Copyright © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Institutional Corrections

Copyright © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Institutional Corrections


After completing this chapter, you should be able to: Summarize the purposes of confinement in

Europe before it became a major way of punishing criminals.

Describe how offenders were punished before the large-scale use of confinement.

Explain why confinement began to be used as a major way of punishing offenders in Europe.

Describe the recent trends in the use of incarceration in the United States.

2


List some of the characteristics of the incarcerated population in the United States.

Describe how incarceration facilities are structured, organized, and administered by the government in the United States.

Name some of the common types of correctional facilities in the United States.

Identify some of the procedures that institutions employ to maintain security and order.

List the services and programs that are commonly available to inmates in prison.

3


It is important to understand the history of corrections in order to escape repeating the mistakes of the past, and because institutional corrections is linked to our larger society.

4


Historically, institutional confinement has been used since ancient times, but not until the 1600s and 1700s as a major punishment for criminals.

Prior to that it was used to: Detain people before trial. Hold prisoners awaiting other sanctions. Coerce payment of debts and fines.

5


Hold and punish slaves. Achieve religious indoctrination and

spiritual reformation (as during the Inquisition).

Quarantine disease (as during the bubonic plague).

6


Modern incarceration strives to change the offender’s character and is carried out away from public view.

Early punishments for crime were directed more at the offender’s body and property.

The goals were to inflict pain, humiliate the offender, and deter onlookers from crime.

7


Two forerunners of modern incarceration were:

1. Banishment A punishment, originating in ancient times, that

required offenders to leave the community and live elsewhere, commonly in the wilderness.

2. Transportation A punishment in which offenders were

transported from their home nation to one of that nation’s colonies to work.

8


The closest European forerunners of modern U.S. prisons were known as workhouses. European forerunners of the modern U.S.

prison, where offenders were sent to learn discipline and regular work habits.

9


One of the first workhouses, the London Bridewell, opened in the 1550s.

Workhouses remained popular across Europe for the next three centuries.

10


During the 1700s and 1800s, three reformers were important to initiatives in corrections: Cesare Beccaria John Howard Jeremy Bentham

11


Beccaria’s book On Crimes and Punishments (1764) argued for a system of detailed written laws describing the behaviors that constitute crime and the associated punishments.

12


Beccaria further argued that, to deter crime, the punishment should fit the crime in two ways:

1. The severity of punishment should parallel the severity of harm resulting from the crime.

2. The punishment should be severe enough to outweigh the pleasure obtainable from the crime.

13


Finally, Beccaria argued that, to deter crime, punishment needed to be certain and swift.

Certainty means that criminals think it is likely they will be caught and punished.

Swiftness implies the punishment will occur soon after commission of the crime.

John Howard’s 1777 book, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, was based on his visits to penal institutions.

14


Appalled by the crowding, poor living conditions, and abusive practices, Howard advocated for: Safe, humane, and orderly penal

environments. Religious teaching, hard work, and solitary

confinement as ways to instill discipline and reform inmates.

15


In penology, Jeremy Bentham is remembered for his idea that order and reform could be achieved in a prison through architectural design. Penology: The study of prison

management and the treatment of offenders.

Bentham’s ideal prison was called a pantopicon. Pantopicon: A prison design consisting

of a round building with tiers of cells lining the inner circumference and facing a central inspection tower.

16


In colonial America, penal practice was loose, decentralized, and unsystematic, combining private retaliation with fines, banishment, harsh corporal punishments, and capital punishment.

17


In 1790, the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia was converted from a simple holding facility to a prison and is considered the nation’s first state prison.

Inmates labored in solitary cells and received large doses of religious training.

18


Pennsylvania and New York pioneered the penitentiary movement by developing two competing systems of confinement: The Pennsylvania system The Auburn system

19


An early system of United States penology in which inmates were kept in solitary cells so that they could study religious writings, reflect on their misdeeds, and perform handicraft work.

20


An early system of penology, originating at Auburn Penitentiary in New York, in which inmates worked and ate together in silence during the day and were placed in solitary cells for the evening.

21


By the end of the Civil War, many were questioning the value of the penitentiary movement, as prisons failed to deter crime, and became increasingly expensive to maintain.

A new movement sought to improve the method of incarceration.

22


The reformatory movement was based on principles adopted at the 1870 meeting of the National Prison Association.

The reformatory was designed: for younger, less hardened offenders. based on a military model of regimentation. with indeterminate terms. with parole or early release for favorable

progress in reformation.

23


Until the reformatory era, there was little effort to establish separate facilities for women.

