Introduction
The prison system in the United States has followed a system where prisoners are locked away from the rest of society and their families never to be seen nor heard from ever again, it has become a common theme with prison systems. Prisoners are forbidden to see their families, watch movies, and have certain times when items need to be returned so as to eliminate a possible threat against prison staff; many prisons in many states have restricted the rights of all prisoners.
Prisoners in California prisons are a shining example of said treatment, it has gotten to the point where many of the prisoners’ rights have been taken away so as to teach them a lesson about breaking the law which has proven effective and not effective. Many prisoners’ rights in California are taken from them, they barely have room or given the freedom to breathe let alone breathe freely enough to do what they want to do.
Nordic prisoners’ rights are not only protected, but held to the highest standard; Norway believes that prisoners are less likely to commit crimes if they are given the chance and opportunity to prove that they can be trusted. For example, many Norway prisoners have the right to not just see their families during family day at the prison, but are able to freely walk about the town even go to grocery and convenience stores.
The prison system in Norway has had a lot of successful prisoners who have paid their debt to society by going to prison once and never going back again, Norway values their prisoners’ rights and they know what it means to treat all prisoners like human beings instead of caged animals.
California prison system has degenerated overtime and violated prisoners’ rights.
Research Questions 1
There are many differences between California prisons and Norway prisons, those differences lie in the way that the prisons are built as well as their overall capacity. So, one might ask, what are the major differences between California and Norway prisons; Norway prisons do not have issues with over crowdedness for one. Norway prisons are practically luxury hotel resorts where the inmates can wear their own clothes instead of prison uniforms. According to St. John (2013), “Prisoners’ rights in California are violated every day, the inmates already have it bad in prison and it seems to be getting worst” (St. John, 2013).
California prisons face issues of over crowdedness to the point where inmates are being forced to sleep on the floor and despite the fact that the prisoners are in prison for breaking the law, their constitutional rights to be treated as human beings are violated in the aspect. According to Ahmed (2015), “Norway prisoners are treated like royalty, but that also does not mean that they want to return to prison; many of them, 88% and above, do not commit the same crime twice” (Ahmed, 2015).
California prisons have come to be known as the worst in the world due to the poor living conditions of the inmates and a lot of the inmates’ cries for better conditions have fallen on deaf ears in the legal system because they are seen as animals. Criminals in Nordic prisons, few that there are, living comfortable and are given the finest in accommodations such as a kitchen with a stocked refrigerator etc.
Another huge difference between California and Norway prisons is that inmates do not have to share cells or living spaces in Norway as they do in California prisons, Norway prisoners have their own entertainment in their own cells via television. California prisoners are only able to watch television in the main room under direct supervision from prison staff.
Research Question 2
Prisoners have rights that they are entitled no matter how much time they are serving in prison, prisoners have the right to decent living conditions. Simply put, prisoners in California prisons should each have their own bed instead of sleeping on the floor. According to Law (2013), “Male prisoners’ rights were taken away such as freedom of expression and women had their prisoners’ rights taken away as well, it is not fair that both groups of people cannot be treated as if their choices mattered” (Law, 2013).
Prisoners also have the right to the basic necessities such as food, water and hygiene products that they can use to bathe. Prisoners have a right to complain about their living conditions if they are below standard, if the living conditions make it so the prisoner cannot live or have trouble living in their cells. According to Papa (2016), “The California prison system needs to model after the Norway prisons then their people would not see the necessity to spend so much on prison expansion instead of rehabilitation services” (Papa, 2016).
There were times in the past where inmates were denied another basic necessity in the form of medical care, prisoners have a right to health care to use as they see fit because it is the prisoners’ constitutional right to get medical treatment when they need it; refusing medical treatment to prisoners was also a violation of their rights as human beings.
Prisoners have a right to privacy which entitles them the prisoners to have open conversations with their spouses or significant other without interference from the prison guard, prisoners also have the right to have conversations with their lawyers without any meddling from guards who would be inclined to think that a conspiracy is being orchestrated between the two parties. Prisoners used to have a right to get mail from their loved ones, but are not able to anymore which has also a violation of their rights.
Policy History
There were many policies that were implemented in order to protect the rights of inmates such as their right to religious freedom which was implemented in 1993 and the policy was called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, this was carried out to ensure that prisoners’ rights to religious freedom was not violated because they were serving time in prison. According to Caffiero (2013), “California policy history has a lot to do with prison reduction, the over crowdedness is gotten to be too much to bear. (Caffiero, 6, 2013)
The inmates did not have a right to visitation from family or friends which made it so they could not have contact with people in the outside world, 1984 marked the year that the visitation rights policy was implemented so as allow visitors the right to visit their loved ones in prison. According to Boudin, Littman and Stutz (2013), “historical policies are not just in place for historical purposes, it is also to remind the justice system that prisoners have rights that should never be violated by no means” (Boudin, Littman and Stutz, 152, 2013).
A prisoners’ rights to medical care is one of the most noteworthy of all of their rights, all inmates are entitled to medical care no matter how big or small, the policy was implemented at the time that the Eighth Amendment became law. Cruel and unusual punishment was not allowed in the prisons and that includes any type of cruel and unusual punishment that robbed a prisoner of their right to medical treatment.
Prisoners did not have rights to legal counsel because of their status as a prisoner, it was not until 1969 that prisoners were allowed to legal counsel so they could argue their case regarding anything from the living conditions in the prison to prison guard mistreatment; this policy gave prisoners the chance to talk to their lawyers regarding legalities. Prisoners were also given the right to confidentiality with their lawyers thanks to this policy.
