Criminal Justice 101 - April 23, 2023

Community Corrections:

Refers to a wide range of sentences that depend on correctional resources available in the community.

14th Century English Courts:

By the 14th century, English courts began the practice of “binding over for good behavior,” in which offenders were placed in the custody of willing citizens.

John Augustus:

John Augustus: The father of probation in the US, a Citizen of Boston. He is known for his pioneering efforts to divert drunkards and other minor offenders from incarceration. Estimated that at the time of his death, he helped 2,000 prisoners.

Probation Origin:

Probation comes from the Latin word probare (meaning to test or to prove).

Types of Probation:

Two types of probation 

* General: Apply to all probationers with the jurisdiction
* Specific: Judge-mandated for the specific probationer

Parole:

Early Release from imprisonment. It comes from the French word “parol,” meaning the word of honor.

Alexander Maconochie:

Alexander Maconochie: Scottish naval officer and penal reformer and was appointed superintendent of the British penal colony. Father of Parole. Stated that convicts should be released on good behavior.

Mark System:

Mark system: credits against a sentence allowed for inmates to be released once they earned the required level of “marks” through work and good behavior.

* Four stages of the Mark system
* Penal Stage: placed in solitary confinement
* Associated Stage: marks for work and good behavior 
* Social Stage: inmates were held in groups and held jointly responsible for each other 
* Ticket to leave: prisoners earned the required number of “marks” for a conditional release to the community 

The idea of rewarding good behavior with reductions in the amount of time served was first initiated in….

1817 when the New York State legislature passed the good time statute.

First Reformatory:

The ELMIRA Reformatory (1876) was the first reformatory in the United States, using the early principles of parole and indeterminate sentences.

Parole Overview:

In 1929 the stock market crash was the real catalyst for the expansion of parole. Unemployment and prohibition created a crime wave, resulting in an increase in people sent to prison. By 1944, all states had adopted parole and the use of indeterminate sentences.

Sampson v. California

Sampson v. California (2006): Found that the fourth amendment does not prohibit police officers from conducting a warrantless search of a person who is subject to a parole search condition.

Revocation Hearing:

Revocation Hearings: A hearing is used to determine whether the parolee or probationer has violated the conditions and requirements of his or her parole or probation.

Intermediate Sanctions:

The use of non-traditional sentences in lieu of imprisonment and fines.

Mixed Sentencing:

A sentence that required that a convicted offender serve weekends in confinement facilities while undergoing probationary supervision in the community. Community Service.

Shock Incarceration:

Shock Incarceration programs use boot camps to demonstrate the reality of prison life.  Mainly used on first-time offenders and is very strict on discipline.

Prison Statistics:

The United States is only 5% of the world’s population but has 25 percent of the world’s prison population.

Prisons:

A prison is a state or federal confinement facility that has custodial authority over adults sentenced to confinement for a period of one year or more.

Jails:

Run by the county or sheriffs office, holding adult offenders for one year or less. Jails hold about 1/10 of offenders. They process and admit almost 5 times as many offenders each year as all other correctional components combined.

Lockups:

A “lockup” is of local jurisdictions where they were arrested and placed in jail. Jails and Lockups are different. 

Jail Amount + Categories:

Approximately, 3300 Jails in the US. Categorized by size: Mega Jails: 1000+ bed capacity, Large jails: 250-999, Medium jails: 50-249, Small jails: 1-49 (largest percentage)

Regional Jails + Incarceration Rates.

Regional jails are those that serve more than one country and are overseen by a regional jail commission . Incarceration Rates: # of persons per 100,000 who are in Jail or Prison.

Early Punishments + Initial Conceptions of Jail.

Early punishments were often cruel and torturous. Generally fit the doctrine of lex talionis, law of retaliation  or an eye for an eye. First Jails were created in England known as GAOLS. Created by King Henry II in 1166.

Sherriff John Howard:

John Howard was the sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773. Drafted the Penitentiary Act of 1779. Believed in repentance. Religious instructions would bring about good habits to help reform them. Howard also saw that prison employment did not attract a high-quality staff.

First Jail:

The first US Jail was the Walnut Street Jail. Philadelphia, PA. The Walnut Street Jail opened in 1773 and soon became a Penitentiary in 1790.

William Penn:

William Penn was the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony: the most reformed-minded leader in the US with regard to prisons and jails. Abolition of Capital punishment for all crimes other than homicide. The substitution of imprisonment and hard labor instead of bloody corporal punishment.

