Incarceration: Prison and Inmates

Law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes.

This confinement, whether before or after a criminal conviction, is called incarceration. Incarceration is one of the main forms of punishment for the commission of illegal offenses. Juveniles and adults alike are subject to incarceration. Incarceration is the detention of a person in a jail or prison. The federal, state, and local governments have facilities to confine people.Individuals awaiting trial, being held pending citations for non-custodial offenses, and those convicted of misdemeanors (crimes which carry a sentence of less than one year), are generally held in jails. These less serious offenses may receive a short term sentence to be served in a local jail or to alternative forms of sanctions, such as community corrections (halfway house or house arrest). There are other facilities for housing offenders.

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Facilities for holding convicted felons (offenders who commit crimes where the sentence is more than one year) are known as prisons.Prisons operate at different levels of security, ranging from minimum-security prisons (mainly house non-violent offenders) – to Supermax facilities (that house the more dangerous criminals). The motives for incarceration has received much debate as to its effectiveness and fairness.

This can be because the police can arrest and temporarily incarcerate a person charged with a minor offense that is punishable by a fine and no incarceration. The procedures leading to incarceration in jail, prison, or community sanctions may vary. HistoryAccording to Peter Spierenburg, a Dutch justice historian, a form of punishment that emerged around the year 1500 was penal bondage, which included all forms of incarceration. Spierenburg defined bondage as “any punishment that puts severe restrictions on the condemned person’s freedom of action and movement, including but not limited to imprisonment”. Several forms of penal bondage were imposed on criminals, vagrants, debtors, social misfits and others including forced labor on public works projects and forced conscription into military campaigns. The French developed one of the earliest forms of incarceration.

In France, prisoners were routinely assigned to French warships as galley slaves. This went on for at least 200 years. By the mid-1700s, they had begun to put convict to work in the shipyards. These prisoners were sheltered in arsenals at night were they slept chained to their beds. In the 1600s and 1700s, Germany and Switzerland practiced the public-works penalty with great popularity. After corporal punishments, but before modern imprisonment, stood the workhouse or the house of correction. The development of workhouses was originally a humanitarian move intended to manage the unsettling social conditions in England.Bridewell was the first workhouse established in England.

When workhouses were first enacted prisoners were paid for their work. Work included spinning, weaving, cloth making, the milling of grains, and baking. However, as the number of prisoners grew, the workhouse systems began to deteriorate. AREAS OF INCARCERATION The federal, state, and local governments have laws about confining people.

These governments follow their own set of laws that coincide with each others. After an offender has been convicted, they are placed into one of three areas of incarceration: the federal, the state, and local.Local laws are created by smaller political entities such as counties, townships, cities and towns. They are usually about zoning rules, parking and smaller things. These are civic infractions that might involve fines and/or jail time of no longer that a year. Local laws usually coincide with incarceration in a local jails.

Federal/State Prison Systems When it comes to the prison system, there are two basic types: the federal and state systems. The federal system are governed by the federal laws. Whereas, the state system follows the laws, established by each states government.Federal laws are those laws that are passed by the federal government and enforced by the U. S . Government Agencies. These are laws against the federal government. The penalties may range from long or short prison sentences in federal prison and may include fines.

The federal prison system is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, created by Congress in 1930 and administered by the U. S. Department of Justice (Roberts, 1994). Federal inmates are those convicted of federal offenses, such as kidnapping, bank robbery, and tax evasions, as well as various violent crimes and drug violations.State laws are those that are passed and enforced by the state. They cannot contradict the federal laws and apply only to that specific state. The state enforcement agencies also have a duty to insure that federal laws are not being broken. Most criminal laws are state created and penalties include fines and short or long prison incarceration.

State prisons are operated state officials, usually under the direction of a state commissioner of corrections (or secretary of correction) who is appointed by the governor. State inmates are those convicted of criminal statues enforced by that particular state.These penalties differ from state to state for like offenses. Juvenile Incarceration Another area of incarceration is juvenile delinquent incarceration. Juvenile delinquents are minors that are charged with crimes that if committed by adults would not be considered a crime. Juvenile delinquent incarceration is usually a local or state matter, but it can fall under the federal guidelines. Juvenile delinquents are confined in youth detention center, also known as juvenile hall.

These are secure residential facility for young people, often termed juvenile delinquents, awaiting court hearings and/or placement in ong-term care facilities and programs. Juveniles are held in detention centers to ensure appearance in court and to protect public safety if less restrictive alternatives are not available or appropriate.The state or local jurisdiction is usually responsible for providing education, recreation, health, assessment, counseling and other intervention services with the intent of maintaining a youth’s well-being during his or her stay in custody. More intensive treatment and remedial activities are usually made available in dispositional facilities for sentenced youth, e. . , training schools, rehabilitation centers, correctional facilities. There is a form of secure detention that is reserved for juveniles considered to be a threat to public safety or the court process. These status offenders, juveniles charged with running away from home, alcohol possession, and other offenses that are not crimes if committed by adults, may only be held for short periods (six hours or less according to federal regulations) while initial case investigation is completed and other alternatives are arranged.

JAILSA jail is a correctional institutional used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the state, including accused persons awaiting trial and those who have been convicted of a crime and are serving a sentence of less than one year. Most persons spend only a few hours or a few days in jail. This might be their sentence or the holding may occur before the person is released or transferred to other institutions. Jails are usually small penitentiaries that are run by individual countries and cities. However, jails in larger communities may be as large and hold as many inmates as regular prisons. Jails may be called detention centers.History The pretrial detention of accused criminals is an ancient practice.

