An Overview Of The Prison Systems

This critique on the uncivilised justice system is going to focus on prison houses. prisons atomic number 18 institutions for the confinement of persons convicted of wretched offenses. This paper is going to discuss the early history of prisons, early American prisons, deaths of prisons, conglutination Carolina prisons, and an overall overview of the prison system.Throughout history, most societies be possessed of built places in which to hold persons accused of criminal acts pending some form of trial. But the confinement of persons/criminals after a trial for punishment is comparatively in the raw. In ancient times (around the 15th century), the penalties for crime were often some type of corporal punishment. Whipping, draw and quartered, broken on the wheel, burned at the stake, beheaded, hanged, or stretched on the rack.In the 16th century England, vagrants and piddling offenders were committed to correctional institutions known as piddlehouses, a correctional facilit y for persons guilty of minor criminal violations. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the organization began to transport convicted felons to the English colonies. The punishment was initially thought of as the tough labor to which the prisoners were consigned. However, the idea that persons convicted of crime could be punished and then released after a relatively coarse period of time, was a new concept. Jails were first used as collection points for criminals awaiting transportation.Early jails were mostly dark, overcrowded, and filthy. The prisoners were held unitedly indiscriminately, no separation of men and women, the young and old, the convicted and the unconvicted, or the sane and the insane.In America, the concept of imprisonment became a realization. The English Quaker, William Penn, abolished the death penalty for most crimes in the late 1600s, substituting imprisonment as a punishment. After battling between the rein averment of the death penalty in 1718 and the replacement with enslavement in 1789, the Walnut path Goal (Philadelphia) became the first prison in the United pass ons. By the mid 19th century, most of the another(prenominal) republics had followed.Two prison ideals soon emerged in the U.S. The first system, known as the Auburn Model, began in new-sprung(prenominal) York in 1817. The prisoners worked together in total silence during the mean solar day, but were housed separately at night. Very exigent discipline was enforced, and violators were subjected to severe reprisals. The second lay, papa, began in 1829 at Cherry Hill (Eastern State punitory). The Pennsylvania model was based on solitary confinement for convicts both day and night.The 2 models were both knockd very vigorously. Proponents of the Pennsylvania model focused on its hope of reformation. The theory of being a felon and locked up merely all day in a cell with nothing but a Bible to read, would friend out drastically. The Auburn model was critici zed as being virtual slavery. This was thought because of the fact that the prisoners were often baffle to work for snobbish entrepreneurs who had contracted with the assign for their labor. Prisoners were never paid, leaving loot for the business owners and the state. Advocates of the Auburn model alleged that the idleness of the prisoners in the Cherry Hill penitentiary sometimes caused madness. Proponents stressed the activity of the prisoners and the profits from their labor, which meant that the states did not have to finance the prison.Rehabilitation was the systems main goal. In 1870, the National Congress on Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline (known as the American Correctional Association) met for the first time in Cincinnati, Ohio. The congress take a desex of principles for corrections, chief of which was the primary goal of replenishment. This led to the juvenile reformatories. Although the attempts to rehabilitate were relatively un prospered, the goal of r ehabilitation changed the criminal justice system in the following decades. Probation and parole, work release, community corrections, and even a separate system of procedures and courts for dealing with juveniles, can all be traced to what was discussed at the first meeting in 1870.The Rehabilitation programs such as vocational training, guidance counseling, and psychotherapy began as part of the whole rehabilitation goal. In 1975, a study of more than 240 such programs essentially concluded that none was truly successful in reducing the recidivism rate (relapse into criminal behavior). Although there have been much criticism to this study, many accept the basic conclusion that participation in these programs was often not really voluntary, because prisoners hoped parole boards would look favourably on those who enrolled. Most penologist (a branch of criminology dealing with prison management and the treatment of offenders) now agree that rehabilitation is not a proper reason for imprisoning someone. Thus, rehabilitation is no longer the only, or even the main objective of correction agencies.In northerly Carolina, it wasnt until 1868 that the state adopted a new governing body that provided for a state penitentiary. Inmates began building North Carolinas first prison, primal Prison, in 1870. It was a completed castle-like mental synthesis near the state capitol. It was finished in December 1884, when the prisoners started moving in. In 1875, these same inmates were leased to private employers as laborers and farmers. Under the lease, businesses had complete responsibility for the inmates. Many worked in rock quarries and built railways, while others farmed two tracts of land that the state leased. In 1901, inmates