Correctional Systems Flashcards

Flashcards covering key concepts in correctional systems, including history, inmate life, legal rights, and release.

What were common uses of confinement before the 1600s?

Detention before trial, debt coercion, slave punishment, religious reformation, and quarantine.

Name two forerunners of modern incarceration.

Banishment and transportation.

Who were three major correctional reformers in the 1700s–1800s?

Cesare Beccaria, John Howard, Jeremy Bentham.

What did Beccaria argue regarding punishment?

It should be certain, swift, and proportionate to the crime's harm.

What was Jeremy Bentham’s prison design called?

Panopticon.

What were the two major penitentiary systems in early U.S. corrections?

Pennsylvania system and Auburn system.

Describe the Pennsylvania system.

Solitary confinement, religious reflection, and handicraft work.

Describe the Auburn system.

Silent group labor by day and solitary confinement at night.

What is the Reformatory Movement?

A model focused on young offenders with indeterminate sentencing and parole.

What was the first women’s reformatory, and when did it open?

Indiana, 1873.

According to John Irwin, what were the three types of 20th-century prisons?

Big house, correctional institution, contemporary violent prison.

When was the Federal Prison System established, and what act initiated it?

1891, the Three Prisons Act.

What is the main criticism of privatized prisons?

The profit motive may reduce inmate services and promote over-incarceration.

When did the incarceration rate begin its prolonged increase?

1972.

Demographically, who makes up the majority of U.S. state prison inmates?

Poor, non-Hispanic Black males, ages 18–45, with low education.

What percentage of state prisoners are incarcerated for violent offenses?

55.1%.

What is a classification facility?

A place to assess inmates’ risks, needs, and appropriate placement.

What are the three main prison security levels?

Maximum, medium, and minimum.

What is a 'supermax' prison?

A facility with extreme security measures, where inmates are often in solitary confinement.

What is the function of jails?

To hold pretrial detainees, serve short-term sentences, and house special populations.

What is 'milieu therapy'?

Group therapy involving the entire living environment to encourage change.

What is 'prisonization'?

The process by which an inmate becomes socialized into the inmate culture.

What is a common focus of prison therapy?

Crisis intervention.

What is a 'total institution' as described by Erving Goffman?

An institutional setting where people are cut off from wider society and live under strict rules and procedures.

What is the 'convict code'?

A set of values, norms, and roles that guide inmate interactions and behavior toward staff.

Name 3 principles of the convict code.

Mind your own business, don’t inform on others, show loyalty to inmates over staff.

What are the two theories explaining inmate society origins?

The Deprivation Model and the Importation Model.

Define the Deprivation Model.

Explains inmate society as a reaction to the hardships and deprivations of prison life.

Define the Importation Model.

Suggests inmates bring social norms and behaviors from outside society into prison.

Why is there more prison violence today?

Poor management, crowding, young inmate population, racial tension, and gangs.

Name three motives for physical violence in prison.

Power/dominance, retaliation, and self-protection.

What is the 'sub-rosa' economy?

The black-market economy within prison, often using cigarettes as currency.

What are three types of prison sex?

Consensual sex, prostitution, and sexual assault.

List types of non-physical victimization in prison.

Economic, psychological, and social victimization.

What are two ways inmates cope according to Robert Johnson?

Entering the public domain (predatory) or the private culture (nonviolent niche).

Name 3 prison lifestyles.

“Doing time,” “Jailing,” and “Gleaning.”

How is life in women’s prisons different from men’s?

Less violence, less racial tension, and more emphasis on relationships.

What are pseudofamilies?

Make-believe families with male and female roles adopted by female inmates.

What are Esther Heffernan’s three inmate roles for women?

Square (noncriminals), Life (habitual offenders), and Cool (manipulators).

What are key challenges faced by correctional officers?

Boredom, role ambiguity, lack of clear rules, limited authority, and low pay.

How do correctional officers respond to their work?

Responses include withdrawal, authoritarianism, corruption, or a human-service orientation.

What case ended the 'hands-off' approach of courts?

Cooper v. Pate.

What does the First Amendment guarantee for inmates?

Free speech and religious freedom (with limitations for security).

What is Estelle v. Gamble (1976)?

A case that established inmates' right to adequate medical care under the 8th Amendment.

What are totality-of-conditions cases?

Claims that the combination of prison practices/conditions make the entire prison unconstitutional (Holt v. Sarver).

What is parole?

Conditional early release before the full sentence is served.

What is mandatory release?

Release after serving a legally required portion of the sentence minus good time.

Define recidivism.

Returning to criminal behavior after being released from prison.

What paradox did Ben Crouch observe about inmates’ preferences?

Some inmates prefer prison over probation.

What did Lynne Goodstein find about inmate adjustment?

Inmates who adjusted well to prison had the hardest time adjusting after release.

What is a total institution?

A place where individuals live and work, cut off from wider society, under a formally administered schedule.

What does the deprivation model argue?

Inmate society arises in response to the prison environment and its painful conditions.

What does the importation model suggest?

Inmate society is shaped by values and behaviors brought in from the outside world.

Are prison sexual assaults more often interracial or intraracial?

Interracial.

What is psychological victimization?

Use of manipulation and mind games within prison.

What is social victimization?

Discrimination based on social characteristics.

What does entering the prison’s private culture mean?

Finding a niche that suits an inmate’s needs.

What is the public domain in prison?

Inmates seeking power through dominance and victimization.

What are kinship networks in women’s prisons?

Family-like roles adopted by inmates for support.

What motivates most homosexual activity in women’s prisons?

Affection and attachment, not dominance.

What sets training standards for correctional officers?

The American Correctional Association.

What was the hands-off doctrine?

Courts avoided involvement in prison conditions.

What did Ex parte Hull (1941) establish?

Inmates' right to access federal courts.

What did Coffin v. Reichard (1944) rule?

Inmates can challenge prison conditions in federal court.

Why is Cooper v. Pate (1964) significant?

First successful use of Section 1983 for inmate rights.

What is habeas corpus?

A court order to examine the legality of a person’s confinement.

What did Johnson v. Avery (1969) rule?

Jailhouse lawyers must be allowed to help others unless alternatives are provided.

What did Bounds v. Smith (1977) guarantee?

Access to adequate law libraries or legal assistance.

What did Wolff v. McDonnell (1974) establish?

Minimum due process rights in disciplinary hearings.

What are the four rights from Wolff v. McDonnell?

1. Impartial hearing body 2. 24-hour written notice 3. Statement of evidence/reason 4. Right to present witnesses/evidence (with limits)

What did Procunier v. Martinez (1974) allow?

Censorship of inmate mail if it supports security, order, or rehabilitation.

Are inmates allowed to practice religion?

Yes, including unconventional faiths, with accommodations.

What did Holt v. Sarver (1971) decide?

The entire Arkansas prison system was unconstitutional due to conditions.

What limitation exists in the inmate rights movement?

It has focused primarily on male inmates; female rights are under-addressed.

Why is court reform slow and limited?

It’s expensive, piecemeal, and many inmate lawsuits are deemed frivolous.

What percentage of inmates are eventually released?

At least 95%.

What is commutation?

Reduction of a sentence by executive authority.

What is good time?

Time off a sentence for good behavior.

What is clemency?

Executive leniency for prisoners, including pardons.

What is a pardon?

A clemency act that erases a conviction or ends punishment.

What does research show about recidivism within 9 years of release?

83% of released inmates were rearrested.

What is the most critical time for recidivism?

The first year after release.

What challenge do released immigrants face?

Loss of civil rights, complicating reintegration.