Three Types Of Prisons

According to Foster (2006), about thirty-five percent of offenders fall into this category. From there, you have the minimum security prisons. Smaller prisons with fewer internal controls and a larger ration to guards and inmates dictate these facilities. Finally, you have what is commonly known as trustees, or open-security facilities. They hardly resemble prisons, and typically don’t even have locked doors or fences to confine the inmates. Other prison types include the infamous super-max unit that holds the most evil and deadly of inmates to the highest custody level possible and special housing units with security conditions similar to super-max farms, but house disciplinary offenders for shorter periods rather then long-term.

Supermax Prisons are the most secured prisons in the United States. According to the NPR Report, supermax are stand-alone unit/cell which are part of another facility and is designated for the most violent and/or disruptive inmates. The supermax typically involves lockdown up to 23-hour-per-day, single-cell confinement for an indefinite period of time. Inmates in supermax housing have minimal contact with staff and other inmates. Upon been transferred to a supermax prison, people tend to stay there for several years or indefinitely depending on their sentencing. The administrators of a supermax prison along with the correctional officers have sufficient authority to punish and manage the inmates, without outside review or some prisoner grievance

"Supermax" is short for "super-maximum security." It is a place designed to house violent prisoners or prisoners who might threaten the security of the guards or other prisoners. Some prisons that are not designed as supermax prisons have "control units" in which conditions are similar. The theory is that solitary confinement and sensory deprivation will bring about behavior modifications.

“Out of every 100,000 people around the world 168 are in prison with the averages climbing annually” (ChartsBin statistics collector team 1). Halden Prison located in Halden, Norway and the Supermax Prison located in Florence, Colorado are two maximum security prisons. Both prisons are home to some of the most dangerous and the most notorious criminals. Despite sharing similar types of security and prisoners one prison focuses on rehabilitating their inmates while the other focuses on simply holding the prisoners as a means to punishment. From 1789, when the first prison opened in England, to today guards have been a common site in prisons all over the world.

Supermax prisons house the inmates whose violent behavior makes them impossible to live with the normal general prisoners (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). While the typical measures invoice segregation and confinement the prisoners who are generally violent, have escaped or attempted to escape, incited other inmates to violence and preyed on other inmates are jailed in the supermax prisons that are specially designed for such prisoners. The construction of supermax prisons is more expensive due to an emphasis on high-security features. It is, therefore, obvious that these prisons are not made or designed for the non-violent and non-sexual offenders who have a better chance of rehabilitation in the normal prisons.

Safety is one of the biggest pros of a supermax prison. “Increasing prison safety is one of the most widely cited goals in the literature…For example, two-thirds (36) of departments of corrections in a National Institute of Corrections (1997) survey considered management of violent inmates a main reason for creating supermax prisons. As one respondent in our study explained, “by locking up the riskiest inmates, there is greater safety in the prison environment. This is the most general reason for having these types of units”. (Mears and Watson 242) A supermax prison is designed to separate extremely violent and disruptive prisoners from others, for the safety of other inmates as well as the safety of staff in the prison. “More than 90 percent of wardens said they agreed or strongly agreed that

There is not much data today on supermax prisons even though these facilities are steadily growing across the nation (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). Many experts that have conducted some studies have determined that long-term solitary confinement can cause acute sensory deprivation, paranoid delusion belief systems, irrational fears of violence, resentment, little ability to control rage, and mental breakdowns (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). An interesting statistical fact is that 45% of inmates in Washington’s supermax prisons have been deemed seriously mentally ill (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). Most inmates in long-term solitary confinement are anxious, angry, depressed, insecure, and confused (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). Many of these prisoners

I decided upon reading more about the Supermax prisons, as I had heard of them but never really focused much attention to them. I wanted to gain more knowledge on what they were used for and the controversy which surrounded the use of these Supermax prisons. I decided to read ‘Housing for the “worst of the worst” inmates: Public Support for the Supermax Prisons’ and ‘What we know, what we do not know, and where we are going’ journals. From my first perceptions of a Supermax prison, I only really knew that they could house thousands of criminals at one time and that those criminals were the ones you would not want to be involved with, being as they were in confinement for the majority of the day. And they are rarely allowed to communicate with each other or with the prison guards.

Prison is not meant to be a comfortable place. Prison, historically, is meant to be a punishment for crimes committed against society. Once an individual is convicted and sentenced, they are then taken into custody of the state or federal government. The term custody refers to an individual taken to a detention facility. This term also refers to the concept that the government is now responsible for the wellbeing of the inmate. The individual is being punished, but the government must take reasonable steps to protect those in their custody until they are released back into society. It is vitally important for the safety of these individuals that administrators become aware of the factors that may put certain inmates at a higher

Prisons and jails hold some similar characteristics but are completely different models in which they serve in the criminal justice system. Some of the types of crimes that America faces today are: violent crimes, property, white collar or organized crime, and public order crimes (Worrall, 2008). The criminal justice system sets the regulations and policies of how an offender will be held accountable for their inappropriate actions. The criminal justice system is a process that takes time and money from society. The following information will briefly discuss the main purposes for the jail and prison systems, which will focus on the length of sentencing, funding sources, and private sector ownership. Let’s begin by explaining the length of

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.

The minimum security is federal prison camps adjacent to other federal prisons near military bases. Male prisoners who need only minimum security are set up in camps and those who will be transitioned [Passive voice] back into society and served their sentence will be set-up in a halfway house.

Supermax which is short for super-maximum security, are prisons that are designed to hold the most violent of prisoners and terrorists. Supermax prisons are basically a prison inside of a prison, where the worst of the worst are imprisoned for usually the remainder of their natural lives. Supermax prisons were built to help increase the safety of the public, prison personnel, and other inmates. These prisons specialize in above all security and in the secure control of inmates who have participated in violent behavior against prison guards and other inmates in other prisons, as well as those who have behavioral issues and cannot follow rules. In this paper, I will discuss why supermax prisons are needed, even with the high budget that is involved, and the controversy of prisoner isolation, and the dehumanization strategies that many deem a problem.

The first federal facility is minimum security institutions, which are Prison Camps. Prison Camps have minimal security and usually have a higher inmate-to-staff ratio. Prison Camps have relatively low amounts of fencing around the facilities, and sometimes don’t have fencing at all. Inmates in these camps sleep inside dorms, and are in a work or study program.

The second level which is their medium security and makes up most of their inmate population have all the schooling and programming that is available. The third level or minimum security is the lowest level and are allowed to have little supervision and placed in the least restrictive areas there are. American prisons are generally the same as we have the same levels our inmates are categorized with other levels within these levels that will determine what type of perks they are allowed while locked up.