The Prison System - Essay Example

Likewise, State and federal prison authorities had jurisdiction over 1,613,740 prisoners at yearend 2009: 1,405,622 under state jurisdiction and 208,118 under federal jurisdiction. These surveys were conducted by the BJS to determine the total correctional population of the penitentiaries in the U.S. This includes all persons incarcerated, either in prison or jail, or supervised in the community either on probation or parole. Several different data collections are applied to calculate approximately this population, including the National Prisoner Statistics Program, Annual Survey of Jails, Annual Probation Survey and Annual Parole Survey.

The basic count of the correctional population is updated annually in the Correctional Populations in the United States series. Established as possessing the biggest correctional system in the world the United States of America has a hierarchy of correctional centers. The United States justice system consists of governmental mechanism for adjudicating and processing those who are accused and convicted of numerous crimes. These crimes range from blue-collar crimes up to murder. According to Steve Schoenherr from the University of San Diego, the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia was recognized as the first penitentiary in America in 1770.

Around the 17th to date, the American prison system has completely changed, keeping but a few of the constant principles. Gil (2009) explained that the purpose of the American prison system serves as a last and in most cases immediate resort to secure society from those who have committed minor to major crimes. Regardless if the effect of a person's criminal act is immediate or indirect to society people are still subject to the punishment of the law of this country. The prison system of the United States has clearly changed from its first debut in the late 1700's.

The mission of the prison system in the United States then was to keep society safe from those who were found guilty of crimes in a court of law by confining them in full control of the government. Whether state or federal agencies have control of the accused the principles remain the same. State and federal agencies are charged with keeping the accused in confinement until the judicial system deems necessary according for the seriousness of the crime. The impact of the great penitentiary rivalry on our current prison system includes two systems, he Pennsylvania System and the Auburn System (Gil, 2009).

The Pennsylvania System was supported by the notion of keeping all who were committed to prison behind bars and separated from all other prisoners. Silence and continuous lock down was the theme within this idea. The environment was completely introverted, cold and tough for a person to outlive. This system was allowed or many years later proved not to be effective. The Auburn System was considered less expensive it believed in the use of labor which would self sustain all of the facilities as well as the prison population.

These systems were later proven noneffective forms of punishment. Today, our government as well as society seeks ways to rehabilitate offenders (Gil, 2009). Consequently, the emergence of the private sector in imprisonment has been the product of several factors. The demand for prisons and jails has been growing as a result of tougher sentencing laws and the war on drugs (Viano, n.d.). Given the major costs of this