Super Max prisons house the worst of the worst, those inmates who are prone to violence and or escape, and those inmates who cannot peacefully coinhabit congregate style prisons (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). The inmates who are confined in Super Max prisons are those who were convicted of some sort of especially heinous crime or have attempted, or been successful in escape, inciting fatal riots, or offenses similar. Super Max prisons are also known as Administrative Control Units, Special Handling Units, or Control Handling Units and are standalone housing units inside an already existing prison (Ross, 2007), or in the case of federal prisons, can be an entirely separate prison
Since early times supermax prisons were used as a deterrence for extended criminal activities. We have seen facilities such as Alcatraz as early examples of supermax facilities which has been around since mid-1900. . There are many interesting points I found out about supermax prisons after reading this week article. The purpose behind super maximum security prisons is to prevent hard criminal from committing further crimes and keep them away from committing more crimes while incarcerated or inflict injuries t themselves therefore they are locked away from the rest of prison population. Supermax prison are not new and have been around for a long times as well as have been used in many different countries throughout the world.
According to Schmalleger and Smykla, (2015) supermax prison systems are designed to deal with inmates whose violent behavior makes it impossible for them to live with the general prison population. Such measures involve separating prisoners by the use of segregation or solitary confinement. The supermax housing is described as a freestanding facility, or a distinct unit within a facility, that provides management and secure control of inmates who have exhibited violent or serious disruptive behavior. Supermax prisons does not include maximum or close custody facilities that are designed to house inmates with high custody needs, inmates in disciplinary segregation or protective custody, or other inmates requiring segregation or separation
In my paper I will be stating my opinion on if super max prisons are doing what they were intended to do. Furthermore, what I feel are the improvements needed to terminate outside communication amongst inmates. Additionally, I will talk about the pros and cons of having this type of facility. Likewise, I will give general facts about super maximum security prisons. Lastly, I will explain what the differences between super max and the other levels of prison are.
Supermax prisons commonly have four characteristics that give them the label “Supermax”. These four characteristics are as follows: Supermax prisons are generally characterized by indefinite, long term housing, usually accompanied by nearly complete isolation and deprivation of environmental stimuli, little to none programmed activities allowed, with prison employees having a wide scope of
Some important facts to consider. Between 1970 and the start of the 1990’s, we saw an increase of prisoners by nearly 332%, with an increase of incarceration of 200% per 100,000 persons. When you have such an increase of prisoners in an institution, you are going to obviously have an increase in violent inmates, but you also as time goes on have courts coming down on guards and prison admin saying what they can and cannot do. Obviously the combined problems above created a need to our prisons to better manage the inmates, thus, supermax prisons started popping up. Supermax prisons just like the death penalty have those who agree with it, and those who disagree with it.
The criticisms of the supermax prisons are: Deprivation of medical facilities to the inmates as well as the criteria for an accused to inflict which strongly violates the inmates' personal lives. The inmates tend to suffer from mental imbalances as they are being locked away in isolation. According to John (2013), "Solitary confinement as it currently exists in modern supermax prisons is a practice with some serious flaws" (para. 1). Many prisoners that suffer from mental illness are sent to supermax prisons. Therefore, in order to control their insane conduct, they are placed in dark cells, which further deteriorate their mental health conditions.
The placement of so many people into prisons for general, popular, frequent non-violent crimes has lead to such an extravagant number of people inside the walls used to punish people of horrific
Supermax prisons are designed to house those offenders who are deemed the worst of the worst, either by committing extremely violent and heinous crimes or by being disruptive and violent in a non-supermax prison (Mears, 2005). Supermax prisons are designed to limit inmate contact with other inmates and even prison staff by keeping the inmate confined to their cell for most of the day (Schmalleger, 2015). Supermax inmates are allowed one hour of recreational time by themselves. What can inmates do to work their way out of a supermax facility? Due to inmates limited ability to interact with other inmates, there is limited opportunities to get into trouble; therefore, it is also hard to show an improvement in ones attitude.
As we look at supermax prisons they are used to house many violent offenders to mainly keep them away from all other prisoners in solitary confinement like cells for a long period of time and most of them will never be released. The main issue that Schmalleger and Smykla describe is the fact of a mental illness starting due to supermax confinement and where none previously existed in the past (2015). The issue with that is it could get them out of a supermax prison, which I believe that is completely ridiculous because they were already crazy enough to commit the crime they did to get in there. The other ways it does effect the person in prison is that it could lead to a bunch of different symptoms and possibly even suicide from being confined
I believe it is pretty much safe to say if an inmate is sentenced to supermax housing, a no-frills prison or jail he or she will spend whatever is left of their natural lives within that correctional facility. And, the probability of parole or release is non-existent. In that event their best out is to conduct themselves according to the rules and regulations of the correctional facility that they are housed. Providing inmates with privileges and amenities is a means of controlling and motivating good behavior. Some would argue that providing privileges and amenities do not affect the behavior of an inmate at all.
United States Prisons: A Mental Cage The United States is one of the world’s most recognized and powerful superpowers since its industrial and commercial production along with their nearly limitless military budget make them practically invincible. This demonstrates the power of the United States on foreign soil and problems, yet many internal problems in the United States are left disregarded and neglected, simply thrown away. Citizens and lawmakers remain silent on several key social issues and on one of the biggest shameful topics of neglect, America’s incarceration rate.
Those who find themselves sentenced to time in a penitentiary, jail, or prison are at risk of either being broken or strengthened by the time they spend behind bars. There is a great debate of whether or not the prison system in the United States is positive or negative. The following will briefly highlight the positives, negatives, and possible alternatives for our nation's prison system. 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.
High High Low High Note: The achievement of each alternative is resolved to be either high, medium, or low based on the established criteria The chart provides three alternatives for overcrowding prison, it was then isolated into four unique categories:
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.”
