Prisons in the 1840s were tough and gross. The crime rate went from 5,000 a year in 1800 to 20,000 in 1840. The punishments could be execution or they could be sent to Australia, America, or Tasmania.
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. Though the prisoners are not there for a comfortable and enjoyable stay, ethical rights are being ignored. How can a someone carry out their sentence rightfully if the focus is taken away from them and put on the judgment of the courts and justice system? Prison overcrowding is without a doubt problematic and inhumane. The mandatory sentencing laws, lack of attention on
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. In the 19th century, Dorothea Dix, a women reformer and American activist, began lobbying for some of the first prison reform movements.
Ayn Rand’s Anthem is the story of a man’s journey to find freedom in a world based on equality. The novel’s protagonist, Prometheus, tries to find the meaning of his life. As he obtains independence and begins to care less about the laws, Prometheus also uncovers the power of his own mind. Prometheus learns the turpitude of the city and escapes from it. By the end of the novel, Prometheus becomes a true man. In leading Prometheus on his journey to find freedom, Anthem accompanies the inferior side of collectivism by depicting a society of people, subdued under the needs of the common good. The rejections in his idea of electricity powering the city led to Prometheus to the path of independence. Prometheus always broke the laws of the city. His work finding electricity was denied because of the city’s laws. And at the end, he even used first person pronouns. As a result, in his new community, I don’t think he would include any of the rules of the city.
The passage, Anthem, is a science fiction novel written by Ayn Rand. It is mainly about the protagonist, Equality 7-2521's, futuristic journey on rediscovering various aspects of human’s nature. Concepts such as individualism and freedom have been lost due to the oppressive rule of the government, serving as the main antagonist of the novel. Throughout the passage, Anthem, the author uses the literary element of theme. The theme is the main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work. The author uses a theme to convey the central idea of the importance and effects of a person’s individuality on both their freedom and euphoria.
First, there is a long list of negatives that the prison system in America brings. The prison system is filled with crime, hate, and negativity almost as much as the free world is. When in prison, we see that those who were in gangs are still in gangs and that those who were not, are likely to join during their sentence. Naturally the prisons are filled with criminals who not only bring with them a record of past wrong but also an attitude of anger and or survival when they walk behind the walls of prison. This attitude of anger fueled by the thought of survival keeps most from ever experiencing renewal or change when behind bars. While in the world they were criminals running from the law and while in prison
If one thinks jails in modern-day U.S. society are bad, then he /she should consider
The government is the ultimate control of all prisons. They are the people who enforce prison law, fund prisons and organize them. Operations run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons are there to ensure every prisoner, a safe environment. The constitution is there to protect prisoners rights. The overall goal of the government is too, regulate prison systems and protect inmates/ prisoners. There is always room for improvement. Recently prison reform has been debated, as people are questioning the humane treatment of prisoners, and are curious here there tax dollars are going. The constitution covers various rights regarding prisoners to ensure their safety and wellbeing. The structure of all persons are controlled by the government, they run public, private, and state prisons. They also manage the overall budget and allocate certain money to certain needed programs for prisons. The government is so important when it comes to prisons as they are protecting the people behind bars and preventing them from being a burden on society and rehabilitating them. That being said, it is essential for the government to have control of prisons and monitor the status of prisoners to ensure total wellbeing. Overall, United States prison policy must be amended and enforced on various levels to accommodate for the ultimate mental and physical well being of prisoners.
Professionalism as Bartollas and Siegel define it “refers to a set of character strengths and personal values directed at providing the highest quality service to others in the workplace, both colleagues and clients” (2013). In the field of corrections, professionalism affects not only those working in the facility or those imprisoned within its walls, but the families of inmates and officers /correctional staff, the local community, and the relationships within the law enforcement community as well.
Inmates are constantly violated by cellmates and prison guards, both physically and sexually. Violence is often associated with prison gangs and interpersonal conflict. Prison guards are bribable and all kinds of contrabands including weapon, drug, liquor, tobacco and cell phone can be found in inmates’ hands. Crime within the fence is rampant, only counting those with violent act, 5.8 million reports were made in 2014. If the prison is really what it claims to be, shouldn’t prisoners be serving their time with regret and learning to be obedient? On the contrary, they continue to misbehave as the way that had them chained up. Rehabilitating from crime is similar to recovering from drug abuse, the most effective way to cut off from further engagement is to keep anything related out of reach. Yet, the prison has done the opposite, no prisoner can reform under such circumstance. Prison is supposed to put an end to criminal activities but it turns out to be the extension; crime keeps happening in and out of the prison and criminals stay as
The prison system is able to change it just takes the government not being as stubborn. They outlaw the death penalty. If the death penalty was still used the prisons would have about ⅔ of the inmates left then what is has now. As seen here ”people talk about how the death penalty is not a deterrent. Well, we do it so infrequently. Even if you're sentenced to death, you're probably not going to get executed. That's why it's not a deterrent,”(Horn). People don't even see the death penalty as a punishment so people aren't afraid of commiting crimes. With how dangerous prisons are with overcrowding they are just costing more money for providing the medical attention the inmates need. ”There have been any number of reports about overcrowded and dangerous prisons, and while the Commission presented its conclusions and recommendations to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, it's not clear what - if anything - will come of that,”(Horn). When people get out of prison they are afraid of going back. They don't have a reason to change. Most people don't have a way of even getting a job once there out as stated here, ”I work in a medium security prison in North Carolina that serves young men ages 18 to 25. There is one segment of our population that no program addresses. This is the group that will probably never be able to get a GED, and therefore they do not qualify for many of the programs designed to help with job
The main part of this research paper is the reforms for the conditions of prison and make prison a better place for prisoner and make an alternative for incarceration.
In order to do this they need to make new centers to help prisoners inside better themselves. In Alabama prisons may soon shut down 14 of its prisons for overcrowding, neglect, and violence in the state’s correction systems. In the prison St. Clair Holman in Alabama the prison system makes prisoners act different. There is no safety, security or supervision. “We have people being killed, sexually assaulted, raped, stabbed on daily basis at St. Clair, Holman, and multiple facilities; it’s a systemwide problem,” said Charlotte Morrison, a senior attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which represents Alabama prisoner.” Within this quote we see that in St. Clair prison, inmates get raped and stabbed. These are reasons why prisons should be reformed. Prisoners shouldn’t be hurt for whatsoever problems. Conversely, Penal Reform International article suggested different reasons to reform prisons one that stood out to reform the particular prison in Alabama was this, Provide a healthy, safe environment. “Spaces that are filled with sunlight, outside views, therapeutic color schemes and normalized materials, encourage inmates’ participation, reduce stress, incidents and assaults and decrease staff absenteeism.” Considering the fact that prisoners in Alabama are brutally hurting each other in their cells, we can conclude that if prisons provided a safe environment bad
The Yuma Territorial Prison was not like typical prisons by today’s standards or the standards of other prisons in the 1800’s. The construction and architecture of the prison was one thing that was unique. The prison was not only built by the prisoners, but (even more unique by today’s standards) was built entirely by hand without the use of any form of power tools. As for the architecture, all of the guard towers had huge peaked roofs that were used as insulation by creating more airspace between the roof and the actual building.
Imagine being locked up in a confined space with little to no air conditioning, concrete walls, concrete floors, poor sanitation, rowdy peers, no soft comforts of a home, and a lack of the everyday basic needs. What I am describing to you is a little thing called prison overcrowding.