The first women’s prison based on the reformatory model opened in Indiana in 1873.

Women’s prisons concentrated on molding inmates to fulfill stereotypical domestic roles.

24


John Irwin summarized imprisonment in the 20th Century into three types of institutions: The “big house” dominant for the first three

decades. The “correctional institution” in the 1940s and

1950s. The “contemporary violent prison” in the

1960s and 1970s.

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The “big house” was a walled prison with large cell blocks that contained stacks of three or more tiers of one- or two-man cells.

Often, the big house exploited inmate labor through various links to the free market.

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The “correctional institution” was smaller and more modern looking.

During this time, a medical model came to be used.

Inmates were subjected to psychological assessment and diagnosis and received academic and vocational education and therapeutic counseling.

27


A theory of institutional corrections, popular during the 1940s and 1950s, in which crime was seen as symptomatic of personal illness in need of treatment.

28


During the 1960s and 1970s, both the effectiveness and the fairness of coerced prison rehabilitation programming began to be challenged.

The “contemporary violent prison” arose because the treatment-program control mechanisms faded or became illegal. The resulting power vacuum was filled with

inmate gang violence and interracial hatred.

29


The last two decades of the 20th century are likely to be remembered for the largest incarceration boom to date and for desperate attempts to deal with prison crowding.

One alternative to traditional confinement is the movement toward privatization. The involvement of the private sector in the

construction and the operation of confinement facilities.

Although the private sector has long been involved in programs such as food services, legal aid, and medical care, modern privatization entails private companies building and even running prisons.

30

Copyright © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.31


A second alternative is shock incarceration. The placement of offenders in facilities

patterned after military boot camps. Such facilities are often designed for

young, nonviolent offenders. Although “boot camps” appeal to those

who wish to convey a “tough on crime” message, they have not proven to affect recidivism rates.

32


The history of institutional corrections has evolved in cycles.

Developments viewed as innovative almost always contain vestiges of old practices; old practices seldom disappear when new ones are introduced.

One example is the chain gang that had disappeared for 30 years, but returned in Alabama and Arizona.

33


For most of the past 65 years, the incarceration rate was fairly steady.

Since 1973, it has risen every year. Between 1980 and 2005, the adult

prison population in the U.S. (state and federal) more than quadrupled.

Local jail populations saw a similar (less dramatic) trend.

34



In order to compare the raw numbers of inmates to the increase in the general population, researchers use the incarceration rate.

A figure derived by dividing the number of people incarcerated by the population of the area and multiplying the result by 100,000.

Used to compare incarceration levels of units with different population sizes.

36




The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

The United States also has a more serious crime problem than most other nations, according to James Lynch.

39


Total spending on state and federal prisons in fiscal year 2005 was budgeted at nearly $41 billion.

The average daily cost of incarceration per inmate in 2005 was $67.55 ($24,655.75 per inmate per year).

40



Crowding has become especially troublesome over the past two decades.

The staggering increase in prison construction has failed to keep pace with the increase in prison populations.

The prison population has exploded even as crime rates are stable, and in some cases even declining.

42


Americans have developed a tradition of strong reliance on the prison to control crime.

It has never done very well. Crime prevention programs fail, providing

more criminals for prisons. The increased prison population takes

resources away from effective community corrections and crime prevention programs.

The response to perceived high crime and high recidivism is to conclude that criminals are not being punished enough and to increase the use of imprisonment.

43


88% of prisoners in the United States are in state prisons;12% are in federal prisons.

The largest proportion of state prisoners are: Male. Black. Have not completed high school. Under age 35. Have never married. Were employed full-time prior to their arrest. Had relatively low monthly incomes.

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Males are disproportionately represented in prison, making up nearly 93% of the prison population, but only half the general population.

Blacks are disproportionately represented in the prison population, representing nearly half the state prison population but only 13% of the general population.

45


In 2003, the prison population was characterized as follows: 51.8% were serving sentences for violent

offenses. 20.9% for property offenses. 20.0% for drug offenses. The remainder for public order offenses.

46



The federal prison population has some noticeable differences: 54% are white or Hispanic. 43% are black. Somewhat older than state prison population. More educated. About 55% are serving time for drug offenses.

48


The organizational and administrative structure of institutional corrections is diffuse and decentralized.

Primary administrative responsibility lies with the executive branch.

Legislatures appropriate resources and pass statutes that affect sentencing.

The judicial branch sentences offenders and oversees the legality of institutional practices.

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Incarceration facilities exist at all three levels of government, and each jurisdiction operates with much autonomy.