Persons accused of crimes in England, from the fifth to the tenth century, were confined in jail until the end of trial. That was unless they had property to pledge. If they pledged property, the court held it in order to ensure the offenders appearance at trial, and they were released from jail.

After the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, local sheriffs determined who deserved pretrial release. The sheriffs arbitrated legal cases in the shire courts on behalf of the king, extracted tax payments and were generally responsible for keeping the peace.This practice continued until the thirteenth century. The change happened when widespread favoritism and abuse by the sheriffs led to the enactment of uniform procedures concerning pretrial release.

In 1166, King Henry II of England is believed to have ordered the first jail built. The purpose of that jail was to detain offenders until they could be brought before a court, tried, and sentenced. Built in 1776, the first jail in America was the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia.

The jail was designed to hold groups of inmates in large rooms, without regard sex, age, or offense.There was little regard for their physical well-being. The Walnut Street Jail was to be a place where inmates reformed themselves through reflections and remorse, according to the Philadelphia Quakers. However, there weren’t any attempts to rehabilitate the inmates. The jail was overcrowded and dirty, and the inmates attacked each other regularly. The inmates that served their sentences came out of the Walnut Street Jail more inclined toward the criminal life than they were before their incarceration. Pretrial Detention A person confined to jail while awaiting trial is called a pretrial detainee.

Many criminal offenders are released a few hours after being incarcerated. If they agree to return for future proceedings. Other offenders are released after the first hearing before a judge who orders them to return for future court hearings. A judge may order a defendant to be held in jail until they pay a sum of money (bail) in order to secure their appearance at future proceedings. An offender held on bail might obtain a release from jail by paying the bail amount in full, or by paying a percentage of the bail amount to a licensed bail agent, who then pays the full amount to the court.If the offender is unable to post bail, he or she is held in jail until the case is resolved. The judge might deny bail and order the defendant held until the case is resolved, when the alleged crime is particularly heinous. An offender may be confined in jail for several months or even years.

This is dependant on the size and complexity of the case. Pretrial detention is not regarded by the courts as a form of punishment. However, for those experiencing it pretrial detention is a punishing experience. That punishing experience is often reserved for those who cannot secure their release through monetarily means. Order MaintenanceSome jails have different wings for certain types of offenders, like prisons.

Inmates are classified by corrections personnel before being assigned to a level of security. Jails usually house offenders with varying or unknown histories and propensities for violence or disciplinary problems. Jails have work programs for inmates who demonstrates good behavior.

Jails are typically operated by city or county governments, and house prisoners who are being detained before trial or serving sentences less than one year. Many jails operate their booking and receiving units at a relatively high level of correctional security.This is a witness of a disproportionately large amount of violence and disciplinary problems. There are three main styles of order maintenance in jails: intermittent surveillance, remote surveillance, and direct supervision. Intermittent Surveillance involves rows of cells along security corridors. These corridors are patrolled by staff providing periodic observation.

Most problems occur between these intermittent patrols. Remote Surveillance involves cells and their corresponding dayrooms divided into “pods” which are under constant supervision by jail staff from a central control room.Staff in the central control room commonly observe three to four “pods” at one time.

The most recently conceived supervisory style is direct supervision. Direct Supervision relies on the staff’s ability to control this behavior and for facility management to create detention environments that facilitate the staff’s effectiveness. This style is also the most cost effective of the three. PRISONS A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and deprived of a range of personal freedoms. An individual is placed in a prison when convicted of a crime with a sentence of a year or more.A prison houses individuals for longer periods of time following convictions for a more serious offense. Prisons are also called correctional facilities or penitentiaries. Prisons are conventional institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country.

The main purpose is that imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty imposed upon those, by the state, for the criminal offense committed. Prison might be used for internment of that not charged with a crime. Prisoners were used, in the past, to detain political prisoners and enemies of the state as a tool of political repression.Emergence of Prisons People have been imprisoned throughout history. Imprisoning has not been a punishment in itself, but rather a way to confine criminals until corporal or capital punishment was administered.

There were prisons used for detention in Jerusalem in Old Testament times. Dungeons were used to hold prisoners. The modern prison system was born in London, as a result of the views of Jeremy Bentham. The notion of prisoners being incarcerated as part of their punishment, and not simply as a holding state until trial or hanging, was at the time revolutionary.Before the Constitution was written in 1789, there were no prisons in the United States. Convicted criminals were sentenced to forms of punishments the were vastly different than incarceration. There were strict and unusual punishment for serious crimes.

These punishments included banishment from the community; public pillory, which was detention in a wood device that held the head and hands by closing around the neck and wrists; and corporal punishment , which was designed to disfigure the offender using measures such as whipping, branding, or slicing off the body part thought to be responsible for the crime.The most serious crimes were punishable by death. Two main elements fueled the development of prisons. The first element was a philosophical shift away from punishment of the soul or human spirit. The second element fueling the development of modern prisons was the passage of laws preventing the imprisonment of anyone except criminals. Bridewell Prison In 1555, London’s Bridewell Prison became the first institution of its kind to control youthful beggars and vagrants. Based on an underlying theme of achieving discipline, deterrence and rehabilitation through work and severe punishment.Bridewell’s goals were “to make [wayward youths] earn their keep, to reform them by compulsory work and discipline, and to deter others from vagrancy and idleness” (Grunhut, 1948, p.

