The Unjust, Immoral, Controversial Prison Scandal Throughout the duration of the twentieth-century, the United States experienced an era of reform and change economically, politically, and socially. During this time period, Arkansas had made efforts to reform as well, although not all of them were worked out nor were considered to fall under moral standards. One of the ways Arkansas attempted to change was through the use of state prison farms. In these farms, prison inmates were forced to labor in the farms in an attempt to save money that would normally be given to hired help. This incident came to be renowned as the great Prison Scandal in Arkansas. Many sources suggest that the Prison Scandal was deeply controversial and almost completely immoral due to the …show more content…
An investigation was conducted by the Arkansas Police Department, in which the filth the inmates were forced to live in and the torture they endured were accounted for, written down, and released to the public. One account described that the inmates were “whipped by the line riders with "blackjacks:' trace chains, axe handles, hoe handles, and rubber hoses” and another instance stated that “Inmates [were] set on coke bottles, and if they fell off, they would get whipped” (Source 1). Adding to the police report released by Rockefeller, this investigation added fuel to the fire for the public. Individuals living in Arkansas and even around the country took this information and allowed it to negatively shape their views on Arkansas. They believed Arkansas treated their inmates in grotesque manners and once these techniques came to the surface, the government officials were unable to properly reform the system. As for the federal government, they also saw the government of Arkansas’ inability to reform the prison system, which shaped their view of them as a government that cannot effectively serve the people of
This article discusses how badly the corrections officers treat the inmates at Mid-State Correctional Facility in New York. The inmates are beaten and penetrated by foreign objects by the officers that are supposed protect them. Not only are they mistreating the inmates but they are getting away with it as well. There are many instances and examples of inmates from this specific facility, Mid-State Correctional Facility, getting beaten by guards. These allegations of brutality against the inmates are going more viral now than ever.
On April 21st, 1930, Ohio State Penitentiary, which was built in Ohio’s capital, Columbus, in 1834, caught fire and killed hundreds of inmates. When returning for the night, they discovered that a fire was started within cell blocks G and H. It was only after the fire had been doused, that everyone had realized that the scaffolding, on the outside walls of those cell blocks, was what had caught fire. At the time, the prison was known for its poor conditions. The prison was only meant to hold 1,500 people, but at the time of the fire, it was housing 4,300 inmates. This disaster goes down in history as the worst fire at any prison in the United States.
The Yuma Territorial Prison was significant because it was a prison that eventually became a major historical landmark in Yuma, Arizona. The Yuma Territorial Prison was the ultimate location because of the work done by Jose Maria Redondo and R.B Kelly, they saw the potential the prison had to help the economy so that was why it was chosen over Phoenix, Arizona. Ever since the prison was first established the population of Yuma Arizona increased. It was the prisoners who had actually help construct the Yuma Territorial Prison. The prisoners would gather the building material from a quarry and from the river bottom.
Some of which led the way for today’s prison standards. After all the prison just didn't get the name, “The Country Club on the Colorado” for any reason. This model prison was thought to be top of the line in 1893. So top of the line that the people thought that the prisoners had it easy. Which was true to most people in the community didn't have anything more than the prisoners did besides their freedom.
A cement mixer collided with a prison van on the Kingston pass. Motorists are asked to be on the lookout for 16 hardened criminals, (Ronnie Corbett). The Yuma Territorial prison today, allows people to examine the functions of different parts of the prison, the type of criminals that were housed within the prison and how constructions affected the population. The Yuma Territorial prison was a former prison located in Yuma, Arizona, United States. (The Yuma Territorial prison is a unoccupied prison located in Yuma, Arizona that has since been retired as a functional unit)
The prison-industrial complex is a corrupt political system that consists of overpowered politicians whose sole ambition is exploiting poor, uneducated, and under-privileged Americans to make money. Although, it wasn’t initially the purpose when Rockefeller started the war on drugs, but he started something bigger than he could’ve imagined at that time. The prison system has been proven to be ineffective, and costly waste of resources. However, it probably won’t be abolished due to the cash flow that it brings to some of the largest corporations in the
Prison housed a diverse and unique range of different kinds of inmates. The townspeople of Yuma, Arizona perceived the Yuma territorial prison as a favorable and luxuries prison. The townspeople of Yuma, Arizona even called the Yuma Territorial prison the “Country Club on the Colorado” because of the benefits it gave the inmates and the community. One reason the prison was perceived in this way was because the cloths the inmates warn were a heave blue and white striped shirt and pants .
