Jails

What are 3 characteristics of JAILS (FROM 1166 to 1800)?

1) small rooms containing 20-30 people

2) Inadequately ventilated with poor sanitation

3) Used as holding tanks as punishment, they weren’t used as punishment

What were the JAIL functions prior to 1800 & after 1800?

• Prior to 1800: jails functioned as a holding facility

• After 1800: served as actual detention facilities

What are the 2 types of inmates?

1) someone who was convicted of a crime

2) a social misfit (Irish, German, and Italian)

Social Shift of State Institutions 1890 (PROGRESSIVE ERA)

• Progressive era: started to have juvenile detention facilities

• Mental Institutions

• Invented Probation

• Invented Adult Reformatories

• Seperate institutions based on biological sex

What is the current solution to reduce jail populations?

• Pre-trial release monitored by GPS

• We pick the least dangerous inmates; in order to qualify you must 1) be a first time offender, 2) non-violent offender

What are the NEGATIVE IMPACTS of immediate jail detention?

• The 6th Amendment guarantees a speedy and public trial for a purpose, which is to maintain the presumption of innocence

• This is, however, compromised upon arrest and detention because your arrest was based on probable cause and not absolute guilt

• The incarceration compromises the presumption of innocence because your arrest was based on probable cause and does not mean guilt, because holding them before incarceration makes you look guilty with each passing day

What are the 5 different categories of Jail Detainees?

1) Pre-trial misdemeanors and felons that just got arrested (pre-trial individuals, not guilty yet)

2) Those who have gotten arrested, went to pre-trial, went to trial, and were found guilty but haven’t been sentenced yet (pre-sentenced individuals)

3) Jailbirds: people who are serving time for misdemeanor arrests

4) Holdbacks: prisons are too crowded for them (sentenced felons waiting for a cell to open up in prison)

5) Obscenders: either sentenced to probation or serving their time on parole, and they violated the conditions and are now back in jail waiting for their revocation

What are 8 demographic characteristics of the “typical'“ jail inmate?

1) disproportionatly black

2) young

3) male

4) unemployed

5) unmarried

6) from broken homes

7) drug & alcohol abuse

8) non-military

What are the demographic proportions in jail?

• Men: 85% (biological sex)

• Under 35: 65% (age)

• Non-white: 65% (minorities/race)

• Have high school graduate: 40% (hs education)

What are the alternatives to jail?

• Options instead of putting people behind bars (prisons= for people sentenced to 1 year or more for a felony, jails= for people sentenced to 1 year or less for a misdemeanor)

1) Diversion to treatment programs

2) Electronic monitoring under house arrest

3) weeked confinement (serve sentence on weekends and work during week)

4) community work orders (spend time at animal shelter every so often (every 3 days), community service

5) Bail

6) Fine: pay money to government

What are jail subpopulations?

• Adults & Juveniles (difficult to separate because not enough cells)

• Men & Women (placed in separate facilities/separate cell blocks)

• Old & Young Adults

• Felons & Misdemeanants (hard criminals vs. first time offenders)

• Pre-trial & Convicted/Sentenced

• Criminals & Social Misfits (hustlers, derelicts, junkies, prostitutes, mentally ill)

How does the local jail sheriff differ from prison wardens on rehabilitation?

• Sheriffs are not interested in rehabilitation and are not stakeholders in the inmate’s future. Sheriffs do not receive training for rehabilitation

• The warden has received training and is a stakeholder in the inmate’s future. Warden provides rehab programs in drug/alcohol treatment, education, and vocational programs

What are the 2 main issues faced by jail administrators?

• Inmate overcapacity, lack of funds for rehab or treatment

• Although the State pays the county to house inmates, the money is used to boost voter support instead of rehabilitation programs (want’s to be re-elected sheriff)

Jail detainee release prior to trial

• Bail, meaning they surrender between $1000 and $25,000 cash deposit, or they pay a fee to a bail bondsman, who puts up the cash

• ROR (Released on Recognizance): ties to the community give them incentive to show

• Pre-trial Diversion (jail alternatives): attend pre-trial diversion programs

Jail Offender: Recidivism

• typical jail offender is either under correctional supervision or parental supervision

1) Offedender was already under correctional supervision (jail when arrested) or was at some point under correctional supervision

2) Offender has a history of drug and alcohol abuse

3) Offender is underemployed

4) Offender is undereducated

What is the average sentence length in Jail?

• Misdemeanor Crimes (30-90 days)

• Non-violent Felonies (6 months- 1 yr)

• Sexual Assault (2 yrs)

• Robbery (2 yrs)