15). The success of Bridewell led Parliament, in 1576, to pass a law calling for Bridewell-type institutions in every county. Model after the first prison, the Bridewells combined the principles of the workhouse and the poorhouse, as well as the penal institutions’ formalities.

These Bridewells confined both children and adults who were considered idle and disorderly. Walnut Street JailThe first prison in the United States was built in Philadelphia in 1790, when the Walnut Street Jail added sixteen new cell for the confinement of convicted criminals and workshops. Designed to hold individual prisoners, the additional cells were built in the courtyard of the existing jail. These cells were designed to present prisoners from communicating with each other. Established by the nonviolent Quakers as an alternative to capital punishment, the prison was originally intended to be a progressive setting for hard work, reflection, self-examination, and spiritual guidance.The Quakers wanted the jail to be a place, where the inmates reformed themselves through reflection and remorse.

In 1798, a fire destroyed the workshops at Walnut Street. However, by the 1820s, Walnut Street prison had become the punishment most feared by criminal defendants. Federal, state, and local governments were free to confine convicts and accused criminals in the most inhumane of conditions. A convict was considered a slave of the state, with no rights other than to be kept alive. In October of 1835, the Walnut Street Jail closed. PRISON CONDITIONS In the past, inmates had to endure brutal living conditions.They were abused and forced to live in deplorable environments. Before the establishment of civil treatment condition, violence against prisoners was common.

Prisoners were beaten with leather straps; forced to consume milk of magnesia; handcuffed to fences or cells for long periods in uncomfortable positions; made to stand, sit, or lie on crates or stumps for long periods, and shot at, to force them to keep moving or to remain standing. In one prison, officials made inmates strip naked, hosed them down with water, and then turned a fan on them while they were naked and wet.The main responsibility of prisons is to physically confine and deprive an individual of a range of personal freedoms. Prisons aren’t expected to be a comfortable place for inmates. Male and female prisoners are typically kept in separate locations or prisons altogether. Prison accommodation, especially modern prisons in the developed world, are often divided into wings identified by a name, number, or letter. These wings may be further divided into landings that are essentially “floors” containing up to thirty cells.

Cells are the smallest prison accommodation, each holding at least one or two prisoners. Cells which hold more than three or four prisoners may be known as dormitories. A building holding more than one wing is known as a “hall”. Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire, electrified fencing, secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers, lighting, motion sensors, dogs, and roving patrols may all also be present depending on the level of security.

Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints, non-lethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility. Modern prison designs, particularly those of high-security prisons, have sought to increasingly restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout the facility while minimizing the corrections staffing needed to monitor and control the population. The prison building are usually constructed of several tiers comprising of long rows of cells.The cells are made of three stone walls and one barred wall-that is the doorway as well. The cells are about eight feet wide, 11 feet long, and ten feet high. The cells contain two beds, usually set up in bunk bed style.

There is a sink and toilet in each cell. LEVELS OF SECURITY When an offender is incarcerated the officials of the institution must establish the security level requirement for the individual. Prisoners are placed in different facilities that vary by security levels. This includes the security measures, administration of inmates, types of housing, and the weapons and tactics used by correctional officers.The federal government’s Bureau of Prisons uses a numbered scale from one to five to represent the security level. Level five is the most secure, while level one is the least.

State prison systems operate a similar system, except the numbered scale is categorized from minimum to super-maximum. Super Maximum Security Super Maximum Security (SuperMax) prison facilities provides the highest level of prison security. This custody level surpasses maximum by segregating the “worst of the worst” criminals and terrorists who pose a threat to national security.

These include inmates who have committed assaults, murders, or other serious violations in less secure facilities, and inmates known to be or accused of being prison gang members. SuperMax inmates have individual cells. These inmates are kept in 23 hour lockdown each day and are only permitted out of their cell for one hour of exercise per day, alone. These inmates are not permitted contact with other inmates. SuperMax prisoners may be placed under constant surveillance via closed-circuit television cameras.

Under the Supermax imprisonment, 23 hour confinement is not the harshest confinement.There is the ultramax part of it. This features permanent 24 hour solitary confinement with rare human contacts or opportunity to earn better conditions through good behavior. Maximum Security Maximum security prisons are also called close/high security prison.

Maximum security prison is a prison designed, organized, and staffed to confine the most dangerous offenders for long periods. In maximum security, inmates present serious escape risks or pose serious threat to themselves, to other inmates, to staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Under maximum security, prisoners are kept in high security perimeters.It provides a maximum external and internal control and supervision of inmates. This is done by imposing strict controls on the movement of inmates and visitors, and it offers few programs, amenities, or privileges. In a maximum security area, the prisoners have individual cells with sliding doors controlled from a secure remote control station. Prisoners are allowed out of their cells one out of twenty-four hour, remaining in the cell block or an exterior cage. Movement out of the cell block was tightly restraints and escorts by correctional officers.

Inmates may leave their cells for work assignments or correctional programs.Medium Security Under medium security facilities, inmates may present a moderate escape risk or may pose a threat to other inmates, staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Prisoners that fall into the medium security group have fewer controls. Prisoners may serve short or long sentences. Medium security prisoners may sleep in dormitories on bunk beds with lockers to store their possessions. They may have communal showers, toilets, and sinks. Dormitories are locked at night with one or more correctional officers supervising. There is less supervision over the internal movements of prisoners.

