Week 12 Prisons

Prison Description

Similar to risk assessment in probation/parole
• Categorized according to security and treatment
needs
• Determines
• Custody level
• Supervision level
• Treatment Programs
• Specifics:
➢ prison site
➢ housing assignment
➢ work assignment
➢ availability of treatment programs
➢ good time

length of stay and crime severity, with jails for short-term, local holding and prisons for long-term, serious felony confinement

the 4 main prison designs

Radial, telephone, campus, and courtyard

3 models of incarceration (CRR)

Custodial, rehabilitation, reintegration

custodial (control care and supervision)

emphasizes security, discipline, order
dominates maximum security prisons

rehabilitation

emphasizes provision of treatment programs designed to reform the offender

Reintegration/reentry

emphasizes maintenance of the offender’s ties to family & community as a
method of reform
• linked to community corrections

Security Levels

Minimum, Medium, Maximum, Supermaximum

Pros of Private Prison

The main pros of private prisons include their ability to help relieve overcrowding in public facilities, potentially lower costs for taxpayers, and faster construction times compared to public institutions. They can also provide local jobs and, with the right contracts, might be incentivized to focus on inmate rehabilitation and re-entry programs

Cons of private prisons

Administration of justice is a basic function of
the government
• Fear that private operations would skew
correctional policy
• Contractors would use political influence to
continue programs not in the public interest
• Profit incentive will lead to corruption