In 1971, 1 out of 12 Americans were incarcerated. Since that time, the prisoner ratio has exponentially increased; today, that ratio is 1 out of 51. With that number continuing to rise, many problems result out of it. Prison overcrowding is a growing problem in the United States. The number of people being taken in has regressive effects on the purpose behind imprisonment.
Arkansas’ national image was tarnished due to Murton’s findings. This also resulted in the Arkansas General Assembly retracting their funding for the reform and the prison system continued to be social unjust through
Prison reform has been an ongoing topic in the history of America, and has gone through many changes in America's past. Mixed feelings have been persevered on the status of implementing these prison reform programs, with little getting done, and whether it is the right thing to do to help those who have committed a crime. Many criminal justice experts have viewed imprisonment as a way to improve oneself and maintain that people in prison come out changed for the better (encyclopedia.com, 2007). In the colonial days, American prisons were utilized to brutally punish individuals, creating a gruesome experience for the prisoners in an attempt to make them rectify their behavior and fear a return to prison (encyclopedia.com, 2007). This practice may have worked 200 years ago, but as the world has grown more complex, time has proven that fear alone does not prevent recidivism.
Transcendentalists were Americans that believed everyone should be treated equally, so they began six major reform movements. There were many Transcendentalist movements, but the six most important reforms were the prison movement, women’s rights, anti-slavery, temperance, insane and education movement. The prison reform movement was started by the Transcendentalists because they felt that the system was wrong unfair and cruel. All prisoners suffered the same consequences regardless of his or her crime.
David Shapiro, a member of the American Civil Labor Union and lead author of “Banking on Bondage”, deems private prisons a “danger to state finances” in his report on the corruption of today’s for-profit prison. In the process of cutting costs, the private prison industry puts together a low-quality staff with poorly trained guards and a high turnover– thus, increasing the risk of escapees, inmate violence and prisoner mistreatment. As a result of the poor quality, the public sector is heavily affected. In one case, the conditions of a privately run Arizona prison were studied after the escape of a prisoner, and it was reported that the prison staff was fairly “green” across all shifts, lacked weapon proficiency, and even ignored the sounding alarms as a prisoner
Screams and cries of insanity can still be heard echoing down the halls of Eastern State as men and women were being hooded in order to leave their cells. The faint cries of children can be heard as they were roaming around half clothed in Pennhurst. The cells in Eastern State were surprisingly accommodating considering the circumstances, but they were not someplace a person would call “home”. Life in either of these facilities was nowhere near enjoyable. If someone was not crazy when admitted they soon would become so.
Davis specifies that the lack of accountability for inappropriate behavior is caused by faulty administrative action as she explains, “Grievance or investigatory procedures, where they exist, are often ineffectual...” (78). Since women’s prisons were established, sexual abuse has been used as a form of punishment, although this is not formally acknowledged by prison officials, it is undeniable that women’s prison staff more than oftentimes engage in sexual
Poor living conditions in prisons emerged because judges were inclined to send more people to prison than the space that was provided. Therefore, prisons became over crowed and hard to handle. Living spaces in prisons got smaller and more prisoners has to share their place with someone else. Security at the prisons also fell downhill, as male guards saw the women and young children as prey for rape. Most prisoners were either brutally assaulted and/or rape while in