Paramilitary Structure In Prison

This article concerns the Stanford Prison experiment carried out in 1971 at Stanford University. The experiment commenced on August 14, and was stopped after only six days. It is one of the most noted psychological experiments on authority versus subordinates. The studies which emerged from this have been of interest to those in prison and military fields due to its focus on the psychology associated with authority.

Before the centralization of prison systems, prisoners had the privilege to decorate their prison cell, personalize their prison clothing, and have different types of furniture, such as bookshelves, rugs, and chairs. However, this changed when the prison system became more centralized. Austin and Irwin (2012) explained that “the centralization of authority and the formation of rules and regulations in prison systems resulted in stringent and uniform routines”, which eliminated the privileges of the prisoners.

Militarization of police is an important modern concern within the criminal justice discipline. Many argue that the formation of special units within the police department has greatly aided in this militarization of police. These special units, including the Bomb Squad and SWAT Team, may contribute to the increased police force across the United States. Proponents of the militarization believe that police should use what they find suitable to protect the community and themselves from danger. However, opponents maintain that the cost to supply units with equipment is extremely high and that by arming police with military weapons breaks police-community relations. In addition, adversaries claim that violence used by the police promotes violence in the community. As a result of escalated brutality, it is critical for police departments to gain the support of citizens to alter their perception of specialized police units. Nevertheless, with increased violence throughout the United States, it is crucial

In America, the private prison industry was made for necessary profit based off of the management of prisons by large, private companies. In David Shapiro’s insightful report “Banking on Bondage”, he discusses the logistics of the United States prison system, saying “In America, our criminal justice system should keep us safe, operate fairly, and be cost-effective”. Today, the United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world, including Russia, China, and Iran. Alongside the issues of private prisons, the increasingly apparent problem of mass incarceration has stripped record numbers of American citizens of their freedom, has a minimal effect on public

The Georgia Department of Corrections was established with the main purpose of protecting and serving the public by managing offenders and ensuring all of the state's residents live in a safe and secure environment. To this date, The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) is responsible for just over fifty thousand (50,000) state prisoners, with it being recorded as the largest prison system in America. With such a large capacity one can draft that the GDC has a large scope of operation and organizational structure having employed over ten thousand (10000) members of staff. Outlined further in this article will be a detailed description of the Georgia Department of Corrections organizational structure, funding sources, goals, objectives, roles

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.

In the United States, prisons are held accountable for the safety of inmates regardless of their crimes. Researchers defined Security Threat Group is known as prison gangs, which corrections officers used to take away their recognition term (Security Threat Group (STG) Law and Legal Definition, 2016). The Security Threat Group are hostile inmates that caused harm to prison officials and inmates. The Security Threat Group may vary from state to state within the correctional facilities. It is determined that street gangs and prison gangs are different because prison gangs reflects with the toughness on their role in unlawful activity, higher level of organization, and age structure, while street gangs’ illicit activity is part of the group identity

The elements necessary to control the use of force in prisons are well known. To prevent abuse, the use of force must be controlled through (1) clear policies; (2) meaningful and constant supervision of all uses of force; (3) timely and truthful reporting of all uses of force by the officer involved and anyone who witnessed the incident; (4) an accurate and unbiased investigation into allegations of excessive force; and (5) the consistent imposition of progressive and proportional discipline when excessive force is used or when it is not reported. A breakdown in any one of these components will inevitably lead to

The inner moral compulsion to obey is what drives most social organizations. Sykes (2007) described several structural defects that occurred in the New Jersey State prison. Sykes (2007) argues that power in prison is not based on authority therefore prison officials have to find other means to get prisoners to abide by the rules and regulations. The ability to use force to maintain order on a large scale in the prison is an illusion. According to Sykes (2007), Certain privileges such mailing and visiting, personal possessions, time-off for good behavior etc. are given to the inmate all at once upon his or her arrival to the prison. As a result of these privileges given to the inmates upon their arrival, the prisoner have no real incentive

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.

Prison gangs have been and are a growing problem. Prison organizations throughout the United States have tried many different strategies to address the issue of prison gang members. One of the problems is that gang members are more of a threat to the staff and other inmates than regular inmates who are not in a gang. The prisons have problems begin able to house certain serious offenders that need to be kept separate because of the limited spacing. Gangs in the prison have a higher disruption and incident rate then non gang members. Prison gangs thrive on crime within the facility. If not addressed their involvement in crime will continue to grow and pose a threat to other inmates, staff, and the institution. If procedures are not put into place then gang membership will only continue and remain a safety concern. Administration must ensure their staff members are adequately trained and know how to act and deal with the gangs. Because the prison community is so private more research needs to be done to understand the workings of prison gangs and get more current, detailed, data. The community needs to be aware of the issues as well since they

Life in prison is not the path any average person wanders down, or perhaps even plan for. Also, it is safe to assume that any person who has been to prison would let the outsiders know that is not fun, nor is it a life anyone devotes to living. In Michael G. Santos’s book, Inside: Life Behind Bars in America, Santos explains what living behind bars in America is like. Unlike most of the population in prison for violent offenses, Santos was in prison for the opposite reasons: a major drug bust. Santos was also sentenced to federal prison, instead of a state/local prison, for forty-five years which stemmed from a high-profile cocaine bust that occurred in Miami, Florida. Thanks to the war on drugs, Santos ended up sending a total of a little

Does it make sense to lock up 2.4 million people on any given day, giving the U.S the highest incarceration rate in the world. More people are going to jail, this implies that people are taken to prison everyday for many facilities and many go for no reason. People go to jail and get treated the worst way as possible. This is a reason why the prison system needs to be changed. Inmates need to be treated better. The government treats prisoners as if they are nothing in this world. The U.S prison system needs to be reformed by building new and better prisons and making it more humane and fair.

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.

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.