Week 5
History of Punishment
Punishment → Violation of group norms, rules and laws.
Back then was dealt with by family, clan or head of community.
Society swapped from top-down power to one based on sovereignty of people.
Nearly every society had arrangements for confinement of offenders.
Incarceration held the purpose of holding the offender until punishment took place.
Modern societies structured by formal organization and routinization of both social tasks and life.
Spread of democratic and market capitalism caused questioning in late 1700s of punishments adhering to Classical School thought.
Early 1800s saw several major penal institutions created and reformation of punishment from physical punishment to one of confinement and correction.
Eras of Punishment
Penitentiary era → dominant in 1800s to 1860s;
Development of formal penal system and a heavy reliance on incarceration present.
Two penitentiaries style dominated:
Pennsylvania / separate
Reliance on silence and separation of inmates.
Forced silence and solitude encouraged self-reflection.
Inmates forbidden from visits.
Congregate / Auburn
Loosened rule of silence; congregation during eating and working.
Big difference was complete seclusion from outside world.. no sight, sound or contact with anyone not inside prison walls.
Systems caused mental, emotional, and physical illness and even death.
Reformation Era → Humanitarian approach beginning in the 1870s.
National Prison Association / ACA would address issues related to inmate treatment and prison conditions, advocating for reforms.
Newer principles stressed value of treatment based on personal needs.
Interdeterminate sentencing where inmates could earn their way out of prison by vocational and education training instead of punishment.
Conformity rather than discipline.
Rule of silence stripped and community treatment (parole) introduced.
Elmira Reformatory was the prototype for these progressive approaches, emphasizing rehabilitation over punishment by providing inmates with vocational training and educational opportunities to foster reintegration into society.
Era of Industry → convict labor era lasting until 1930s
Convict labor already pre-existing in both systems.
Craft and factory goods produced and sold to market.
Convict leasing → southern ideological development which spurred from previous enslavement practices, pushing inmates to work for production.
illness, suffering and death.
Chain gangs developed during this era, which were groups of prisoners forced to work on public projects.
Inmates deployment to private-sector businesses.
Era would be halted by 1930s legislation by workers who argued prison work undercut prices on free-market.
Re-introduction of work in 1970s.
Era of Rehabilitation → caused by discontent from great depression, leading to refocus on harsh punishments.
Major prison riots in Illinois, Colorado, New York and Kanas lead to government notice.
Wickersham Commission (1931) → investigation which confirmed prisoner’s grievances.
besides capricious rules and punishments, nothing was really provided.
Rehabilitation philosophy → spurred by Wickersham commission, it emphasized rehabilitation and individual treatment rather than punishments.
Rehabilitation would be followed for 40 years, working in some places and failing in others.
Finding a balance between order and creating an environment amendable to treatment was difficult.
Lost it’s spark after the “get-tough” movements spurred by social issues of the 1960s to 1970s.
Martinson report highlighted the ineffectiveness of rehabilitation, stating that "nothing works" in reducing recidivism.
Era of Retribution → return to more punitive approaches, prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation as the primary response to crime.
Offenders given a finite amount of time and release is not fully tied to reformation or rehabilitation.
Last 35 years during this era, we’ve seen a trend in more severe punishments and decreasing support of rehabilitative efforts.
Re-establishment of lengthier prison times, three-strike policies, and limits on discretion to reduce sentences.
Drug law violators affected most— with majority of them making up prison population.
Era of Re-entry → retaliatory era of era of retribution.
Response to decades of sanctioning practices.
Lead to excessive incarceration rates and strained resources within the correctional system.
Reentry is transitionary period of persons who are soon to be reintegrated into society after incarceration.
Services and programs instilled to support reintegration into society.
Emphasizing rehabilitation efforts and reentry helps cut costs and reduce crowding in prisons.
Many states are struggling due to “get-tough” policies flooding prisons.
Two mechanisms which reduce costs and support re-entry include:
Front-Door options: community-based sanctions like parole and probation.
Back-Door options: early-release mechanisms such as parole, transitional placement in community-based correctional facilities or supervision.
Programs and focus on areas of employment needed.
Roughly 70% of state prisoners have either substance abuse disorder or mental health disorders.
Without systems to support such rehabilitation efforts, individuals may struggle to reintegrate successfully into society, potentially leading to higher recidivism rates and ongoing cycles of incarceration.
Offenders struggle to find employment, stable housing, repairing social ties and life outside of prison.
Re-entry programs need to make connection prior and for a full year after release.
Second Chance Act of 2008: Financial support through federal grants for state and local governments to improve re-entry services.
