Social Reaction to the Prison System - Essay Example

Running Head: THE PRISON SYSTEM Social Reaction to the Prison System of A prison is a place of confinement. People who commit crimes are removed from society and placed in prisons as punishment for their offenses. This paper intends to provide an overview of the prison system with specific reference to the USA’s prevailing practices. It begins with a general introduction and proceeds with a brief history of prison system. An effort has been made to elaborate prison system of USA in detail. During past decade the prison system of USA has been a topic of debate in a number of fields, most specifically, in sociology regarding their role in controlling the crime rate and numerous other related issues. This paper has included this social reaction to prison system as much as possible based on the existing literature Social Reaction to the Prison System Prison: Introduction A prison is a facility maintained for the confinement of convicted felons. Until the 18th century, exile, execution, and various forms of corporal punishment were the most common penalties for criminal acts. Although jails were commonplace, imprisonment was viewed as a temporary restriction rather than the prescribed penalty for crime. Prisons ranged from workhouses for debtors (Bridewell in Britain and the Maison de Force in Belgium) to such institutions as the Hospice of San Michele in Rome, which was primarily designed to incarcerate incorrigible boys. Retribution was acknowledged as the prime motivation for official punishment. (Ahuja, 2007) The Prison System of USA In mid-2003 the total number of convicted criminals in U.S. federal and state prisons and local jails was 2,078,5700, an increase of 2.9% from 2002. There were 1,221,501 inmates in state prisons, 159,275 in federal prisons, 6,493 federal inmates in privately operated facilities, and 691,301 in local jails (all figures as of June 30, 2002). There were 110,284 in juvenile facilities, public and private (as of October 2000); and (as of June 30, 2001) 16,206 in U.S. territorial prisons, 8,748 held by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2,377 in military facilities, and 2,006 (2002) in Indian country jails. In mid-2003, of those serving sentences of at least one year in federal or state facilities, there were 480 prison inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, up from 411 in 1995. Approximately 1 in every 140 U.S. residents was in a state or federal prison or a local jail on June 30, 2003. At that time 6.9% (100,102) of all federal or state prisoners were women, up from 6.1% at the end of 1995, while the number of male prisoners grew 2.7% during the same period. At the end of June 2003, black males from 20 to 39 years old made up slightly under a third of all inmates in state or federal prisons; 12.8% of the black male population between the ages of 25 to 29 was incarcerated, compared with 3.7% of Hispanic males and 1.6% of white males in the same age group. (Whitfield & Whitfield, 1991) Social Reaction to US Prison System American Prison System has been subjected to a great social reaction discussed as under: Fast Growth of Prisons There are a number of reasons that explain this rapid rate of prison crowding in America. The most apparent explanation could be the one provided by the politicians and the policy makers that while imprisoned it prevents the prisoners to commit crimes and also warns others to abstain from criminal activities. As supportive to this statement, Lynch (2007) states that unless governments officials allow the expansion the prisons themselves can’t grow. However, it is not adequate or particle to say that prisons have overgrown due to the decisions of the government officials and policy makers. However there are other questions to be answered; for instance that why the decision makers created a big prison system for the control of crime that features the American policy of 1973? Moreover, are there any factors that place pressure on the policy makers and politicians that explain their support for the expansion of the prisons? Again there are a number of answers for instance pressures from the lobbyists, interest groups and public opinion, continuously changing White House and Congress political agendas, crime rates, selection of personnel having staunch criminal control positions, racial segregation and election-re-election pressures, increased class conflicts and economic inequality and instability. In some or the other way, all of these factors have had some significant impacts on the American prison system. More than it is acknowledged generally, economic, situations, factors and influences have more impacts. As we have discussed that how the policy maker’s decisions can influence the prison systems, it is also essential to know that why the growth of prison is a problems. (Torny, 2007) American Prison’s Growth Rate There are a number of aspects that have contributed to the growth of prisons in America. Although these factors are usually economic cycles and factors and political circumstances, but the list is not limited. However, it is not clear that how these factors are manipulated to contribute to the growth