Prisons are thought to be correctional facilities where people get to straighten out their ways, hence become responsible members of the society. There are different men and women corrections. This essay looks at two issues concerning prisons: the origin of women’s prisons as well as riots in prisons.
Question 1:
According to Seiter (2011), women’s correctional facilities initially started as sub-sections of men’s prisons. However, there were some issues that were of concern to the women. The issues included factors such as separation from children and other factors such as the poor conditions in the prisons in general. However, there was another in that women inmates often faced sexual abuses from some of the men inmates. As such, it was necessary to start different facilities for women.
The cultures in male and female prisons are usually different. According to Seiter (2011), the culture in the men’s prisons tends to be quite violent. The inmates tend to form some social units among themselves. At times, there can be rivalry between the different groups while in some other cases there can be peaceful co-existence. The situation is quite different in women’s correctional facilities. Women tend to be a bit more benevolent. They therefore comply easily to the regulations in the correctional facilities. In fact, women always tend to reform much faster than men. However, it is worth noting that there are always the exceptional cases. Even in the women’s correctional facilities, there are always isolated cases of women who tend to be hard cores. Whichever the case, the prison wrangles at the women’s facilities are much reduced than in men’s facilities.
Question 2:
Riots and disturbances in the prisons is not a new phenomenon in the law enforcement authorities. There are cases where the riots are not so severe while in other cases they are so bad that they result in the burning of prison facilities and at other times leading to death. Seiter (2011) observes that the riots are caused by various reasons. More often than not, prisoners argue that the major causes for the riots are associated with poor conditions at the prisons. These issues include harsh or sadistic treatment by the prison wardens, racial discrimination, poor living conditions among other factors. However, Seiter (2011) observes that this does not fully explain the causes of the riots. The argument is that there are other prisons which have very terrible conditions but there are no riots. As such, there is another reason that explains the riots. It is argued that there is a social construction that exists in the prisons between the prisoners and the wardens. Any attempt to disrupt this balance can lead to riots.
Prisons can always prepare for such incidences. One of the ways to do so is by having an open eye at all times. More often than not, the riots are often pre-organized. As such, if the wardens are more vigilant, then such issues can be arrested in advance. Furthermore, the prisons can conduct regular surveys where they identify the issues that are of interest to the prisoners. By understanding these issues, they can put in place measures that can lead to prisoner satisfaction. As such, there would be reduced incidences of riots within the prisons. In as much as the prisoners are in prison for correctional services, they also have rights that have to be considered.
