Violence In Prisons In The United States

There are approximately 2.2 million people that are currently incarcerated in the United States and roughly 65 million people have a current criminal record. 2.2 million individuals are detained due to past passive or violent offenses and some are wrongfully accused while capitalist companies are making a profit off of those incarcerated. The prison system is where violent and nonviolent inmates spend days or years in a cell and are usually working in the prison. During the early 1980s is when the inmate population began to grow in numbers fights would begin to be a daily occurrence and would ultimately result in murder. An example of these grotesque incidents would be considered a normal day at the Folsom State Prison in Sacramento,

This book is comprised of nineteen chapters, 153 pages that are aimed at an audience of sociologists, and academicians in all areas of criminal justice administration. Its major themes are that of violence and disorganization as experienced by inmates in the 1980 New Mexico State Prison Riot and, in precise ways, it discusses the impact of such violence in the day-to-day experiences of those involved – the inmates and prison staff. This riot lasted only two days and more precisely, 36 hours, but the turmoil experienced by the inmates and prison staff during that time will last a lifetime. This book should alert prison officials of the need to run prison facilities in a humane way, but this book demonstrates almost the opposite.

The United States currently has the highest number of prisoners in the world. According to Glaze and Herrmann (2013), approximately 6.9 million adults are under some form of correctional supervision in the United States. Crime in the United States is relatively equal to that of any other industrialized nation, so why does the United States house so many inmates irrespective of the fact that the nation cannot successfully manage a budget for the institution as well as manage the inmates? An inmate, Victor Hassine, provides insight as to what prisoners physically and mentally experience during incarceration as well as his ideas on the effects of prisons on inmates in his book, Life without Parole.

Mass incarceration is a serious topic within out country. The main issue to be addressed in this paper is the mass incarceration and it’s effect on the individual, as well as their families and communities. The United States has the largest number of men and women behind bars than any other country. Also, because of the excessive incarceration rate, many prisons are over populated and lack resources and support to help the inmates.

In addition to adaptive roles, the film also portrays many instances and forms of prison violence. Prisons provide all of the necessary conditions to host violence (288). The film depicts instances of prisoner-prisoner violence in the form of sexual victimization, prison gangs, and illicit violence by officers against

It is without a doubt that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world, the United States Prison systems house around 1.6million prisoners to date and the numbers are continuing to rise (Tsai, Scommegna, 2016). The alarming statistics of the rising prisoner population for the United States is an epidemic and cause for concern because it is unsustainable both spatially and financially. Every year states are spending billions upon billions of dollars on our prison systems and we are putting hundreds of thousands of people behind bars every single year. This has led to an overcrowding of our prison systems which can lead to many other problems such as an increase in aggression, and an increase in risk to infections

The prison violence has brought about more conduct issue for prisoners, Rather than help with how society manages the issue of brutal detainees. Our nation's judicial system is overcrowded, costly, and inadequate and also wasteful. According to the statistical report 4,443 people were incarcerated in California state prison reducing to 3,878.yet, New York state prison population had 19,984 occupied beds in 2006; reducing the amount of inmates incarcerated in 2012/13 to 54,235 overall decreasing by

When we do research on daily prison life, we come across two typical but less than ideal situations: either social imaginaries cloud our judgment or information provided by the prisons themselves hide certain weak or bad aspects that they do not want to make public. We can also find information on TV, but most of the time it either exaggerates or minimizes the facts. In order to obtain more reliable information, we have to have access to people who are working or have worked in this institution, and such will be the sources of this essay. We will be describing and giving examples of prison violence according to three types of violence: sexual, physical and psychological violence.

255). Respect must be mutual between inmates and correctional officers and it should not be a one way street. A clear define prison structure will emphasize on strict routine, authority and zero tolerance; however, all actions from correctional officers must conform to the Eighth Amendment. Leadership, communication, and solid management skills will set a tone for violent criminals confined in maximum-security facilities. Offenders who are sentenced to a maximum-security confinement will eventually realize that they are in it for the long haul, and their chances of reintegrating into society are zero to none. Therefore, in order to solve a majority of the facilities operational problem we must “create an environment where a positive custodial adjustment can occur” (Maghan, 1996, p.

Evidence shows that overcrowded prison conditions increase crime in these confines, such as inmates attacking guards. Instances like this happen in these unprincipled institutions daily across the United States, making overcrowded prisons dangerous to

Finally, there is widespread violence within private prisons between prisoners with others and between prisoners with staff. When there are many problems in the system, guard and protection inside prisons that creates violence with serious consequences "When you combine solitary confinement, abuse, lack of basic medical and mental health care, and denial of basic human needs, it's a recipe for disaster." (Fischer,2013). Some prisons allow male and female inmates to have sex and that led to sexual assaults and violence. For example, a woman committed suicide inside a GEO Group prison in Texas state after being sexually assaulted by a guard and two inmates; that occurred after allowing sex inside prisons without any control(Fischer,2013). One the other hand, the prison employees allowed or ignoring the problems that occur inside the prison, such as drug abuse between prisoners and staff assist to drug trafficking inside cells that led to increased violence.

Prisons are not traditional environments. They are ‘total institutions’ in the sense that they encompass inmates’ lives to an extent qualitatively greater than any other total institution. Prisons administer troubled human beings, who often bear long histories of violence as either offender or victim, into confined spaces against their wills and these individuals are brought into close contact with prison staff and other inmates, which often results in many forms of violence. This paper will examine the violence and victimization that occurs in prisons by focusing on inmate-on-inmate sexual violence, staff-on-inmate sexual violence, and physical violence and their prevalence in men’s and women’s prisons.

My paper will discuss the problems and a few of the effects that prison overcrowding causes towards the inmates and the guards. I will first address the issue of violence that prison overcrowding causes. My next point will be the health of the inmates discussing both their physical and mental while in overcrowded prisons. Lastly I will discuss the physical and mental health of the correctional officers and how the job could lead to correctional officers having issues in their private life.

Prisons originated in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were first designed to punish people for doing criminal activities. Prisons were strict then than they are now most people were sentenced to death, regardless of what the crime was. During that time the inmates did not have as much freedom in prison that they have now. It was very tough being in prison during this time. In the United States today almost two million people are in prison, the expansion of the prison system began in the early 1980’s (Rhodes, 2001). Over the years prisons have become better because of having gone through some bad situations and inmates escaping prison is a very dangerous place and there has be a safe, organized structure to keep everybody in order. One of the biggest prison riots in history was the Attica riots in 1971. According to Christianson, (2002) prison inmates started rioting because of racism and they felt they were being mistreated. They took over half of the prison and held 42 staff members hostage, it was about 1000 inmates participating in this riot. At the end of the riots 10 hostages and 29 inmates were killed and the families were awarded $12 million. This is an example of a poorly handled situation that caused people their lives.

The United States has more than 4,000 state prisons, federal prisons, and local jails which mean there is roughly over 2 million people housed in these facilities. Such high numbers of prisoners pave the way for an increased level of prison violence across America and raise an important issue of finding ways to manage that violence. California alone has close to 155,000 male and female inmates in over 30 prisons (Specter, 2010). Many of our prisons are severally populated leaving overcrowding as one of the top reasons for violence. The number of inmates far exceeds the number of available guards making the ability to supervise them all unrealistic and causes a major issue throughout the prisons. More inmates being incarcerated means an increase in the percent of gang affiliation, which poses a threat not only among other inmates but also to the prison staff. Further current problems such as lack of prison funding, poor evaluations of inmate’s mental state, and no programs aiding rehabilitation are also serious problems in resolving prison violence.