Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction: Thirteenth Edition

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction
Thirteenth Edition
Chapter 11
Prisons and Jails
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A Brief History of Prisons (1 of 6)
• Prisons as punishment—a fairly new development
• Prior to prisons, early punishments often cruel and torturous
– Flogging, mutilation, branding, etc.
– British convicts often exiled to American colonies or
Australia
• Workhouses housed debtors, unemployed, vagrants (not
criminals)
• Incarceration dates back to the Middle Ages
• The Penitentiary Era (1790)
– Pennsylvania system used solitary confinement, Bible study
—emphasis on penance
– Philosophy of rehabilitation, deterrence
• The Mass Prison Era (1825)
– Auburn system—congregate/silent system
– Philosophy of incapacitation, deterrence
– Congregate system cheaper than solitary system
• The Reformatory Era (1876)
– Indeterminate sentencing, earned early release
– Elmira Reformatory
– Philosophy of rehabilitation
• The Industrial Era (1890)
– Inmate labor, prison industries
– Ashurst-Sumners Act (1935) ended prison industries
– Philosophy of incapacitation, restoration
• The Punitive Era (1935)
– Prisoners owed a debt to society, paid through rigorous
period of confinement
– Emphasis on custody, institutional security
– Philosophy of retribution
• The Treatment Era (1945)
– Medical model of corrections
– Philosophy of rehabilitation
• The Community Corrections Era (1967)
– Moved away from institutionalization toward reformation in
the community
– Philosophy of restoration, rehabilitation
• The Warehousing Era (1980)
– Period of mass imprisonment, led to prison overcrowding
problems
– Philosophy of incapacitation
• The Just Deserts Era (1995)
– Emphasis on individual responsibility
– Get-tough initiatives
– Philosophy of retribution, incapacitation, deterrence
• The Evidence-Based Era (2012)
– Rational, science-based approach to corrections
– Philosophy of cost-effective solutions to correctional issues
Prisons Today (1 of 2)
• Approximately 1,719 state prisons and 102 federal prisons in
operation
– Growth of prison population slowing
– Imprisonment rate for males almost 14 times higher than rate
for females
• Incarceration rates high despite declining crime rates
• Use of imprisonment varies by state
Prisons Today (2 of 2)
• Typical state prison system
– 1 high-security prison
– 1 or more medium security institutions
– 1 separate institution for adult women
– 1–2 institutions for young adults
– 1–2 specialized mental hospital-type security prisons
– 1 or more open-type institutions
Figure 11.2 State Prison Populations,
1925–2017
Figure 11.3 Rates of Imprisonment in
the United States
Prisoners Today
• Most people sentenced to state prisons were convicted of violent
crimes
• Most people sentenced to federal prison were convicted of drug
law violations
• Huge disparity between blacks and whites in prison
– Incarceration rate for black men is seven times greater than
the figure for white men
Figure 11.4 State Prisoners by
Gender and Type of Crime, 2016
Prison Issues
• The just deserts philosophy led to substantial and continued
increases in the American prison population, even as crime
rates were dropping
• Creates serious problems for prison administrators today
• Beginning in 2011-2012, the growth of prison populations
began to decline in state prisons
Overcrowding (1 of 3)
• Overcrowding is still a problem in many state and federal
prisons, despite new prison construction and decline in use of
imprisonment
• Federal system has some of the most crowded prisons
• Prison capacity
– The size of the correctional population an institution can
effectively hold
– Multiple definitions of capacity developed
• Rated capacity
– The number of inmates a prison can handle, according to
experts (yields highest capacities)
• Operational capacity
– The number of inmates a prison can effectively
accommodate, based on management considerations
• Design capacity
– The number of inmates a prison originally built to hold
– Typically shows highest amount of overcrowding
• Rhodes v. Chapman (1981)
– Overcrowding alone is not cruel and unusual punishment
• Totality-of-conditions approach
– Overcrowding combined with other negative conditions may
lead to a finding against a prison system
Selective Incapacitation: A Strategy
to Reduce Prison Populations
• Collective Incapacitation
– Found in states that rely on predetermined, or fixed,
sentences
• Selective Incapacitation
– Seeks to identify the most dangerous criminals with the goal
of removing them from society
– Assessment of dangerousness is key
– Increased use due to state budget problems
Security Levels (1 of 3)
• Maximum security
– Often massive old buildings with large populations
– High fences, thick walls, secure cells, gun towers, armed
prison guards
– Use of technological innovations increasing
– Death-row inmates all maximum-security prisoners
• Most states have one centrally located maximum security prison
that may also include medium security facilities
• Medium security
– Inmates have more freedom to associate with each other
– Less intense supervision than maximum security
– Key tool is the count, taken at regular intervals
– Tends to be smaller than maximum-security prisons
• Minimum security
– Inmates generally housed in dormitory-like settings
– More freedom to move about the prison facility
– May have private rooms
– Unarmed guards
• The typical American prison today is medium or minimum
custody
Prison Classification Systems (1 of 2)
• Classification system assigns inmates to custody levels based on
offense, assessed dangerousness, escape risk
• Initial/external classification determines the institution an
offender is placed in
• Internal classification determines housing and program
