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The Pros And Cons Of Supermax Prisons

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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
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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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The Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ) resolution to close old victorian prisons and to build larger ‘Titan’ prisons that could hold more than 2,000 prisoners is up for debate. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling argues for Titan prisons and believes it’s lower-priced to have inmates in a new modern facility than it is to have them in “old and uneconomic” prisons. He believes in ‘modernising’ the estate. It’s supposed to save £63m a year in running super prisons (BBC, 2013). To further understand the role of super prisons, Grayling explores the idea that building them wasn’t just about imprisoning or “incarcerating” all inmates in one location.

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The past 25 years the numbers of prisoners who are held in solitary confinement has sky rocketed. State and federal prisons all have solitary confinement. Therefore, when an inmate acts out and tries to attack other inmates, and officers then they are put into an individual cell and are isolated from other individuals. One senator had said that the expansion of the use of solitary confinement is an issue. Supermax prisons hold inmates that are considered “the worst of the worst”.

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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.

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