Changing Inmates Behavior By John Watkins

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.

As a result of these privileges given to the inmates upon their arrival, the prisoner have no real incentive to follow the rules and regulations therefore prison officials must bribe and coerced them. A way to fix the defects of total power, prison officials should change or eliminate the reward system. Instead of providing inmates with rewards upon their arrivals at the prison, guards should use a positive reinforcement system where inmates get to enjoy certain privileges if and only if they follow the rules and regulations of the prison. Another structural defects are the inadequacies of the prison staff. Almost half of all the guards at the New Jersey State prison were temporary employees. Some of these temporary officers were not interested in making corrections as a career that resulted in high turnover rates. These guards were paid at the lower end of the salary scale and a lack of advancement opportunities that brought dissatisfactions. In order to correct this structural defect, prison officials should offer higher salaries, clear and concise advancement opportunities. Using these techniques, prison official would influence guards to remain longer and have pride in their

When the American prison system began, it was believed that rehabilitation, the act of restoring one’s character, could be beneficial for criminals to start over. According to Tom Wicker, “The system…began as a reform impulse, the idea that if offenders were isolated, shielded from the public mockery that had accompanied hangings and the stocks, given time to repent, and worked hard, they could be turned away from crime and transformed into useful citizens” (xii). Criminals could become better citizens and have a positive outlook for a future if they worked hard and were secluded from the outside world. Although this idea seems more humane, it did not last long in the prison system because many people believed that any crime committed deserved

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.

The purpose of the research described in the experiment is to investigate life experienced in prison by both prisoners and guards, the psychological effect it has on both groups. To understand, “basic psychological mechanisms underlying human aggression,”(Zimbardo et al., 1973, p.1).

Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals.

Few remember that not just the indicted are changed in the prison system-the authority figures become different, too. Thousands of people go to detention facilities and stay there from minutes to decades, but the authority figures stay there with every influx of new prisoners. The wardens, in particular, are a monumental part of the system. They regulate the prisoners causing them to adapt to situations, whether positive or negative. Samuel Norton, the warden in the adaptation of Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption, is embodied by the atmosphere of the prison. He is an apathetic, selfish man who knows how to take advantage of those around him. In the acclaimed motion picture Shawshank Redemption, Warden Norton displays religion as an agent of socialization; stage-two of Kohlberg’s morality development; and resocialization of the prison system.

Additionally, in an attempt to foster an increase in professionalism within the correctional community, care and consideration must be taken with the care and housing of inmates both privately operated and those operated by some branch of the government. “The quality of prisons has improved from the past, but there continue to be too many inhumane new prisons. New construction does not always result in a prison conductive to humane incarceration” (Bartollas,

The monitoring, prevention and treatment of mental disorders, as well as the promotion of good mental health, are part of the public health goals in prisons. According to World Health Organization (2017), even in resource-limited countries, measures can be taken to improve the mental health of prisoners and prison staffs, which can be adapted to the country’s cultural, social, political and economic environment (WHO, 2017). In the British prisons, some practices and policies have also been implemented, which reflect the positive impacts of prisoners’ mental health and wellbeing.

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971 illustrated the direct relationship between power of situations and circumstances to shape an individual’s behavior. During this study 24 undergraduates were grouped into roles of either a Prisoner or a Guard, the study was located in a mock correctional facility in the basement of Stanford University. Researchers then observed the prisoners and guards using hidden cameras. The study was meant to last two weeks. However, the brutality of the Guards and the suffering of the Prisoners was so intense that it had to be terminated after only six days. During this period, Zimbardo observed the radical change in the personalities of the participants embodying the role of the prison guard, as they changed from ordinary young men to men with a vicious and sadistic character. Zimbardo stated that he was trying to portray what transpired when all of the individuality and dignity was stripped away from a human, and their life was completely controlled. He wanted to demonstrate the dehumanization and loosening of social and moral values that can happen to guards immersed in such a situation (“Stanford Prison Experiment”). This experiment has been used to exemplify the cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority. In addition, the findings advocate the situational explanation of behavior rather than the dispositional one.

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

I have never before visited a prison nor have I met a prisoner in my entire life. Why should I care about someone whom I would rarely see? But these inmates are our brothers and sisters who may have made bad choices, but don’t want their mistakes to hold them back. Throughout my life, my once miserable and hopeless circumstances were transformed by education, and I am certain that the same principle can be applied to anyone, including inmates, despite our differences in how we responded to circumstances. It is true that prison takes nearly everything away from them – even their hopes and dreams. But they have the time to correct past mistakes. In doing so, if they can learn from the worst time of their lives, upon release, they will enter the

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

Moreover, elderly prisoners are additionally a major obstacle that correctional administrators are confronted with. Prison officials are unable to give states of control that address the issues and regard the privileges of their elderly detainees. They are likewise poorly arranged, without the assets, plans, responsibility, and support from chose authorities, to deal with the significantly more noteworthy quantities of more seasoned detainees anticipated for the future, excepting genuinely necessary changes to cruel "tough on crime" laws that stretched sentences and decreased or wiped out open doors for parole or early discharge (Old Behind Bars, 2016). One outstanding issue is their health. Elderly prisoners are confronted with intellectual issues that happen quickly without the best possible analysis. Another issue with the elderly inmates may comprise of upheavals of hostility that isn 't a behavior that they have associated themselves with previously. These prisoners are likewise confronted with the issue of being sheltered and secured when they are around different prisoners. For the elderly prisoners, they experience numerous issues with managing medical problems, upheavals of animosity, and being protected every day while detained. Correctional administrators are given the task to supply theses individual based on their

The United States of America contains the third largest population in the world, which contradicts the fact that the United States has the largest prison population in the world (Aliprandini, and Finley). The fact that their prison population is so large alludes to the reason they would have a strong parole system. Due to contrary belief, this is not the case. Furthermore, the parole system is known to have a multitude of problems laced within it, these problems can be solved by focusing on parolee and parole officer relationships, and partaking in systems that improve the underlying issues. Following through to fix these affairs may seem unrealistic, but a solution could be in sight.