assignment within that institution
• Principal management tool to efficiently allocate scarce
resources and minimize potential for violence/escape
Prison Classification Systems (2 of 2)
• Adult internal management system (AIMS)—assesses inmate’s
predatory potential using
– Record of misconduct
– Ability to follow staff directions
– Level of aggression toward other inmates
• Classification criteria must be relevant to institution’s legitimate
security needs
The Federal Prison System (1 of 2)
• Five security levels
– Administrative maximum (ADMAX)
– High security (USPs)
– Medium security (FCIs)
– Low security (FCIs)
– Minimum security (FPCs)
• Administrative facilities—metropolitan detention centers (jails)
and medical centers
The Federal Prison System (2 of 2)
• Federal correctional complexes
– Sites consisting of several types of correctional institutions
• One ADMAX unit, located in Florence, CO
• Inmates may be required to pay costs associated with
incarceration if they can afford it
– Collected funds used to improve alcohol- and drug-abuse
programs in federal prisons
Figure 11.6 Federal Bureau of Prisons
Facility Locator
The Growth of Federal Prisons
• The federal prison population more than doubled between 1980
and 1989, and doubled again during the 1990s
• Continued to grow during early twenty-first century
• Population is decreasing but federal prisons are still overcrowded
• Main issue is increase in expected time served by drug offenders
Figure 11.7 Federal Prison Population by
Offense, 2018
Recent Improvements
• ACA Commission on Accreditation
– Developed a set of standards correctional institutions can use
for self-evaluations
– Institutions meeting them can apply for accreditation
• National Academy of Corrections
– Offers training for corrections personnel and legislators
Jails (1 of 5)
• Locally operated short-term confinement facilities
• Administered by local government agency
• Intended for adults but sometimes also contain juveniles
• Jails hold people who are being detained pending trial or who
were committed after trial, usually those sentenced to a year or
less
Jails (2 of 5)
• Purposes of jails
– Hold individuals for trial, conviction, sentencing
– Readmit probation, parole, and bail violators
– Detain juveniles, mentally ill, others pending transfer
– Hold individuals for the military, protective custody,
contempt of court
Jails (3 of 5)
• Purposes of jails
– Release inmates upon completion of sentence
– Transfer inmates to federal, state, or other authorities
– House inmates for federal, state, or other authorities
– Operate community-based programs
– Hold inmates sentenced to short terms (under one year)
Jails (4 of 5)
• Jails hold 740,700 inmates, 14.5% of which are women
– 60% are unconvicted
– Jail authorities also supervise people in the community
• 3,283 jails operate in the United States with about 226,300
employees
• Average annual housing of one inmate is over $14,500
• Some inmates stay in jail for only one day, others for extended
periods of time
Jails (5 of 5)
• Typical jail inmate is an unmarried black male between 25
and 34 with some high school education
• Most common charges include drug trafficking, assault,
drug possession, and larceny
• About 6% of jail facilities house almost half of all inmates
Women and Jail (1 of 2)
• 14% of jail population are women—largest growth group in jails
nationwide
• Problems faced by jailed women
– Lack of classification system for women
– Lack of facilities geared for female offenders
– Education levels are low
– Drug abuse
– Pregnancy and lack of medical programs
– Child support
Women and Jail (2 of 2)
• Women working in corrections
– 22% of correctional officers are women
– Deployment of female personnel disproportionately skewed
to lower rank jobs
– 60% of support staff are women but only 1 in 10 chief
administers are female
– Women do have equal footing with male staffers
The Growth of Jails
• Jails are called the “shame of the criminal justice system”
– Many old, poorly funded, understaffed, employees
underpaid, poorly trained
– Low priority in local budgets
• Overcrowding still a problem
• Diversion to community-based programs can help contain jail
population growth
Direct-Supervision Jails
• Modular self-contained housing areas (pods) linked to each other
• Eliminates many of the traditional barriers between inmates and
staff
• Reduces inmate dissatisfaction, violence, likelihood of inmate
victimization
• Higher staff morale, lower stress
• Less susceptible to inmate lawsuits
Jails and the Future (1 of 2)
• Jails receive relatively little attention from the media
• Have generally escaped public scrutiny
• National efforts are underway to improve the quality of jail life
Jails and the Future (2 of 2)
• Jail industries
– Teach inmates marketable skills
• Regional jails
– Built and run using the combined resources of a variety of
local jurisdictions
• State jail standards
– Identify basic minimum conditions necessary for inmate
health and safety
Private Prisons (1 of 3)
• Privatization
– Use of private rather than government-run prisons
– Movement began in early 1980s
• Private prisons
– Held 7% of state and 18% of federal prisoners at start of
2017
– Annual growth rate of private prison industry around 35%
• States use private prisons to reduce overcrowding, lower
operating expenses, avoid lawsuits targeted at state officials and
employees
• Some studies show private prisons may not produce the cost
savings that have been anticipated
• Barriers to privatization
– Old state laws prohibiting private involvement in
correctional management
– Strikes by private correctional officers
– State’s liability will not transfer to private corrections
– Legal issues when states contract to hold inmates outside
their own jurisdiction
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