Prison Populations, Disparities and Costs
1.5 million people represent all those imprisoned.
431 inmates per 100,000 US residents.
1% decrease per year for past four years.
Black residents appear to make up most of the incarcerated population, highlighting significant racial disparities within the prison system.
Imprisonment costs
United States incarcerates more convicted individuals than anywhere else in the world.
Imprisoned also serve longer prison terms due to determinate and mandatory sentencing models.
Mass-incarceration → long lasting phenomenon of systemic issues causing a constant flow of offenders into the criminal justice system.
Hopes are that the more we incarcerate, the less crime we will have. Despite this.. not much has changed.
Local correctional budges found to total over 80 billion dollars when costs only hovered around 17 billion in 1980. Although, we are best expenditure wise.
Prisons have started increasing bed spaces to accommodate for over-crowding.
Mean cost of incarcerating one person for a year averaged $33,274 dollars; including capital expenses and employee wages it could be as high as $65,000
Shockingly lower than Australia, Canada and England!
Many states have started repealing “get-tough” laws to decrease prison populations such as minimum mandatory sentencing laws.
We are seeing a “smart-on-crime” replacement.
Jails / detention centers
Currently 3,300 jails in the United States/
Functions:
Jails and detentions are designed to hold a variety of offenders for a brief period of the time (>1 year).
Counties or municipal governments operate most jails.
Jails are where offenders are housed post-arrest.
they remain until a local judge or magistrate charges them with a crime, grants bail, or releases them with recognition of crime..
Jails house defendants who have been sentenced to less than a year of incarnation.
This alleviates prisons and terms can be on specific days or through community modulation.
Jails can serve as detention centers to temporarily confine a variety of offenders until cases are resolved or progressed to prisons.
Environment:
Jails attend to be chaotic environments and face numbers of problems.
“dumping grounds” for poor, deviant and marginalized folks.
Often fool of those under influence or have untreated mental health conditions.
Lack of knowledge and unavailable resources stress the staff more.
Constant flux of visitors and new inmates as well.
New-Generation Jails (NGJs) → prisons designed to accommodate fewer inmates and increase staff ease.
Inmates lack access to other “pods” and resources area lot more available.
Inmates have access to rooms with TVs, education programs and social opportunities.
Evaluations hinted at decreased recidivism compared to traditional jails.
Mental illness in jails is a major concern with 80% of jails conducting mental health exams and finding 23% of inmates are treated.
Modern Prisons
House individuals who pose considerable risk to community.
Characteristics of Prisons:
Prisons hold those who have committed crimes and typically adults make up the offender population as juveniles typically have a separate prison.
Prisons typically vary in certain specialties, causing specific crimes to be preferable to store them there.
Classification Review is usually done after initial admission and helps determine the security level of the inmate and the institution they need t be admitted to.
Security Classifications:
Supermax → the highest security level of all prisons, the worst of criminals are store here.
Best security and prisoners spend very little time outside besides brief exercise periods.
Maximum level → typically highest security level in states, represented by very bad criminals and several checkpoints and perimeters of safety (barbwire, walls and etc).
Disruptive, and potentially violent criminals.
Close-security → more-rare prison in which prisoners who aren’t fit for maximum security facilities are housed but still require higher maintenance then medium-security.
Disruptive inmates but unlikely to harm others.
Medium-security → represent the most diverse in both architecture and inmate population and routine.
Minimum-security → most open, local and house criminals convicted of nonviolent crimes, those who pose minimum risk or those who are about to leave prison.
Specialized prisons → prisons which are specialized specifically in one form of treatment for prisoners such as mental health, substance abuse and so forth.
Private company intervention in prisons increased during the 1960s.
Private prisons became a thing, which require authorization by government authorities.
Although, usually private companies focus on treatment programs than full prisons themselves.
Security Balance within Prisons
Correctional Officers (guards) maintain the balance in prisons despite being outnumbered heavily by inmates.
Secure custody → the level of physical security provided within a correctional facility to ensure that inmates are properly monitored and controlled.
Prison must be physically secure.
Prison must not allow fighting against guards or other inmates.
Administrators keep in place the functioning of the prison.
Prison Violence and Discipline
Prison violence is often not portrayed correctly.. media lies a lot.
Dependent on populations of inmates and prison setting.
Coercion is actually more used than full on violence in prisons.
Disciplinary actions are often negative punishments— loss of certain privileges, forced into solitary confinement or change in security status.
Prison programs → programs which can help reward good credit or days off sentencing.
These vary from vocational to education to even religious classes.