California overcrowding prisons conditions has gain National attention. The U.S. Supreme court has found that California is in violation of the 8th Amendment. California has been required to reduce their prison inmates by 40,000 inmates. California has utilized many options to reduce the inmate population within the prison system. California has to two years to reduce the inmates count in the prison system.
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
Private prisons were constructed as a response to the overcrowding in federal prisons during the 1980s; many people speculate whether or not private prisons are good or bad. Critics argue that private prisons like any business are driven by profit, and prisons profit from the amount of criminals they are able to contain which gives the private prisons and their shareholders incentive to keep the prison population high and expenses low. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency estimates that over the next ten years state and federal expenditures on prisons will amount to $351 billion6. These government subsidies along with the support of private prison shareholders allow the prison industrial complex to keep their power and influence
A supermax prison is a prison facility that represents the most secure level of custody in the prisons system. This prison is intended for inmates who are unmanageable in the general population or inmates who are classified as high security risks. Examples of inmates in these prisons include Sulaiman Abu Ghaith who was convicted for providing material support to terrorists, Naser Jason Abdo who was convicted of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and Eric Rudolph who was convicted of carrying out bombings. All these inmates are housed at ADX Florence. These prisoners should be in supermax because they pose a high security risk.
The pros of having a super maximum security prison is the safety for others because these inmates are dangerous. Coupled with the fact that super-max prisons is a corrections management tool used which is cost- effective and achieves outcome that no other approach can. On the contrary, the cons are long term solitary confinement for twenty three hours per day which is un-humane. Moreover this type of confinement harms parts of the brain because the inmates are reminiscing on the crimes committed in the past. Furthermore, this can and has led to suicide and mental illnesses within the inmates because they are kept away from
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.
Supermax prisons were originally intended for the most violent escape prone prisoners.(Ross, 2007).They are also used for rule breakers, convicted leaders of criminal organizations, serial criminals and political criminals. They have strict lock down policies and isolation techniques and a lack of amenities like watching tv and listening to the radio, they are also not allowed to work or congregate throughout the day. These prisons were created for the worse of the worse in an effort to isolate them from regular prison population and to give them a harsher punishment. (Ross, 2007).They however, were not created for prisoners who are serving short term sentences or individuals who are a likely candidate for rehabilitation. This is not a place
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.
By restricting their daily schedule prisoners cannot restore their discipline in maintaining strong foundation to rebuild their mind or help them avoid psychology. Without these proper resources inmates minds will collapse to the point of insanity making the 8th amendment come into effect. To truly uphold justice the prison system main goal must be to focus on rehabilitation for all those in Supermax prisons and especially for those who suffer from mental illness. To be locked away for long durations of time or even life can severely create discord in the system. It is truly mayhem when individuals no longer control their own fates but must listen to the precise system that believes structure is the key to reforming someone, despite their freedom
According to an article by Henry J. Steadman in regards to overcrowding of prisons in the state of California, he advised that several judges created a panel to solve the issues of overcrowding. The article advises that the judges came up with four options as a solution to overcrowding that include the following: early release, diversion of technical parole violators to community based sanctions or local jails, similar alternate sanctions for low-risk offenders, and expansion of rehabilitation programming in prisons and communities (Steadman, 2011). The early release of inmates with more minor offenses would be productive to preventing overcrowding because it would free up beds in the prison. Diversion of technical parole violators to community
Open prisons are usually for prisoners who were moved from closed prisons for rehab purposes. There are no external protection to an open prison. The prisoners with good conduct in the work force belong in this kind of prison area. Enforcement officers can go out under the supervision and protection, and also it is possible to discuss freely with visitors. Prisoners in the open prison are required to work hard labor for the government, it can also be community service.