began working on state roads. They were travel from work sight to work sight in horse-drawn prison cages. In 1910, the incentive wage system began and inmates could then view up to 15 cents a day, paid upon release, for the work that was bei ng done. In 1925, the General Assembly enacted a law changing the states prison from a corporation to a department of state government. At the time, the state prison system included Central Prison, Caledonia Prison rise, Camp Polk Prison Farm and eight road camps. Then, due to lack of regular maintenance and repair, the conditions were diminishing. The state took over the control of the prisons and the inmates, and provided new construction money from the Highway Fund for prison renovation. In 1935, women inmates form Central Prison moved to a south Raleigh prison camp, the site of todays Correctional Institution for Women. Women from the Caledonia Prison Farm moved to the Raleigh facility permanently in 1956. In 1957, North Carolina became the first state to initiate a work release program that allowed inmates to work in private employment during the day and return to confinement at night. In 1958, striped prison clothing was replaced with gray uniforms for slopped custody, choc olate-brown for medium, and green for minimum. In 1965, all prisons were desegregated and mental health services were established in prisons.Prisoners in North Carolina have numerous things they can do. Prisoners canwork, volunteer, go to the correctional chaplain, work out, or just round anything.These inmates work in many different places. Food Services, Unit Services, Work Release, Prison Industry, Road Squads, Construction, State Agencies, Local Agencies, Community Work Crews, Vocational Education, and Academic Education. Other inmates take part in summation abuse treatment, have health problems, or be being admitted into prison.Ministry to the incarcerated is as old as incarceration itself. Chaplincy in North Carolina dates back to 1876. In the spring of 2000, over 100 chaplains were serving the inmate population. Annually, measureless numbers of worship services, scripture studies, seminars, counseling sessions, segregation visits, and chaplains conduct special events. Pri son chaplaincy is a special ministry of opportunity. It can be a rewarding spiritual endeavor for those persons who have felt a divine call to this challenging ministry.At the beginning of 2001, North Carolinas prison system consisted of 78 prison units of various sizes with eight of the units having a standard operating capacity of less than 90 inmates. However, the largest facility, Central Prison, has a capacity of 937. The cost of North Carolinas prison system varies from different forms of custody. For the Fiscal yr 1999-2000, the daily operating cost of the 64 bed medium security prison unit at Cleveland County was $54.06 per inmate per day, compared to the $36.44 per inmate daily cost of the 832 bed medium security unit at chocolate-brown Creek.The cost goes by prison security level. The system wide average operational cost for lodgment inmates in North Carolina prisons in Fiscal Year 1999-2000 was $65.65 per day. It is broken down into Minimum Custody at $52.52 per dayIn theory, the U.S. prison system today consists of a variety of institutions (minimum, medium, maximum, jails, and federal institutions) each fitted to the characteristics and risks posed by its population.Minimum-security prisons are often built on a campus like arrangement, which allows the prisoners autonomy and granting immunity within broad bounds. It is a prison facility with the lowest level of security for nondangerous, stable offenders. Prisoners whitethorn have rooms with opaque doors rather than cells that are under constant inspection. Visits are normally private, where close contact with visitors is encouraged in order to enhance their prisoners ties with the family and community.Medium-security prisons are a inferior prison facility with a more relaxed security measures and fewer inmates.Maximum-security prisons (the most secure prison facility) are often massive buildings, with high masonry walls or electrified fences, where the primary concern is security. Prisoner s are under constant surveillance where their movements are severely restricted, and many are required to remain in their cells almost the entire day. outdoor(a) recreation is minimal, and visits, when allowed, are often conducted by telephone, with a glass partition between the prisoner and the visitor. in that location are about 130 of these maximum-security prisons that collectively house more than 100,000 prisoners.Jails, a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes , are typically not part of the state prison system. They are often managed individually by the districts or counties in which they are located. Many criticize the jail, saying that is the worst part of the U.S. penal organization.In recent decades, most prison systems in the U.S. have come under legal scrutiny, and the courts have found them severely wanting. Many have been declared unconstitutional in the sense that the conditions- including idleness, overcrowding, poor medical care, substantial violence, and lack of rights accorded prisoners- render confinement in these institutions cruel and unusual punishment and hence in violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, (Excessive bail shall not be required, nor unwarranted fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted ). Such judicial decisions have increased the pressure on state prison authorities to replace their antiquated prison facilities with more modern and humane institutions, in keeping with the ideals set forth by penologists a century ago.