ABSTRACT
This paper will discuss an in depth look at Corrections and the Criminal Institution. I will discuss what exactly crime is? I will also discuss how a criminal gets from being a criminal to being in a criminal Institution. This paper will discuss the repayment of victims by criminals. This paper will also discuss the sentencing of criminals. I will discuss the rights of a criminal. I will discuss the employment that is offered inside the criminal institution. This paper will also show the different types of abuse that happens inside the criminal institution. This paper will discuss the Juvenile Justice Detention Center. I will also discuss the rise of Women and Imprisonment.
Over the years Corrections, prisons, and jails have always been used as words associated as a place where someone is called what the public calls “locked up” while all these words may necessarily be true and all fall under the criminal justice system, there is a terminology which is being referred to for the sake of this research paper and that is called, Criminal Institution.
The Criminal Institution is also a part of the criminal justice systems as well as corrections, for example corrections can be used at each state level, and the criminal institution is used for mostly federal level and can be used for state, county or city level. Criminals from this point on will be called, offenders; offenders after being found guilty in a court of law are then turned over to face the Department of Corrections otherwise known as the Criminal Institution, the judge along with the prosecutor has decided the sentencing the offender. After being sentenced the offender begins to serve their time at the institution where the court has decided for the offender to serve their sentence.
The offender is then taken to the institution and issued a uniform, toiletry items, flip flops and underwear, then the clothing the offenders come to the institution with is put in what is called lock up until the offenders release date. The offender is issued an assigned bed that he or she will sleep in every night. Then the next day the offender is assigned to chores, these chores are to be completed every day by the offender.
The offender earns a rate of .18 cents per day they are incarcerated in the institution for example, if the judge ordered the offender to pay a restitution amount of $25,000 and sentenced the offender to 10 years in prison the offender will forever be repaying his restitution, besides paying his restitution, the offender is expected to pay for store items such as toiletry items out of the .18 cents per day he earns while working as well.
Although, the terms in which an offender has to live by may seem harsh as far as the work ethics and survival ethics, when it comes to repaying their debts not only by sitting in prison and earning a menial amount and then returning to society and then have to pay thousands of dollars back to their victims. But another way of looking at this is whomever the victim involved lost money, or whatever involved that caused the judge to sentence an offender to an institution, in other words it is deserving for the victim to be repaid at whatever time period it may take.
Regardless of what goes on inside the criminal institution, all offenders have rights whether they have been informed of these rights or not:
- Under the eighth Amendment right prison officers has to make available to offenders; medical, dental, and mental health care.
- Mental health care is an extreme component when dealing with offenders whether it was before or after entering the criminal institution / judicial system. Improper mental health care can endanger a person for the rest of their lives which is why it is impeccable for the government to enforce the law and to have made it an Amendment for prison officers to make it available for offenders to be offered this care.
- The Supreme Court has also held that the 1st Amendment has made it available for the prison offenders to send and receive mail of course with mail sensors, but the fact that they still have this right shows the prison system has come a long way with rights of inmates.
- The right to appeal any ruling decided by a judge.
There are many careers that are offered inside the criminal institution, that are full time as well as part time jobs, these jobs are an array of areas and include various backgrounds of specialties that are offered throughout the institution: cooks, mental health / social workers / counselors/ substance abuse counselors, psychologist, psychiatrists, janitors, wardens, correctional officers, jail officer, recreational therapist, internal affairs investigator all of which are very important positions to hold inside the institution.
All of these positions will make sure the institution is continuing to maintain by the law and standards with the offenders who are held inside the institutions.
Community & Corrections
The Criminal Institution isn’t the only way to rehabilitate an offender, corrections also offers what is called Community Corrections, which is how an offender is sentenced to probation and sentenced to see a probation officer monthly, pay restitution and court fees once a month. The offender must maintain certain stipulations in order to stay on what is called Community Corrections status, such as the offender is allowed to live at home as long as they maintain employment, do not test positive on any drug tests, do not hang around any of the same friends they once were prior to their arrests, attend AA or NA meetings at least twice a week, if they haven’t obtained a GED, they must begin the preparation to obtain a GED before being discharged from the Community Corrections program, all fees to the court must be paid before they can be released from the Community Corrections Program.
Juvenile Justice & Probation
A person who is twelve years of age through eighteen years of age is considered a juvenile and can be arrested and placed in a juvenile detention facility. Depending on the crime a juvenile may serve as long as 90 days or as long as 1 year, 2 years or as long as they age out of the system which is 18 years of age as previously stated age out of the system.
A juvenile can commit crimes just as adults; robbery, assault, murder, manslaughter, larceny, drugs, possession, forgery, child abuse, neglect, etc. In a lot of cases truancy has been a major crime for juveniles, they get caught up into the so called street life and refuse to attend school. Community programs have been offered on numerous occasions prior to juvenile detention but delinquency is a last resort and definitely a resort that will cost a juvenile a mistake they will regret for the rest of their lives.
Death Row Inmates
Hundreds of offenders are placed on death row each year, which means these offenders will eventually die by lethal injection or electricity depending on the state in which they are incarcerated. These offenders are held in institutions waiting to be put to death, which can be psychologically & physically stressful as well, in which these offenders are placed under solitary confinement in order to be observed daily. It has been known and documented by correctional officers for these offenders to often try to commit suicide at a higher rate than other offenders in the institution. Death row inmates have the mentality of, “I have nothing to lose so why fight for my life.”
Abuse & Offenders
There are many types of abuse that happens within the criminal institution to offenders that have been reported; mental abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, drug abuse.
The mental abuse was inflicted by the correctional officers upon the offenders by at times not allowing them to eat, not allowing them to use the telephone when it was their turn to have phone privileges, taking away TV privileges from the offenders and so forth.
Physical abuse occurred by the correctional officers hitting the offenders with their batons, or pushing the offenders into the jail bars, the officers encouraging fighting among the offenders, officers-beating, kicking, choking and threating to kill the offenders, just being abusive. Verbal abuse occurs daily for the offenders from the officers by the way the officers speak to the offenders, very angry, aggressive, demeaning, and with animosity.
Sexual abuse is allowed by the officers against offenders by other offenders when the officers refuse to report such violence that is going on between offenders. There are so much that could do in this is regarding the correctional officers and the safety of the offenders. Drug Abuse the majority of this abuse among offenders occurs mostly when drugs are brought in by the Correctional Officers or family members of the offenders.
Rise of Women’s Imprisonment
There are several programs that have come about over the many years for women in the criminal institution, for example; motherhood in prison, programs for incarcerated mothers, women are afforded school opportunities while in prison so that after graduating they are able to re-enter society with better means as well as be better equipped to provide for her young child.
References
http://www.un.org/events/10thcongress/2088a.htm
President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967). The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society. U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-306-70124-3.
Siegel, L. & Bartollas, C. (2013) Corrections Today (2nd Edition). Belmont, CA :Wadsworth,Cengage
Wolfgang, Marvin (1990). "Crime and Punishment in Renaissance Florence". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern University) 81 (3): 567–84. doi:10.2307/1143848. JSTOR 1143848
