prisons and prisoners Midterm

Corrections

• Process of organized security and treatment

• A process whereby practitioners engage in organized security and treatment functions to correct criminal tendencies among the offender population.

intermediate sanctions

• sanctions that are more restrictive than probation but less restrictive that incarceration

• saves money, reduces crimes, prevents overcrowding

What gangs were represented in The Work?

Aryan brotherhood, bloods, the skins, the others

With reference to time, the philosophy of punishment based on rehabilitation is what?

future oriented - to correct the persons future behavior so they can function as a person in society

Intensive supervision probation (ISR)

• when probation is granted under conditions of strict reporting to an officer with a limited caseload

What was the name of foucault’s book?

discipline and punish

Net Widening

• process in which new sentencing options increase rather than reduce control over offender’ lives

• unanticipated increase in the number of people controlled by the criminal justice system

What was angela davis’ article about?

• abolition

• abolishing prisons

What is the rationality behind racially classifying inmates?

• to reduce security risk by separating potential gang members

• does not work

What does walker suggest may be a direction for future research on race and the penal institution?

ethnographic studies of racial formation processes in other types of institutions

Justice system includes five segments:

• Law enforcement

• courts

• corrections

• juvenile justice system

• victim services.

Brutalization hypothesis

Harsh punishments teach violence, rather than deterring.

Code of Hammurabi

• earliest known written code of punishment.

• Lex talionis: Babylonian law of equal retaliation.

• eye for an eye

Sanctuary

protection from king’s soldiers until offender could negotiate or flee

Public Wrongs:

Crimes against society, including treason and witchcraft.

Private Wrongs:

Crimes against individuals, such as physical injury or theft

Types of punishments in state history

– Retaliation through humiliation.

– Corporal punishment.

– Capital punishment.

– Banishment.

– Transporting offenders.

– Indentured servitude.

– Hulks and floating prisons.

Great Law (William Penn)

Labor is more effective as punishment than death

Montesquieu

wrote Persian letters illustrating criminal law abuse

Voltaire

critiqued torture, valued responsibility and justice

Beccaria

• condemned death penalty

• punishments are effective deterrents

• punishments must be reasonable and match the crime

howard

• influenced making of the penitentiary

• inspected english prisons, appalled by insanitary practices

• wrote “state of prisons” to advocate for improvements

Jeremey Bentham

• advocated for graduated penalties

• utilitarianism - the best action is the one that does the greatest good for the greatest number of people

• hedonistic calculus: optimize pleasure, minimize pain

panopticon

• created by jeremy bentham

• uses a central tower to monitor prisoners with cells around the outside wall,

• guard in tower can see everyone but prisoners cant see in tower

• always being watched

old newgate prison

first official prison in U.S.

• established 1773

Walnut street jail

first institution designed to reform

The Pennsylvania system

• used solitary confinement

• eastern and western state penitentiaries

• economical systems should cause offenders to repent quickly

• reduced need for facilities

western + eastern state penitentiary

• confined inmates in solitary cells

• long periods of confinement led to breakdowns and mental illness

The auburn system

• daytime labor, evening solitary confinement

• expected to work (in silence), pray, read bible daily

• economically successful

• structure and obedience would correct criminal behavior

• contract labor system

• CONGREGATE SYSTEM

contract labor system

utilized inmate labor through state contracts with manufacturers

The southern system

• southern states leased inmates for economic benefits, which was eventually replaced with prison farms

• focused on profit, inhumane

• inmates used as labor for railroads, highways

• uneducated guards

black codes

issued harsher punishments for enslaved people than free men

• prior to civil war

western system

inmates in holding cells in the desert

• no long term housing

• contracted inmates to other states to maintain custody

National prison association

advocated for prison reform

• est 1870

Elmira Reformatory

first reformatory

mark system

• system to keep track of good behavior

• marks to convict for each successful day

indeterminate sentencing

• used mark system to allow early release after demonstrating reform

• not shown to be more effective than determinate sentences

determinate sentences

• fixed periods of incarceration, no flexibility

Determinate presumptive sentencing

• specifies exact length of sentence

• imposed by judge

determinate discretionary sentence

• range of time to be served

• cannot be modified by judge

The Arkansas System

• inmates (trusties) in charge of other inmates

• often led to extortion

the progressive era

national focus to improve welfare of the underprivileged

Big House Prisons

prisons made of concrete and steel

• up to six levels high

• operated by machinery

• included guard towers and checkpoints

the medical model

• uses mental health approach to corrections

• criminality viewed as a result of treatable deficiency

• found to be more of a management process, not a method of rehabilitation

reintegration model

• maintained that external environments caused criminality

• focused on reintegrating offenders into society

Martinson report

• Martinson examined and wrote about various reform programs

• reported they had limited effects on recidivism

crime control model

• “get tough” era in the 80s, War on Drugs

• assembly line model

• hight arrest rate

• goal = efficiency

• utilized longer sentences, death penalty, supervised probation

• use of determinate sentences limited judicial discretion

• too ambitious, expensive, leads to overcrowding

Inmates in federal prisons

• over half are low risk

• convicted of drug crimes

• mostly immigrants due to illegal immigration being a federal crime

inmates in state prisons

• over half convicted of violent crimes

• most common form of corrections

• much smaller budget than federal

Top three

Texas, california, florida

• largest prison systems

• most incarcerated people, around 100,000 each

• most robust economies, which allows for funding of correctional programs

philosophical underpinnings

• retribution

• incapacitation

• deterrence

• rehabilitation

• restorative justice

• reintegration

incapacitation

• deprives offenders of liberty, removal from society

• not cost effective

• decreased crime in 90’s

selective incapacitation

particularly dangerous offenders receive longer sentences

retribution

• implies proportionality of punishments to seriousness of crimes

• enacted by neutral party

deterrence

• prevention by threat of punishment

• mixed effectiveness

general deterrence

intended for observers to see punishment and be discouraged from committing crime

specific deterrence

punishment of specific offender to discourage future crimes

rehabilitation

• offender should be provided means to fulfill constructive functions and be deterred from reoffending

