Chapter 1: What Is Corrections?

Growth and Scope of American Corrections

• Between $1973$ and $2010$, the U.S. corrections system grew more than six-fold, representing an unprecedented expansion in modern U.S. history.

• In $1973$, the state prison incarceration rate was $96$ per $100{,}000$ residents; by $2008$, the imprisonment rate reached $506$ per $100{,}000$.

• Total incarceration (prisons and jails combined) exceeds $2.2\text{ million}$ individuals, translating to an incarceration rate of nearly $700$ per $100{,}000$ residents (approximately $1\text{\%}$ of all U.S. adults).

• Approximately $70\text{\%}$ of all individuals under correctional supervision reside in the community on probation or parole rather than in correctional facilities.

• Annual state and national correctional expenditures exceed $\text{\\textdollar}50\text{ billion}$ to $\text{\\textdollar}70\text{ billion}$, employing over $700{,}000$ administrators, officers, and support staff.

• Disproportionate impacts exist across racial groups: nearly one-third of African American men in their twenties are under some form of correctional control, and one in six African American males has served time in prison.

• Recent data indicates potential shifts: state prison populations dropped over $2\text{\%}$ between $2009$ and $2012$, and state expenditures decreased nearly $10\text{\%}$ between $2002$ and 2012$.\n\n# Systems Framework and Purpose of Corrections\n\n* Corrections comprises all programs, services, facilities, and organizations responsible for managing individuals accused or convicted of criminal offenses.\n* The central purpose of corrections is to execute criminal sentences while serving twin goals: fair punishment and community protection.\n* Punishment functions as a formal mechanism of social control, defining behavioral boundaries and enforcing societal norms.\n* Corrections operates as a system—a complex whole consisting of interdependent parts functioning within dynamic external environments.\n* Key system characteristics include interconnectedness (processes like sentencing, classification, supervision, and revocation directly affect other subunits), goal conflict, reliance on feedback, and operational complexity across federal, state, county, and municipal jurisdictions.\n* Under American federalism, state and local governments bear over 90 ext{\%}$of all correctional costs and manage the vast majority of offenders, while federal supervision accounts for roughly$1 ext{\%}$of probationers,$10 ext{\%}$of parolees, and$11 ext{\%} of state/federal prisoners.\n\n# Historical Eras of American Corrections\n\n* **Colonial Period (1620$\text{--}$1776$):** Utilized English legal practices including banishment, fines, corporal punishment, and capital punishment. In$1682$, William Penn introduced "The Great Law" based on Quaker principles prioritizing hard labor in houses of correction, which was replaced in$1718$by the Anglican Code listing$13 capital offenses.\n* **Arrival of the Penitentiary (1790 ext{s}$\text{--}$1860 ext{s}$):** Influenced by John Howard's *The State of Prisons in England and Wales* ($1777$) and the English Penitentiary Act of$1779. Built on two primary systems:\n * *Pennsylvania System (Separate Confinement):* Exemplified by Eastern State Penitentiary (1822); emphasized complete isolation, in-cell craft work, religious contemplation, and penitence.\n * *New York / Auburn System (Congregate System):* Pioneered by Warden Elam Lynds (1821); featured solitary confinement at night and collective, silent labor in workshops during the day enforced by strict discipline, lockstep, and physical punishment.\n * *Southern and Western Variants:* Following the Civil War, southern states established the lease system, contracting inmate labor to private contractors for agriculture, logging, and mining.\n* **Reformatory Movement (1860 ext{s}$\text{--}$1890 ext{s}$):** Launched at the$1870$Cincinnati meeting of the National Prison Association, adopting the Declaration of Principles. Incorporated Alexander Maconochie's mark system and indeterminate sentencing. Zebulon Brockway opened Elmira Reformatory ($1876), utilizing individualized education, vocational training, a three-grade classification system, and parole.\n* **Progressive Era and Medical Model (1890 ext{s}$\text{--}$1960 ext{s}$):** Applied the positivist school of criminology, viewing crime as a product of social, economic, psychological, or biological factors. The medical model ($1930 ext{s}) treated offenders as patients requiring psychological diagnosis, classification, and clinical therapy.\n* **Community Corrections Model (1960 ext{s}$\text{--}$1970 ext{s}$):** Spurred by civil rights movements and events like the$1971$Attica Correctional Facility riot (which resulted in$39 deaths). Emphasized community reintegration, decarceration, probation expansion, and community-based services.\n* **Crime Control Model (1970 ext{s}$\text{--}$2010 ext{s}$):** Prompted by rising crime rates and Robert Martinson's ($1974) review indicating limited rehabilitative effectiveness. Prioritized deterrence, risk containment, determinate sentencing, mandatory minimums, and expanded incarceration.\n* **Emerging Rational Strategies:** Modern policies prioritize evidence-based corrections, cost-containment research, prisoner reentry programs, and justice reinvestment strategies that redirect prison savings into community crime prevention. State initiatives include California's 2011$Public Safety Realignment (along with Proposition 36 in$2012$and Proposition 47 in$2014$$) and Texas's investment in community treatment facilities.