CH10: corrections

corrections

The variety of programs, services, facilities, and organizations responsible for the management of people who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses.

enlightenment

A movement during the eighteenth century in England and France in which concepts of liberalism, rationalism, equality, and individualism dominated social and political thinking.

penitentiary

An institution intended to punish criminals by isolating them from society and from one another so they can reflect on their past misdeeds, repent, and reform.

separate confinement

A penitentiary system, developed in Pennsylvania, in which each imprisoned person was held in isolation from others confined in the institution. All activities, including craftwork, took place in the cells.

congregate system

A penitentiary system, developed in Auburn, New York, in which each imprisoned person was held in isolation during the night but worked and ate with others during the day under a rule of silence.

contract labor system

A system under which inmates’ labor was sold on a contractual basis to private employers who provided the machinery and raw materials with which inmates made salable products in the institution.

lease system

A system under which inmates were leased to contractors who provided prisoners with food and clothing in exchange for their labor.

reformatory

An institution that emphasizes training, a mark system of classification, indeterminate sentences, and parole.

mark system

A point system in which prisoners can reduce their term of imprisonment and gain release by earning “marks,” or points, through labor, good behavior, and educational achievement.

rehabilitation model

A model
of corrections that emphasizes the need to restore a convicted person to a constructive place in society through some form of vocational or educational training or therapy.

medical model

A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior is caused by biological or psychological conditions that require treatment.

community corrections

A model of corrections based
on the goal of reintegrating the convicted person into the community.

crime control model of corrections

A model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior can be controlled by more use of incarceration and other forms of strict supervision.

prison

An institution for the incarceration of people convicted of serious crimes, usually felonies.

jail

An institution authorized to hold pretrial detainees and sentenced misdemeanants.

hands-off policy

Judges should not interfere with the administration of correctional institutions.

Cooper v. Pate (1964)

Prisoners are entitled to
the protection of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 and may challenge in federal courts the conditions of their confinement.

Hudson v. Palmer (1984)

Prison officials have the authority to search cells and confiscate any materials found.

Wolff v. McDonnell (1974)

Basic elements of procedural due process must be present when decisions are made about imposing significant punishments on prisoners for violating institutional rules.

Morrissey v. Brewer (1972)

Due process rights require a prompt, informal, two-stage inquiry handled by an impartial hearing officer before parole may be revoked. The parolee may present relevant information and confront witnesses.

Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973)

Before probation can be revoked, a two-stage hearing must be held and the offender must be provided with specific elements of due process. Requested counsel will be allowed on a case-by-case basis.