• treatment instead of punishment

• indeterminate sentencing

• most prevalent in 60s and 70s

restorative justice

• interventions focus on restoring health of community, repairing harm, meeting victims’ needs

• offender contributes to repairs

• victim is central in process

reintegration

• focus on reentry of offender into society; connect offenders to legitimate areas of society

• emphasizes contact between offenders and family, community, etc

• aims to reduce recidivism

What is the punishment for the majority of offenders?

• placed on probation or community supervision

Purpose of sanctions

• calibrated sanctions used to ensure proportional punishment

• decrease state correctional budgets

• provide incentives for rehabilitation

Monetary sanctions (Fines)

• monetary penalty imposed by judge or magistrate as punishment

probation

• offenders report to probation officer on a scheduled routine, varying based on specific crime and recidivism risk

incarceration

• holding offender in prison or jail

• most visible penalty

• less than 30% of offenders under supervision are in prison or jails

• viewed as incapacitation

jail

• confinement facilities usually operated and controlled at county-level

• hold persons awaiting adjudication or serving a short sentence

supermax facilities

• holding spaces for most incorrigible

• devoid of deterrent or therapeutic value

smarter sentencing act

• sentence leniency to relieve disparities

• adjusts sentencing guidelines to reduce size of prison population and costs

disparity

inconsistencies in sanctions resulting from decision making process (ex, discrimination)

Classical theory

• appropriate punishment must counterbalance rewards derived from criminal behavior

behavioral theory

• builds with reinforcement and punishments

• certain environmental consequences strengthen or lessen likelihood of a given behavior

Social Learning theory

• contends offenders learn to engage in crime through exposure/adoption of definitions

strain theory/ institutional anomie

• when individuals cannot obtain success, they tend to experience pressure (strain)

• they respond by engaging in criminal behavior

• criminal behavior due to strain in life

• society worsens strain by emphasizing materials over the means to get the material (outcome more important than how you got there)

labeling theory

• individuals become stabilized in criminal roles when labeled as criminals, stigmatized, etc

• important for safety, harmful for reintegration

• crime is higher when shaming is stigmatizing

conflict theory

• inequality and power are central issues underlying crime and control

• karl marx - capitalism prevents improving social standing and economic opportunities

• acts of the poor are crimes, act of the powerful are not

BLM (Black Lives Matter)

• mission to eradicate white supremacy and build local power

social justice theory

all persons should have access to economic resources, political power, social mobility and standing in society

ACA (American Correctional Association)

• advocates for and represents individuals in groups with common goal of improving justice system

hands-off doctrine

• period during which courts avoided intervening in prison operations

• prisons operated by executive branch should not have judicial interference

Ex Parte Hull

• no state or officers could legally interfere with prisoners’ right to apply to federal court for writ of habeas corpus

• writ of habeas corpus - court order to produce the person in custody in a court to provide reasoning for they’re incarceration

Rational basis test

• inmates given alternative to given rights where possible

• staff and inmates bust be affected as minimally as possible

Religious land use and institutionalized persons act of 2000

prohibits government from burdening religious exercise

Fourth Amendment

• protects against unreasonable search and seizures

• inmates have no expectation of privacy

• opposite gender searches permitted, no strip searches

Eighth Amendment

• no excessive bail or fines

• no cruel and unusual punishment

• determined by courts in prison

Fourteenth Amendment

• provides equal protections under the law

• in prison, primarily issues around procedural due process and equal protection

One hand on, One hand off

• inmates do not forfeit constitutional rights, but rights are not as broad as free persons

• officials need to maintain order and security

tort

civil legal injury in which one person causes injury to another as result of violation of one’s duty

• defamation

• emotional distress

• malicious prosecution

• negligence

Requirements to prove liability

• person charged acted under state authority

• person charged violated a right secured by constitution or federal law

official immunity

• legally shielded from a suit

• granted to professions that must pursue duties without undue fear

absolute immunity

for positions requiring unimpaired decision making

qualified immunity

• for correctional and community supervision officers

• act must be discretionary

good faith defense

buffers correctional officer from liability unless officer violated constitutional/federal right

compensatory damages

payments for actual losses suffered by plaintiff

punitive damages

• reserved for offenders harmed in malicious manner by agency

• often added to emphasize seriousness of injury

declaratory judgement

non-monetary award that is judicial determination of legal rights of the person bringing suit

injunction

court order requiring agency to take action or refrain from particular action

consent decree

• injunction with defendant and agency agreeing to work out terms of stated settlement

• allows for mutually agreeable solution

short term jails

• facilities with both pretrial and sentenced inmates

• held for no more than 1 year

lockup

• police-operated facility for arrested individuals held for 24-72 hours

• often not well staffed

• very short term

• first 24-48 hours inmates are most vulnerable to mental health issues and medical complications

stanford prison experiment

• ex of how public sees prisons

• college students assigned to roles as either guards or prisoners

• prisoners treated harshly

• ex of how power is most intense when the public isn’t watching