicted for acts like murder and other high terror threats, courts and jurors usually try to figure out if there’s a mental problem or disorder that contributes to the criminal’s reasoning. The history and transformation of American prisons since the eighteenth century has widely shaped the conception that an inmate’s sanity and their wellbeing should be taken into account with prison placement. The first prisons, realizations and shifts in the system throughout time, as well as the shift in thought have all contributed to this idea. Although, not all criminal’s mental health has a direct correlation to their crimes, the two go hand and hand when thinking about the incarcerated as a whole.

being grounded sucks. Not being able to go outside or watch TV. A friend David once told me when he gets grounded, his house turns into a prison. There’s a TV show that used to come on called Beyond Scared Straight. Beyond Scared Straight is a show where kids and teens who have committed crimes gets taken a local prison to take part of the “Scared Straight” program, where they see in the first person what it’s like to be in jail. Although due to the confined space and constant surveillance, jail and being grounded might feel the same, being grounded is different from being in jail.

Social bond theory was initially developed by Hirschi in 1969. The basis of this theory is that criminal behaviour occurs when social bonds are broken. Hirschi (1969) explains how there are four key factors of a social bond and the strain on these factors motivates deviant behaviour. By applying Hirschi's social bond theory to prison can begin to explain why the prison experience may increase later reoffending. Nagin et al (2009) furthers this explaining how prison may have negative effects on offender through reducing exposure of positive pro social bonds and increasing the exposure of negative influences.

Adjusting to life after incarceration can be a very long and difficult process to overcome. There are many obstacles people face when returning home for the first time in years. Most people generally come home to nothing and have to try to make a life out of it. As an ex-con you face stigma, lack of opportunities and the constant risk of recidivism. Recidivism is the ongoing cycle of incarceration. You continue to be in and out of prison because you cannot successfully re-transition into society. This topic is worth investigating because recidivism is a current problem in the United States and it usually takes place because the justice system fails to prepare their inmates for what life will be like. Rehabilitation is key and because there is a lack of that there is a lack of success in offenders returning home. Young adults should be aware of recidivism because they can easily be sucked into the system and this can happen to them. They can find themselves in a position where they end up in prison and fall victim to recidivism. Questions that will guide this research include:

It is common knowledge that the American prison system has grown exponentially in the last few decades. The prison population within the last forty years has risen by two million inmates. Multiple factors such as overcrowding and cost cutting have also decreased the quality of life within prisons by an order of magnitude. With this rising statistic, it becomes increasingly urgent to understand the effect of incarceration on our prisoners and whether the reformation process is actually doing more harm than good.

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.

As stated by Bartol and Bartol “Juvenile delinquency is an imprecise, nebulous, social, clinical, and legal label for a wide variety of law- and norm-violating behavior” (2011, Pg 139). The juvenile delinquency term has come to imply disgrace in today's correctional institution. Our government is up hold to procedures and expected to come with a solution to solving the delinquent problem. An underage offender can be labeled a delinquent for breaking any number of laws, ranging from robbery to running away from home, and especially being involved in school violence. The following situations faced by correction officials when dealing with juvenile delinquents will be examined. Three main areas (child development, punishments, and deterrence