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The stanford prison experiment behavior
The stanford prison experiment behavior
The stanford prison experiment behavior
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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. In our course textbook, Dannie Martian, a former prisoner at Lompoc, provided insight on the changes that occurred at the prison in which he was incarcerated.
The U.S. prison systems has evolved greatly in the pasts centuries in many ways, but the most critical part where it greatly improved was the security of the facilities, the inmate treatment, and the construction of the building of how stable it is. The first and most important is the security. A prison system has to have a strict security system because without it prisoners can do whatever they want. So, they developed a security system where there are five levels: the higher the level is the stronger it is. Not all prisons do the same security because different buildings mean different levels.
Inmate power was accommodated by the prison’s administration directly through programs and indirectly through tolerance of illegal activities. Prior to the riot, the programs enhanced chances of parole, which led to increased participation. They were also crucial to “self-policing” process within the inmate environment. However, the prison also faced high levels of illegal drug trafficking within the prison.
Owing to the fact that these inmates are considered to be a danger to the prison population, their ability to participate in certain activities inmates are allowed, the privilege of these activities are taken away and inmates are isolated as punishment. Whenever a person is isolated form social settings and human interactions they often develop social disorders and mental illnesses. “When anyone, mentally ill or not, does not have enough social contact, it affects them mentally and even physically. Loneliness creates stress, taking a toll on health. Other things affected can be the ability to learn and memory function.
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.
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.
This creates a method of moderation for the prison to allow them to manage their prisoners, safely. On the other side, it may be viewed as counterproductive as reducing the use of administrative segregation, it shows that it has reduced the violence among inmates. Also with the use of isolation, rates of recidivism seem to be increasing once those prisoners have been released compared to other prisoner from the general population. The opposite views outlines the debate of solitary confinement and its questionable continuation throughout US prison
Periods leading to the 1970's that created mass incarcerations The population of imprisonment of the American prisons greatly increased from 1970’s most of them being the blacks and their residential areas depict low standards of life. As of, Simon, (2014), the causes of incarcerations in the ninety seventies was as a result of the new directives which stated that vindictive sanctions was to be placed to the United States community if they do not arrest law breakers. Social factors such as unemployment and poor living standard increased imprisonment rate, during this period African Americans were mostly affected because politicians and law enforcing agencies believed that such group of people would commit crime frequently.
First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the
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
Worsening the problem, as the increase in the incarceration of individuals continues, the sense of rehabilitation for inmates has been heavily reduced. This is not just by chance, but rather because the capitalistic private prison industry does not view incarcerated individuals as
(Mary Kate Frank). The environment inside of prisons does not prepare inmates to re enter society, but rather to re enter prison. ⅔ prisoners will be rearrested within three years of being out of prison, ½ of arrested will become incarcerated again. Mass incarceration also continues the cycle of poverty that falls to the child of incarcerated parents. “It tears families apart, sinking them further into poverty and leaving 1 out of every 28 children with a parent who is incarcerated, two thirds of whom are in prison or jail for nonviolent crimes.”
In order to outlive the prison experience, inmates are constrained to endure great psychological changes. Noetic harm inflicted whilst imprisonment as well the challenges posed have only grown over the last several decades. These challenges include a much-discussed de-emphasis on rehabilitation as an objective of imprisonment along with rigorous policies and conditions of solitary confinement. Thus, creating prisons more troublesome places to adapt and sustain oneself. Adjustment to advanced imprisonment demands particular mental costs of incarcerated persons; few individuals are more vulnerable to the pains of imprisonment than others.
Through the decades, crime and crime control have been analyzed in an attempt to find the causes of crime and decide how to combat them. The United States showed an increase in their prison population in the 1970s when the country turned towards a more punitive justice system. Referred to as just deserts theory of crime, the aim is to inflict as much pain on the offender through harsh prison sentences, in hopes to cause as much pain as the crime they committed. The worse the crime is, the worse the punishment the criminal will endure. The issue surrounding just deserts theory is the vast amount of offenders who return to prison after being released, also known as the recidivism rate.
When an individual is placed in jail they have be aware of their surroundings and understand that their may be tension and violence. This may occur for many reasons such as, overcrowding, special problem and mistreatment. It is so important to remember environments set up the outcome of a lot of things.