Minimum SecurityA minimum security prison confines the least dangerous offenders for both short and long periods. Inmates in the minimum security level are not considered a serious risk to the safety to staff, inmates or to the public. These inmates are mainly non-violent “white collar criminals”. This level of security allows as much freedom of movement and as many privileges and amenities as are consistent with the goals of the facility. Minimum security prisoners live in less-secure dormitories, which are regularly patrolled by correctional officers. As in medium security facility, they have communal showers, toilets, and sinks.Inmates at this level are mandated to participate in programs geared toward their potential reintegration into the community.

Pre-release/Work Release The lowest level is minimum, but there is a lower level within minimum security that is pre-release. Pre-release reflects the goal of restoring to the inmate the responsibility and control of their own behavior and actions prior to their release. Inmates within this level often work on community projects. These projects may include roadside cleanup crew and/or working at the cites of government projects.Direct supervision of these inmates is not required.

However, intermittent observation may be appropriate under certain conditions. Inmates within this level may be permitted to access the community unescorted to participate in programming to include, but not limited to work release. At this stage, pre-release has been used interchangeability with the term work release.

Work release is a concept that was introduced in the state of Wisconsin in 1913 under the Huber Law program, which continues to be the casual name of Wisconsin’s work release program presently.In the prison systems, work release programs allow a prisoner who is sufficiently trusted or can be sufficiently monitored to leave confinement to continue working at his or her current place of employment, returning to prison when his/her shift is complete. INCARCERATION ALTERNATIVES Because the cost associated with incarceration, some criminals are not being prosecuted for certain crimes. Instead they are placed under intermediate sanctions as alternatives to in-house incarceration. These alternatives were established to provide an ease on the financial and housing problems. ProbationThe concept of probation derived from the Latin word probatio, “testing,” has historical roots in the practice of judicial reprieve. Probation is a sentence that is imposed by a court in lieu of incarceration.

A criminal who is “on probation” has been convicted of a crime but has served only part of the sentence in jail, or has not served time at all. Probation as a criminal sentence was the product of a reform movement in the criminal justice system in the early twentieth century. Part of this movement was devoted to the abolishment of determinate sentencing or the legislative imposition of specific sentences for specific crimes.The reform movement fought for indeterminate sentencing, a method that left sentencing to the discretion of the judge and allowed the judge to fashion a sentence according to the rehabilitative needs of the criminal defendant.

Probation can be traced to the English criminal law of the Middle Ages. Harsh punishments were imposed on adults and children alike for offenses that were not always of a serious nature. Sentences such as branding, flogging, mutilation, and execution were common. During the time of King Henry VIII, for instance, no less than 200 crimes were punishable by death, many of which were minor offenses.

An 18th century English barrister and judge, Matthew Davenport Hill, is the most commonly associated with the founding of probation in England. As a young professional in England, Hill had witnessed the sentencing of youthful offenders to one-day terms on the condition that they be returned to a parent or guardian who would closely supervise them. When he eventually became the Recorder of Birmingham, a judicial post, he used a similar practice for individuals who did not seem hopelessly corrupt. If offenders demonstrated a promise for rehabilitation, they were placed in the hands of generous guardians who willingly took charge of them.Hill had police officers pay periodic visits to these guardians in an effort to track the offender’s progress and to keep a running account. Eventually, the courts began the practice of “binding over for good behavior,” a form of temporary release during which offenders could take measures to secure pardons or lesser sentences. In English common law, the courts could temporarily suspend the execution of a sentence to allow a criminal defendant to appeal to the monarch for a pardon. However, in the United States, particularly in Massachusetts, different practices toward probation were being developed.

John Augustus, the “Father of Probation,” is recognized as the first true probation officer. Augustus was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1785. By 1829, he was a permanent resident of Boston and the owner of a successful boot-making business. It was undoubtedly his membership in the Washington Total Abstinence Society that led him to the Boston courts. Washingtonians abstained from alcohol themselves and were convinced that abusers of alcohol could be rehabilitated through understanding, kindness, and sustained moral persuasion, rather then through conviction and jail sentences.Augustus persuaded a judge in the Boston police court in 1841 to give him custody of a convicted offender, a “drunkard,” for a brief period rather than sending him to prison and then helped the man to appear rehabilitated by the time of sentencing.

His efforts of reforming his first charge were successful, and he soon convinced the court to release other offenders into his supervision. However, this first unofficial probation officer did not perform his altruistic work without controversy. His efforts actually were resisted by police, court clerks, and turnkeys who were paid only when offenders were incarcerated (Klein, 1997).Several conditions of probation must be meet in order for an offender to receive it.

The most crucial one is that he or she lead a law-abiding life. An offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, under the supervision of a probation officer. He or she is ordinarily required to refrain from subsequent possession of firearms, and may be ordered to remain employed, abide to a curfew, live at a directed place, obey the orders of the probation officer, or not leave the jurisdiction.The probationer may be ordered as well to refrain from contact with the victims (such as a former partner in a domestic violence case), with potential victims of similar crimes (such as minors, if the instant offense involves child sexual abuse), or with known criminals, particularly co-defendants. The offender on probation may be fitted with an electronic tag, which signals her or his whereabouts to officials, and it is very common for offenders to be ordered to submit to alcohol/drug testing or to participate in alcohol/drug or psychological treatment, or to perform Community Service work.Parole Parole, from the French parole, meaning “word of honor,“ is the conditional release of a prisoner after serving a potion of his or her sentence in a correctional institution.