Penn Doctrine:

Separate in silence; his system was “separate and silent” not allowed to socialize with other inmates. Problems with Penn System included that it was impossible to keep prisoners from seeing each other, it was expensive to operate, opponents said that solitary confinement made many inmates mentally ill, etc.

First Generation Jails:

Linear design was used for housing inmates in which cells are aligned in long, straight rows, with walkways in the front of the cells.

Second Generation Jails:

Jails use podular housing designs and remote supervisions; officers are located in a secure control room overlooking cells and a day room with electronic controls.

Third Generation Jails:

Jail designs without remote control centers in which correctional officers are located in the housing unit in direct contact (Direct Supervisions).

Two theories on how inmate culture becomes part of prison life:

* Indigenous (occurring naturally) and the result of the environment in which the inmates find themselves.
* Imported; brought in with the values of the inmates from outside.

PREA:

Prison Rape Elimination Act. Passed in 2003. The purpose of the act was to “provide for the analysis and prevention of the incidence and effects of prison rape in Federal, State, and local institutions.

Levels of Security + Incarceration Costs:

Incarceration Costs 

* $61,000 a year per inmate

Maximum Security 

* For large inanimate population. 
* Massive Old Buildings.

Medium Security 

* Prisoners have a little more freedom. 
* Like going outside.

Minimum Security 

* Most freedom.
* Non-violent criminals.

Focus of Years:

1790:

1825:

1876:

1890:

1935:

1945:

1967:

1980:

1995:

1790 Rehabilitation and Deterrence 

1825 Incapacitation and Deterrence 

1876 Rehabilitation 

1890 Incapacitation and Restoration 

1935 Retribution 

1945 Rehabilitation 

1967 Restoration and Rehabilitation

1980 Incapacitation 

1995 Retribution, Rehabilitation, Deterrence

Federal Prison System:

Federal Prison System:

* The Federal Prison System operates under the authority of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
* The USP Florence ADMAX in Colorado is the most secure prison in the United States.

Women Inmates:

Comprise 7% of the jail population.

Jail and Prison Privatization:

A private prison is a correctional institution operated by a private firm, usually in a for-profit manner, on behalf of the government.

Hands-off Doctrine -

The Hands-off Doctrine details not accepting lawsuits regarding violation of inmate constitutional rights. Court’s lack of expertise in corrections. Separation of Powers. “Pandora’s Box” of further litigation, and the courts would be flooded with prisoner lawsuits.

Holt v. Sarver:

Holt v. Sarver (1970): In Arkansas, there was a violation of prisoners' constitutional rights by inflicting cruel and unusual punishment (8th Amendment). Had no written standards of how to run the prison.

Bell v. Wolfish:

Bell v. Wolfish (NY) 1979: The Court said that: Double bunking of inmates was not a punishment. Having to receive books from publishers only wasn’t unconstitutional. The ban on receiving food packages was not a violation of the due process.

Rhodes vs. Chapman:

Rhodes vs. Chapman, 1981: Double bunking. “Totality of conditions” meaning circumstances determine what you are allowed to do. Not a violation of the 8th amendment.

“Totality of Conditions” Test:

A test created in Pugh v. Locke (1976) that examines the aggregate of circumstances in prison to determine whether cruel and unusual conditions exist.

Wilson v. Seiter:

Wilson v. Seiter (1991): The standard that conditions at the prison are not unconstitutional unless prison administrators show deliberate indifference.

Fernandez v. United States:

Fernandez v. United States (1991): Medical care for inmates must be reasonably commensurate with the medical care they would receive if not imprisoned.

Turner v. Safley:

Turner v. Safley (1987): Struck down a regulation that prohibited inmates from marrying without the permission of the warden.

Hudson v. Palmer:

Hudson v. Palmer (1984): Dealt with 4th amendment “searches”. There is no expectation of privacy in prison. Does not give you the same rights in prison.

Florence v. (Burlington County, NJ) Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Florence v. (Burlington County, NJ) Board of Chosen Freeholders (2012). The Supreme Court held that officials may strip-search individuals who have been arrested for any crime before admitting the individuals to jail, even if there is no reason to suspect that the individual is carrying contraband

Bruscino v. Carlson:

Bruscino v. Carlson (1989): Permissible to keep inmates secured in their cells for all but 5 hours a week

The World of Prison and Jail Staff:

Some penalogists would argue that prison staff members are also influenced by the prison environment and become even more “prisonized” than the inmates. The world of prisons is unlike any other subculture. Inmates quickly see through staff members who try to take on a demeanor that really isn't theirs.