Jails and Prisons Essay Sample
Jails and Prisons Essay Sample It is very unfortunate that, many people never tend to differentiate between Jail and prisons as these two are more often used interchangeably. A jail is a place where people are detained either awaiting trial or conviction. People here are detained for a short period of time. While a prison or penitentiary is used to house the convicted criminals for a long period of time. These two institutions are very crucial in the society as they are legal penal system.
Those people in jail are said to have some more rights than the ones in the prison as they are able to access some facilities such as bathrooms, good food and at some other times they can socialize with other people. On the other hand, prison institutions convicts are given a very tight monitoring (Schmalleger, 2008).
Typology
There are four types of prisons that have very much contributed to rehabilitation of people here in the United States of America namely Military, Juvenile, Political and Psychiatric prisons. A Pendleton juvenile correctional facility ,is a state prison for the youthful males aged between 12-22years.This kind of institution was established in the year 2000 ,on the east-central Indiana and on average it accommodates population of around 245males everyday(Young,2006). The main aim of this institution is to make sure that these young men are equipped with necessary skills so that they may avoid more criminal behavior.
When we look at another type of prison such as military prison, you find that it is a very unique form of institution as it is operated by the military and is strictly used to house prisoners whose freedom is believed to be a national security threat and military members found to have committed serious crimes. Basically, we have two types of military prisons namely penal and confinement-oriented military prisons (Williams, 1996). A political prison is used to reform those convicted due to their political activities as well religious and philosophical stands. A good example can be that of Mumia Abu, who was convicted in the year 1981 by the United States for allegedly shooting Philadelphian police officer (Miller, 1999).
The last category is the Psychiatric prison. Many call it house of dead. This is where prisoners with mental disabilities are housed (Young, 2006).Credit should be given to community based programs, as they have very much contributed to the change of behavior of these convicts for allowing continuous relationship with their family members, counseling and some attain skills and ways in which they can apply them. The most important thing here is the fact that, these convicts are on the most advantageous side when we compare them to those behind bars as they can easily get along with the society members without experiencing social stigma(Williams,1996).
Security is very much important tool in the society. One of the most notorious criminals is the police themselves but they never face conviction. In most cases, we have witnessed so many people being brutally murdered by police but the top government officials never take this seriously as in most cases you find that, they benefit in one way or the other. To me I find it very ironical when the police are said to be law and order enforcers but they can not live by an example (Schmalleger, 2008).
One of the most challenging issues in our jails and prisons is the violence between the convicts. Some may face humiliation that may even cost their life. Some violence between the inmates may occur occasionally. If this is happen, the institution should consider investigating the main cause and the way in which it can be avoided in future (Mckeivey, 1936).
The most difficult thing for any judge in the court of law is delivering a sentence. We have seen so many innocent people who have been put behind bars and the most hardcore criminals given freedom. It is therefore true to say that, there is very little truth in our law systems due to our corrupt law enforcers. Truth is the major subject while sentencing any convict as it governs policies that target at abolishing parole. It maintains that, the criminals should serve the required period without considering other external factors such as overcrowding and criminal behavior change.