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. Parole should not be confused with probation, as parole is serving the remainder of a sentence outside of prison, where probation is given instead of a prison sentence and as such, tends to place more rigid obligations upon the individual serving the term.Prior to the mid-nineteenth century most offenders were sentenced to flat or determinate sentences in prison. Under this type of sentencing, an offender received a specific amount of time to serve in prison for a specific crime. This created a major problem when prisons became crowded. Governors were forced to issue mass pardons or prison wardens had to randomly release offenders to make room for entering prisoners.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the ideal of individualized punishment was carried out predominantly by means of indeterminate sentencing and delegation of authority to parole boards.Judges essentially extricated themselves from the day-to-day business of individualization by sentencing convicted offenders to a wide range of imprisonment and affording corrections administrators and parole boards wide discretion to decide about rehabilitation and release. Parole has had an evolving since of history. There are three individuals that can be linked to the key development of parole: Alexander Maconochie, Sir Walter Crofton, and Zebulon Brockway. An Englishman, Captain Alexander Maconochie, and an Irishman, Sir Walter Crofton are credited for developing the early systems of parole.Alexander Maconochie, a Scottish geographer and captain in the British Royal Navy, introduced the idea of parole, in 1840. Maconochie was appointed superintendent of the English penal colonies in Norfolk Island, Australia. At the time, English criminals were being transported to Australia and those sent to Norfolk Island were considered “twice condemned”; they had been shipped to Australia from England and from Australia to the island.

Conditions were so bad that, allegedly, men who received reprieves from the death penalty wept. Alexander Maconochie eliminated the flat sentence structure used in Norfolk at the time of his arrival.Instead of requiring convicts to serve their sentences with no hope of release until the full sentence had been served, Maconochie created the mark system. Under the mark’s system, prisoners can earn credit for good behavior, thereby reducing the length of their sentences. The earned marks could be used to purchase either goods or a reduction in sentence. Maconochie developed the plan to prepare them for eventual return to society that involved three grades. The first two consisted of promotions earned through good behavior, labor, and study.

The third grade in the system involved conditional liberty outside of prison while obeying rules. Prisoners had to pass through a series of stages beginning with strict imprisonment through conditional release to final freedom. Movement through the stages was dependent upon the number of marks accredited. A violation would return them to prison and starting all over again through the ranks of the three grade process. Sir Walter Crofton, who, influenced by Maconochie’s mark system, introduced the Irish system in 1854 while serving as director of the Irish prison system.Like Maconochie, Sir Walter Crofton believed the length of the sentence should not be an arbitrary period of time but should be related to the rehabilitation of the offender. After becoming the administrator of the Irish Prison System in 1854, Crofton initiated a system incorporating three classes of penal servitude: strict imprisonment, indeterminate sentences, and tickets-of-leave. Strict imprisonment, known as solitary confinement, is a punishment or special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding members of prison staff.

The practice is considered to be necessary for prisoners who are considered dangerous to other people (“the most predatory” prisoners), those who might be capable of leading crime groups even from within, or those who are kept ‘incommunicado’ for purported reasons of national security. It may be used for prisoners who are at high risk of being attacked by other inmates, such as pedophiles, witnesses, or celebrities who are in prison themselves. This latter form of solitary confinement is sometimes referred to as protective custody.An indeterminate system is a system which has infinitely many solutions or no solutions at all. This indeterminate system or Irish system, as it came to be known, permitted convicts to earn marks to move from solitary confinement. Under the Irish system, good behavior can earn a prisoner the ability to a return to the community on a conditional pardon or ticket-of-leave. Zebulon Brockway, a Michigan penologist, is usually credited with initiating indeterminate sentences and parole release in the United States.

He is sometimes regarded as the “father of prison reform”.Like Maconochie and Crofton, Brockway believed inmates should be able to earn their way out of prison through good behavior. Thus, they should receive a sentence that could vary in length depending upon their behavior in prison. In his opinion, this had two advantages. First, it would provide a release valve for managing prison populations. Second it would be valuable in reforming offenders because they would be earning release by demonstrating good behavior. Brockway had the opportunity to pioneer this proposal into practice in 1876 when he was appointed superintendent of Elmira Reformatory for youthful offenders in New York.

While warden at the Elmira Reformatory in upstate New York, Brockway introduced a program of education, training in useful trades, physical activity, indeterminate sentences, inmate classification, and an incentive program. Inmates at Elmira were graded on their conduct, achievement, and education. On the basis of their behavior in the reformatory, they were given parole. Volunteer “guardians” supervised the parolees and submitted written reports documenting their behavior in the community. A condition of the parole was that the offender report to the guardian each month.After serving part of a sentence, a prisoner can win parole, release from a correctional facility into a community where he or she will finish the sentence under close supervision. The parole review board will grant the prisoner’s release only after a hearing.

A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. A parole board consists of people qualified to make judgments about the suitability of a prisoner for return to free society.Members may be judges, psychiatrists, or criminologists. A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead who presides over a court of law, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders.