However, the different levels are interconnected: Federal requirements affect the operation of

state prisons. Local jails are affected by federal and state

regulations.

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Federal institutions are administered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which was established within the U.S. Justice Department in 1930.

51



Each state has a department of corrections or a similar administrative body to coordinate the various adult prisons in the state.

Most adult prisons employ a quasi-military model of administration and management.

53


Most prisoners are initially sent to a classification facility. A facility to which newly sentenced offenders

are taken so that their security risks and needs can be assessed and they can be assigned to a permanent institution.

54


The decision of where to place an offender rests on a variety of factors: The offender’s security risk. Program services the offender needs, such as

counseling. Any problems such as alcohol dependency. The nature of the offense.

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The offender’s prior record, propensity toward violence and escape, and vulnerability to victimization by other inmates.

Programs offered at the state’s institutions, and the related crowding levels.

56


Men’s prisons, the most common general type of prison, are often distinguished by security level. A designation applied to a facility to describe

the measures taken, both inside and outside, to preserve security and custody.

57


As of January, 2001, there were 1,384 correctional facilities in operation across the United States.

The simplest security level categorization is: maximum medium minimum

58


Maximum-security facilities are characterized by very tight internal and external security, a high wall or razor-wire fencing, with armed-guard towers, electronic detectors, and external (perimeter) armed patrols are common.

59


Other maximum-security prison security measures can include: A wide, open buffer zone between the outer

wall or fence and the community. Restrictions on inmate movement. The capability of closing off areas to contain

riots or disruptions.

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A recent development is the “ultramaximum” or “supermaximum-security” prison to house notorious offenders and problem inmates from other institutions.

These institutions utilize: Total isolation of inmates. Constant lockdowns.

61


The war of terrorism has given rise to a new, special kind of supermaximum-security prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Camp Delta holds more than 600 of what the Pentagon officials call the “worst of the worst enemies in the war on terror.”

American military troops patrol the perimeter in machine-gun mounted Humvees and aboard Piranha boats.

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Medium-security institutions place fewer restrictions on inmate movement inside the facility.

Characteristics often include: Dormitory or barracks-type living quarters. No external security wall. Barbed wire rather than razor wire. Fences and towers that look less forbidding.

63


Minimum-security prisons are smaller and more open.

They often house inmates who: Have established records of good behavior. Are nearing release.

Characteristics often include: Dormitory or barracks living quarters. No fences. Some inmates may be permitted to leave

during the day to work or study. Some inmates may be granted furloughs.

64


Individual inmates are classified by custody level. The classification assigned to an inmate to

indicate the degree of precaution that needs to be taken when working with that inmate.

Although custody levels are sometimes designated by the same terms as security levels, they are independent of each other.

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Women make up about 7% of the prison population, but the incarceration rate for women has grown faster than the incarceration rate for men.

A greater proportion of women than men are serving sentences for property offenses and drug offenses.

Women are more likely to have dependent children and to be serving their first prison term.

67


Prisons exclusively for women tend to be smaller and house fewer inmates than institutions exclusively for men.

Dorm and cottage plans are much more common than cell-block plans for women’s prisons.

68


Cocorrectional facilities have been in operation (in contemporary form) since the 1970s.

Cocorrectional facilities usually benefit men more than women. Cocorrectional facilities: Usually small,

minimum-security institutions that house both men and women with the goal of normalizing the prison environment by integrating the daytime activities of the sexes.

69


Suspects usually stay in a lockup for only 24 to 48 hours. Lockup: A very short-term holding facility

that is frequently located in or very near an urban police agency so that suspects can be held pending further inquiry.

A suspect may later be transferred from the lockup to the jail. Jail: A facility, usually operated at the local

level, that holds convicted offenders and unconvicted persons for relatively short periods.

70


In practice, a jail serves a catchall function in criminal justice and corrections. Jails also: Readmit probation, parole, and bail bond

violators and absconders. Temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer

to juvenile authorities. Hold mentally ill persons. Hold individuals for the military.

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Hold individuals for protective custody. Hold individuals for contempt. Hold witnesses for the courts. Release convicted inmates to the community

upon completion of sentence. Transfer inmates to other authorities. House inmates for federal, state or other

authorities. Sometimes operate community-based

programs. Hold inmates sentenced to short terms.

72


Jails represent one of the most problematic aspects of criminal justice.

Many jails are: Old. Overcrowded. Lack services and programs. Inadequately staffed. Unsanitary and have hazardous living conditions.

With increasing pressure from courts to reform jail conditions and management practices, efforts at jail reform continue.