Purpose of the Prison System
Many people may or may not know, the prison system has a purpose that entails more than just locking up criminals and depriving them of their basic necessity, freedom from the outside world. However, there are four principles that define the purpose of the prison system.
One of the purposes of the prison system is to instill deterrence in the prisoners so as to prevent future crimes, the positive aspect of this is that prisoners will be less likely to commit crime or re-commit the same crime that got them arrested and sent to prison. By instilling deterrence, inmates will see the error of their ways and do better about avoiding that particular crime.
Another purpose of the prison system is rehabilitation which comes in the form of work opportunities inside the prisons which have the potential to change criminals back into pillars of the community, there are also educational opportunities that are offered to inmates while in prison so they can work toward the goal of getting their GED or trying to get a job upon leaving prison.
Incapacitation has come to be known as one of the basic purposes of the prison system, by removing all criminals from the streets and neighborhoods, the prison system can implement a change in the community. The greatest purpose of this is that the community at large will not have to fear retaliation from that particular criminal or the crime.
Retribution has come to be another purpose of the prison system, this aspect of purpose is to make the criminals pay for the crimes that they committed against the society that they live in; the prison system feels that criminals need to pay for their crimes and those that they should have worked harder to avoid committing. The purpose of the prison system is absolute and is a time honored tradition in prisons in the U.S.
Rehabilitation
Many prison systems have one goal in mind for the many prisoners that enter their prisons and that is to rehabilitate them so they will return to their lives of normality, one particular rehabilitation center that has helped many convicts is the Delancey Street Foundation. This organization was established by in the early 1970s by two people who were in and out of jail consistently due to problems with alcohol as well as other drugs.
Delancey Street Foundation and Nordic Prisons have one thing in common, they strive to help prisoners succeed by getting to the root of their problems by helping them understand themselves as well as the society that they live in. Many people have felt that the organization is wasting their time on rehabilitating criminals that cannot be reformed. However, the organization has done the impossible.
There has been ex-convicts who were transformed upon leaving Delancey Street because of the encouragement that they received while they were getting the help that they needed that they could not get from society, Delancey Street has rehabilitated many ex-convicts who thought they would never be able to see the outside world ever again.
Delancey Street is one of the most successful rehabilitation centers in the country, it is without a doubt one of the most effective ways to treat convicts with a history of drugs and alcohol. Incidentally, a lot of the inmates in this facility are taught how to treat one another as well as other people that they are likely to encounter in the community.
Delancey Street has become customary in helping criminals and inmates better themselves, criminals have a guaranteed job upon leaving the facility; several inmates have shown great progress toward rehabilitation. There is no record of those same criminals returning to prison after leaving Delancey Street.
Conclusion
There has been many differentiations that have been made between California and Norway prison systems, Nordic prisons treat their inmates like people while the California prison system believes that restriction of freedom as well as the basic necessities will teach prisoners that their rights does not matter when they are in prison. California’s prison system should convert to how Norway’s prison system is, prisoners should be treated like their lives and need of necessities matter.
Prisoners’ rights within the California prison is examined through their rights of religion and their right to privacy whether it is from their lawyer or from their spouse. Prisoners’ rights of getting mail while in prison is a right that they are entitled to as well, it is not up to the justice system to decide that when they get that mail or if they do not.
Many policies such as Visitation Rights have been implemented to ensure that the inmate make a healthy transition back into society, 1984 was the year that visitation rights was given to criminals serving time in prison. Norway has always allowed families to see their loved ones in prison even if it is just from behind the gate, Norway families have always valued openness with their prison system; it is the key reason why many Norway citizens do not return to prison.
The prison system’s main goal is to rehabilitate criminals so they return to society and to their family, the rehabilitation system in the prisons offer opportunities to prisoners such as education that would allow them to get their GED.
Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco, California has reformed many prisoners so as to give them a second chance at a better future in society, many prisoners who leave Delancey Street do not return to prison or to their old life of crime.
Overall, California should adopt Norway’s prison style to ensure even greater success.
References
Ahmed, B. (2015, September 3). The U.S. Has A Lot To Learn From Norway’s Prisons. Retrieved August 13, 2016, from https://thinkprogress.org/the-u-s-has-a-lot-to-learn-from-norways-prisons-681fd194b6e1#.d9ha67xkq
Caffeiro, M. J. (2013, April 18). California Prison Realignment. California Realignment: Assembly Bill (AB) 109, 1(1), 6-6. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
Boudin, C., Littman, A., & Stutz, T. (2013). Prison Visitation Policies: A Fifty-State Survey. Yale Law & Policy Review, 1(1), 152-152. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
Law, V. (2013, July 22). EVERYONE SHOULD BE HORRIFIED THAT CALIFORNIA PRISONS STERILIZED DOZENS OF FEMALE INMATES. Retrieved August 13, 2016, from https://bitchmedia.org/post/california-prison-sterilize-women-reproductive-rights-investigation
Papa, A. (2016, February 18). Michael Moore's Portrayal of Norway Prison vs. My 15-to-Life Sentence in the U.S. Retrieved August 13, 2016, from http://www.drugpolicy.org/blog/michael-moores-portrayal-norway-prison-vs-my-15-life-sentence-us
St. John, P. (2013, July 18). California bans inmates rights lawyer from prisons. Retrieved August 15, 2016, from http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/18/local/la-me-pc-ff-california-bans-inmates-rights-lawyer-from-prisons-20130717