All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy. A criminologist is often defined as someone who studies crime, criminal behavior, types of crime, and social, cultural and media reactions to crime. The term criminologist generally efers to someone who does scholarly, scientific and professional study concerning the etiology, prevention, control, and treatment of crime and delinquency, measurement of crime, law enforcement, judicial, and correctional systems. It may also refer to the study of victims of crime.

The parole board holds a hearing to assess the readiness of each inmate for parole after one-sixth of his or her sentence has been served, or, in the case of sentences of less than three years, after one year. Day parole or temporary absences may begin to be used after this time.Each case is again reviewed after one-third of a sentence has been served.

Inmates do not have to apply to be heard, but may waive the hearing in writing if they choose to do so. Inmates serving longer sentences, who have been refused parole, may apply again for a hearing after six months. If they do not apply, the board must review their case within two years. Inmates of provincial institutions must apply for parole and are eligible for consideration after one-sixth of their sentence has been served.However, there are no mandatory parole hearings at any stage for provincial inmates, as there are for federal inmates.

When conditional release is approved, the inmate must sign a document that sets out the conditions of release, including supervision. Apart from extraordinary circumstances, virtually every inmate can expect to be released before completing the sentence imposed by the court. The Board may suspend or revoke the parole of any person under its jurisdiction who has violated parole.The board parole hearing also conducts certification, placement, and parole revocation hearings for mentally disordered offenders and considers requests from foreign born inmates who wish to be transferred to their country of citizenship to serve the remainder of their sentences. Halfway House The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a elease directly into society. Some halfway houses are meant solely for reintegration of persons who have been recently released from prison or jail, others are meant for people with chronic mental health disorders, and most others are for people with substance abuse issues. These sober halfway houses are many times voluntary places of residence and many of the residents may have no criminal record whatsoever. Some neighborhood are opposed to where halfway houses attempt to locate.

Most programs in the United States make a distinction between a halfway house and a sober/recovery house.A halfway house has an active rehabilitation treatment program run throughout the day, where the residents receive intensive individual and group counseling for their substance abuse while they establish a sober support network, secure new employment, and find new housing. Residents stay for one to six months. Their stay is usually financed by their behavioral health insurance. Whereas at places labeled as recovery houses or sober houses for those with substance abuse problems, residents are only asked to remain sober and comply with a minimal recovery program.Residents pay for their own stay. House Arrest House arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence.

House arrest is also called home confinement, home detention, or electronic monitoring. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all. House arrest is a lenient alternative to prison time or juvenile-detention time. Home detention provides an alternative to imprisonment and aims to reduce re-offending while also coping with expanding prison numbers and rising costs.The offenders is allow maintain or acquire employment, family relationships and responsibilities, and attend rehabilitative programs that addressing the causes of their criminal behavior. Offenders are also commonly allowed to leave their homes for specific, pre-determined purposes; examples can include visits to the probation officer or police station, school, religious exceptions and medical appointments. Many programs also allow the convict to leave the residence during regular, pre-approved times in order to carry out general household errands such as grocery shopping and doing laundry.There are several types of house arrest, varying in severity as to the requirements of the court order.

The types are curfew, home confinement or detention, and home incarceration. A curfew may restrict an offender to their house at certain times, usually during hours of darkness. Home confinement or detention requires an offender to remain at home for most hours, apart from pre-approved exceptions. The most serious is home incarceration which constrains an offender to their home continuously, aside from court-sanctioned treatment programs and medical appointments. Electronic MonitoringAn established alternative to incarceration is the employment of an electronic home monitoring system. The individuals essentially are jailed within their own homes, but do not report to the jail at any time for accommodation. Those that qualify for electronic monitoring have first go through a screening process.

The screening process consists of a review of the offenders prior criminal history, drug and alcohol testing, personal interviews for suitability, and so on. When electronic monitoring was first introduced, there was concern that the constitutional rights of offenders might be violated.It was believed that electronic monitoring could infringe on an offender’s rights to privacy and equality under the law. In the United States, the constitutionality of electronic monitoring has been affirmed and these issues are no longer the focus of much debate.

It is generally conceded that offenders are not afforded the same degree of constitutional protection as other citizens. Electronic monitoring candidates wear a bracelet, often around the ankle, that sends a signal to a transmitted box in their homes.The transmitter communicates with centralized monitoring station.

The transmitter is set to allow the individual attached to the electronic monitoring system. There are two basic types of electronic monitoring equipment, continuously signaling and programmed contact. Continuously signaling, or ‘active’ systems have three essential parts: a transmitter, a receiver/dialer and a central computer (Schmidt, 1998). The transmitter is strapped to the offender and broadcasts a coded signal over a telephone line at regular intervals.

The receiver/dialer picks up signals from the offender’s transmitter and reports to a central computer when the signals stop and start. The computer compares any signal interruptions with the offender’s curfew schedule and alerts correctional officials to unauthorized absences. In a programmed contact (or passive) system, a computer is programmed to call the offender at random or at specific times, and then reports on the results of the calls. Programmed contact devices are referred to as ‘passive’ since the offender’s presence at home is only noted when the computer calls.When a call is placed to his or her residence or place of work, an offender may verify his or her presence in a number of ways. Some offenders may wear a device strapped to their wrist that is inserted into a verifier box connected to the telephone to verify that the offender is present when the computer calls (Schmidt, 1998). Some programmed contact systems use voice verification technology that analyzes the offender’s voice when he or she answers a call (NLECTC, 1999).