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One strategy has been a new generation jail.

These feature cells that open into a common living area.

Inmates can interact with each other and staff.

Preliminary analyses suggest these facilities may provide a less stressful environment.

74



In many ways, an incarceration facility is like a miniature society, with its own security procedures for maintaining order and preserving the safety of inhabitants, as well as a variety of services and programs.

76


Security procedures strongly affect the daily activities of both staff and inmates.

Special security procedures are directed toward sensitive locations such as the front entry, control room, dining area, and recreation areas.

77


An inmate’s custody level indicates the degree of precaution to be used when working with that inmate.

Inmates who are vulnerable to assault by other inmates may be designated for protective custody.

Inmates who represent a danger to other inmates or staff may be designated for administrative segregation.

78


Protective Custody The segregation of inmates for their own

safety. Administrative Segregation

The keeping of inmates in secure isolation so that they cannot harm others.

79


In order to maintain security, prisons routinely institute policies such as: Daily counts of inmates to detect escapes. Constantly monitoring inmates’ whereabouts. Procedures for transporting inmates. Searches of inmates’ clothing, bodies, and

cells. Monitoring mail and phone conversations.

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Inmates may visit with relatives and friends only at designated times, and only those people the institution has approved.

Visits are usually in open rooms with other inmates, their visitors, and staff, and are closely monitored.

Some prisons allow conjugal visits. An arrangement whereby inmates are

permitted to visit in private with their spouses or significant others to maintain their personal relationship.

81


Written rules and regulations are part of an institution’s formal bureaucratic structure.

Within that structure, there develops an unwritten, informal structure that is vital to the operation of a facility.

Most institutions have an elaborate snitch system. A system in which staff learn from inmate

informants about the presence of contraband, the potential for disruptions, and other threats to security.

82


Disciplinary measures vary widely from institution to institution, and staff typically have broad discretion in dealing with rule violations.

If staff members decide to file formal disciplinary reports, inmates face a disciplinary hearing and may have privileges restricted, be placed in solitary confinement, or experience other sanctions.

83


Many of the human services and programs found in the free society are duplicated within prisons: Food services. Building maintenance and repair (often

performed by inmates). Medical and dental services. Mail and phone services. Visitation.

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Commissaries where prisoners can purchase food, tobacco, radios, reading materials, etc.

Recreational facilities. Legal resources. Religious services.

85


All institutions have special-needs populations, in particular: Elderly inmates who require more medical

attention. Inmates with mental disorders. Inmates with HIV and AIDS.

86



Inmates hoping to better themselves during their incarceration normally have the opportunity to participate in a number of rehabilitation programs.

Examples are: Self-improvement programs. Work programs. Education and vocational training. Counseling and therapy.

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In some institutions, all inmates who are physically able are required to work.

In other institutions, the inmates who work are those who choose to do so.

Examples of work performed include: food services. building maintenance. laundry. health care. clerical services. manufacturing. agricultural. 89


Some prison vocational programs operate as part of job assignments, others are separate.

Either way, the goal is to provide inmates with job skills that will improve their marketability upon release, typically in stereotypical blue-collar jobs.

90


Counseling and therapy offered in prisons varies widely.

Sometimes individual counseling (one-on-one with a counselor) and group counseling are both offered.

Some institutions offer milieu therapy. Most prison therapists spend a lot of time

on crisis intervention.

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Milieu Therapy A variant of group therapy that encompasses

the total living environment so that the environment continually encourages positive behavioral change.

Crisis Intervention A counselor’s efforts to address some crisis in

an inmate’s life (such as suicidal thoughts, rejection by the spouse, mental breakdown, or a conflict between inmates) and to calm the inmate.

92


Rehabilitation programs serve many functions within a prison: Give inmates ways to occupy their time. Help the institution achieve control over

inmates.

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Rehabilitation programs also have problems that hinder their ability to effect rehabilitation: The prison workday is often short and

interrupted. There is often little concern for the quantity

and quality of work. Some jobs lack a free-world counterpart. Educational programs lack funding.

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Many vocational training programs prepare inmates for blue-collar jobs for which there is abundant competition in the free world.

Many people don’t want inmates to receive high-tech or professional training because of the less-eligibility principle. The position that prisoners should receive no

service or program superior to the services and programs available to free citizens without charge.

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Rehabilitation programs that reduce offender recidivism are characterized by the quality of the program’s implementation.

Some people believe counseling programs focus too much on inmates’ pasts and futures, when what they really need are coping mechanisms to deal with their present environment.

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Copyright © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Institutional Corrections