of the prisons, although what we know is that these factors surely affect the increase in the number of prisons in America. So it is practice to ask that to what extent these factors contribute and which one the most important of these factors? Although it is not possible to answer these questions with a satisfactory level of precision, however some reasons can be put forward. For instance, it is expressed that there are two grouped assumptions for the increasing rate of the incarceration. Firstly, that punishment can change behavior, thus imprisonment as a form of punishment can change behaviors too. Secondly, rather than to change the other social aspects that amplify or decline crime rates it is far easier to manipulate punishments. Therefore it can be said that rather than to create employment opportunities, living conditions that help reduce crime it is less burdensome to increase imprisonment. Thirdly, the long term consequences and future aspects that might occur due to reliance on big prison system are not considered by the policy makers. What is expected is this that the big prison system might not be able to continue for a long period, due to the looming economic and financial emergency that is mainly characterized by the enormous oil crisis and also the consequential racial discrepancies that are prone to occur. Lastly, it is important for the Americans to realize that it is not useful to control crime by imprisonment. As it is argued, that that failure to control crime effectively, may be the problem that are hidden behind the growth of imprisonment in United States. (Simon, 2007) Prisons’ Control over Crime Rate It is widely assumed that the increase in the number of prisons have helped to improve the rate of crime, however this is supported by a very limited number of researches. It is important to know that short term evidences are used by such studies to analyze conclusions about the interconnectedness between the crime rates and imprisonment over the long run, moreover try to manipulate the short term association between punishment and crime into unchallengeable unqualified relationships. Thus the short term sweeping consequences from such studies if cannot be deceiving they sure can lead to wrong path. This is surely true for the reason that as these studies were short term they tended to emphasis on the era of the 1990’s when it appeared that the decreasing rates of crimes were the consequence of increasing number of prisons, however, these studies obviously failed to incorporate into their conclusions, the impacts of the social and economic and other factors that might have contributed decreasing in the rates of crimes during this period. (Beito, 2008) Conclusion The modern prison is enmeshed in a crisis of identity. A prison was once unquestionably an institution geared for punishment, custody, and control. But penologists have been striving to meet a new concept and goal of treatment and rehabilitation. The prison is a ghetto for its inmates. Within its walls it confines, houses, feeds, clothes, educates, and polices its population. It compresses into its minuscule territory many of the tormenting problems of an urban society: overcrowding, poverty, violence, racial friction, and a pervasive sense of alienation and despair. Thus the prison system faces severe challenges to its administration, its philosophy, and, in fact, its very existence. The courts, in the laudable process of protecting the inmates against abuse of their rights, have upset the balance of power that has been maintained for generations. Many prison administrators have perceived these changes as a threat to their authority. A new equilibrium remains to be forged. Prisoners already are more militant and aware than ever before, sensed by the 1970s that the moment of truth had arrived. Symbolically and literally they took to the barricades. This may explain the wave of riots that shook many respected prisons in state after state. Results of these protests have varied, running the gamut from many deaths during the 1971 uprising at the maximum-security Attica prison in New York state to the 1973 release, unharmed, of three officer hostages held by inmates of the Indiana state prison upon the governors promise of complete amnesty plus plans to satisfy the prisoners demands. But the underlying paradox is that, in the long run, the more prisons change, the more the fundamental concept of the prison endures unchanged. References Ahuja, R. (2007).The Prison System: Effectiveness, And Effects of Prison Custody, Sahitya Bhawan, Original from the University of California. Beito, D. (2008). Punishment and Inequality in America, the Independent Review, Oakland Vol. 13, Issue. 1; p. 134 (5 pages) Lynch, M. J. (2007). Big Prisons, Big Dreams: Crime and the Failure of Americas Penal System. Rutgers University Press, ISBN0813541867, 9780813541860 Simon, J. (Summer, 2007). Rise of Carceral State, Social Research, New York, Vol. 74, Issue. 2; p. 471 Tonry, M. (Summer 2007). Looking Back to See the Future of Punishment in America, Social Research, New York. Vol. 74, Issue 2; p. 353 Whitfield, R. & Whitfield, D. (1991). The State of the prisons--200 years on, Routledge Read More