The voice print recorded at the time of the call is matched to a print recorded when the offender entered the program.Other systems may require the offender to wear a pager and call a specified number when the pager beeps. Caller-ID technology establishes whether the offender is at an approved location (home, work, school, etcetera) at a specific time. None of the monitoring devices currently used can track an offender’s movement.

Rather, they simply confirm whether or not the individual is at an approved place at specific times. Recently, a number of American companies have developed tracking systems for potential use in community corrections.Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology is one means by which offenders could be monitored 24 hours a day. If an offender were to violate the conditions of an electronic monitoring order, the GPS could pinpoint his or her precise location, making the offender’s apprehension by law enforcement authorities a relatively easy task.

Correctional Boot Camps Boot camps are part of the correctional and penal system of some countries. Modeled after military recruit training camps, the programs are based on shock incarceration grounded on military techniques.Boot camps can be governmental as well as private institutions. The shock incarceration is a short-term imprisonment usually applied to a first-time convict under the theory that it may have better rehabilitation results than a mere suspended sentence. The early shock probation programs locked up young adult offenders in the prison population for a brief period so they could get a “real” experience with prison life. In contrast to the boot camps, offenders were mixed with general population offenders, and there were no military aspects.Correctional boot camps, viewed by many as a cost-effective alternative to prison, allow eligible inmates to have their sentence reduced to six months, then be released on parole.

Boot camp programs operate under a military-like routine wherein offenders convicted of less serious, nonviolent crimes are confined for a short period of time, typically from 3 to 6 months. They are given close supervision while being exposed to a demanding regimen of strict discipline, physical training, drill, inspections, and physical labor.Boot camp programs are generally designed for young, nonviolent offenders with their first felony conviction and do not have outstanding felony detainers or warrants. These offenders usually volunteer for the program and must meet physical and mental health requirements. The violent crimes that prohibit an offender from entering the boot camp program are specified, in writing, by many states.

One of the motivators for entering a boot camp program is a reduction in sentence length. Boot camp programs appear to have a focus more easily identified with adults than juveniles.Despite this, many youthful offenders under the age of 18 are considered adults and have been placed within the adult boot camp population, based on the crime. REHABILITATION To a lay person rehabilitation simply means to improve ones health after an illness. Rehabilitation is used synonymously with rehab. Rehab is actually not the same as rehabilitation.

Rehab refers to an individual going through a medical situation. Rehabilitation, however, may refer to a medical condition or a legal association. In legal terms, rehabilitation means to restore to useful life, as through therapy and education.It may mean, as well, to restore to good condition, operation, or capacity.

Rehabilitation is based on the assumption that an individual convicted of an offense are not always going to be criminal. That it is possible to restore a criminal to a useful life, to a life in which they contribute to themselves and to society. There are two main goals of rehabilitation. Recidivism One goal of rehabilitation is to prevent habitual offending, known criminal recidivism. Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior.Whereas with that behavior, they have either experienced negative consequences or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior. It is also known as the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested Resocialization Another goal of rehabilitation is resocialization. Resocialization is a sociological concept dealing with the process of mentally and emotionally “retraining” a person so that an individual can operate in an environment other than that which they are accustomed to.

The goal of resocialization is a complete change of personality. Resocialization is a two-part process.First, is the erosion of the inmates identities and independence. Strategies to erode identities include forcing individuals to surrender all personal possessions, get uniform haircuts and wear standardized clothing.

Independences is eroded by subjecting residents to humiliating and degrading procedures. The second part of resocialization process involves the systematic attempt to build a different personality or self. This is generally done through a system of rewards and punishments. The privilege of being allowed to read a book, watch television or make a phone call can be a powerful motivator for conformity.Conformity occurs when individuals change their behavior to fit in with the expectations of an authority figure or the expectations of the larger group. SUMMARY Incarceration is the detention of a person in a jail or prison.

The federal, state, and local governments have the right to lockup or incarcerate any individual that is suspected of or known to have committed a crime. Incarceration is one of the main forms of punishment for the commission of illegal offenses. This has been the process for thousands of years. Dating back to the time of William the Conqueror in 1066 and King Henry II in 1166 and ever further.One of the earliest form of incarceration was developed by the French, where prisoners were regularly assigned as galley slaves on warships. The federal, state, and local governments have laws about confining people.

Local laws are created by smaller political entities such as counties, townships cities and towns that coincide with incarceration in a local jails. Federal laws are those laws that are passed by the federal government and enforced by the U. S . Government Agencies. The penalties may range from long or short prison sentences in federal prison and may include fines.State laws are those that are passed and enforced by the state and violations of these law includes penalties of fines and short or long prison incarceration.

Jails are usually for those offenders accused or convicted of minor crimes. Jails are for persons awaiting trial or serving sentences of less than one year. These persons awaiting trial are known as pretrial detainee. However, some offenders can spend more than a year in jail facilities, but this is not the common practice.

Jails typically house offenders with varying or unknown histories and propensities for violence or disciplinary problems.Inmates are classified by corrections personnel in the jail before being assigned to a level of security. There are three main styles of order maintenance in jails: intermittent surveillance, remote surveillance, and direct supervision. Prison are for those convicted of a felony. A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and deprived of a range of personal freedoms. These conviction call for sentences of a year or more. In the beginning prison were built for the purpose of training offenders, so that they can better provide for themselves and to their community.Walnut Street Jail was originally built in Philadelphia in 1776.

It became the first prison in the United States, in 1790 when new cells where added to the originally jail. By the 1820s, Walnut Street prison had become the punishment most feared by criminal defendants. Another area of incarceration is juvenile delinquent incarceration. Juvenile delinquent incarceration is usually a local or state matter, but it can fall under the federal guidelines. Juvenile delinquents are confined in youth detention center.

Inmates had to endure brutal living conditions, in the past. They were abused and forced to live in deplorable environments.The main responsibility of prisons is to physically confine and deprive an individual of a range of personal freedoms. Prisons aren’t expected to be a comfortable place for inmates. When an offender is incarcerated in a prison facility, the officials must establish the security level requirement for the individual. The federal government’s Bureau of Prisons uses a numbered scale from one to five to represent the security level.

Level five is the most secure, while level one is the least. State prison systems operate a similar system, except the numbered scale is categorized from minimum to super-maximum.With minimum being the least severe and Supermax being the most severe. A minimum security prison confines the least dangerous offenders. Inmates in the minimum security level are not considered a serious risk to the safety to staff, inmates or to the public. These inmates are mainly non-violent “white collar criminals”.

The lowest level is minimum, but there is a lower level within minimum security that is pre-release. Pre-release reflects the goal of restoring to the inmate the responsibility and control of their own behavior and actions prior to their release.Under medium security facility, inmates may present a moderate escape risk or may pose a threat to other inmates, staff, or the orderly running of the institution. In maximum security, inmates present serious escape risks or pose serious threat to themselves, to other inmates, to staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Maximum security prisons are also called close/high security prison.

SuperMax prison provides the highest level of prison security by segregating the “worst of the worst” criminals and terrorists who pose a threat to national security.These inmates have committed assaults, murders, or other serious violations in less secure facilities, and inmates known to be or accused of being prison gang members. SuperMax inmates are kept under 23 hour lockdown in individual cells each day and are only allowed one hour of exercise per day. The exercise is only permitted in a solo setting. Some criminals are not being incarcerated for certain crimes. Instead they are placed under intermediate sanctions as alternatives to incarceration.

Some of these alternatives include: probation, parole, halfway house, house arrest, electronic monitoring, and correctional boot camps.Probation is a sentence that is imposed by a court in lieu of incarceration. A criminal who is “on probation” has been convicted of a crime but has served only part of the sentence in jail, or has not served time at all. Probation is usually recommended for individuals instead of a prison sentence . Probation can be traced to the English criminal law of the Middle Ages. However, an 18th century English barrister and judge, Matthew Davenport Hill, is the most commonly associated with the founding of probation in England.

Hill had police officers pay periodic visits to the guardians of youthful offenders in an effort to track the offender’s progress and to keep a running account. However, in the United States, particularly in Massachusetts, different practices toward probation were being developed. John Augustus, the “Father of Probation,” is recognized as the first true probation officer. Augustus persuaded a judge in the Boston police court in 1841 to give him custody of a convicted offender, a “drunkard,” for a brief period rather than sending him to prison and then helped the man to appear rehabilitated by the time of sentencing.His efforts at reforming his first charge were successful, and he soon convinced the court to release other offenders into his supervision. Parole should not be confused with probation.

Parole is serving the remainder of a sentence outside of prison. Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. There are three individuals that can be linked to the key development of parole: Alexander Maconochie, Sir Walter Crofton, and Zebulon Brockway. Maconochie created the mark system by which prisoners can earn credit for good behavior, thereby reducing the length of their sentences.

Instead of requiring convicts to serve their sentences with no hope of release until the full sentence had been served. Sir Walter Crofton was influenced by Maconochie’s mark system. Crofton initiated a system incorporating three classes of penal servitude: strict imprisonment, indeterminate sentences, and tickets-of-leave.

Strict imprisonment, known as solitary confinement, is a punishment or special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, except members of prison staff.The indeterminate system (Irish system) permitted convicts to earn marks to move from solitary confinement. Under the Irish system, good behavior can earn a prisoner the ability to a return to the community on a conditional pardon or ticket-of-leave. Like Maconochie and Crofton, Zebulon Brockway believed inmates should be able to earn their way out of prison through good behavior. Brockway believed that this had two advantages.

First, it would provide a release valve for managing prison populations. Second it would be valuable in reforming offenders because they would be earning release by demonstrating good behavior.The purpose of a halfway house is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society. A halfway house has an active rehabilitation treatment program run throughout the day.

In which, the residents receive intensive individual and group counseling for their substance abuse while they establish a sober support network, secure new employment, and find new housing. Residents stay for one to six months. House arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all.House arrest is also called home confinement, home detention, or electronic monitoring. Electronic monitoring candidates wear a bracelet, often around the ankle, that sends a signal to a transmitted box in their homes.

The theory of incarceration is based on the notion that punishment is to be inflicted on an offender so as to reform him/her, or rehabilitate them so as to make their re-integration into society easier. Punishments that adhere with this theory are community service, probation orders, and any form of punishment which entails any form of guidance and aftercare towards the offender.This theory is founded on the belief that one cannot inflict a severe punishment of imprisonment and expect the offender to be reformed and to be able to re-integrate into society upon his release.

Because society wants to protect its citizens, the establishment of facilities were designed. To the common man, jails and prisons are the same thing. However, if you were to ask an individual, that has served time in both, they would tell you in detail the difference.

Author: Blake Henderson

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