Criminals who are tried and convicted of their crimes are sent to jails and prisons to punish them for breaking the law. In cases of child abuse, murder and sexual assault to name a few, the victims or victim’s families feel that the perpetrator should be treated behind bars the way he or she treated their victim. For instance, there are unconfirmed rumors that people who molest children are targets in prisons and are beaten, raped or both, by other prisoners. Many prisoners are parents and they do not want to live with someone who hurts children, so they take matters into their own hands. “Even though inmates are segregated, child molesters must deal with the rejection and verbal abuse of their fellow prisoners.
This false impression is what the general public views as, life behind bars. In the criminal justice system, prison plays a vital role in deterring citizens from committing offences. The images held by the general public, due to the media’s account of the prison system, are enough to prevent most people from committing crimes. This representation in movies and television programs is often false and misleading, portraying the prison system as a dangerous place where criminals are sent to pay for their crimes. Criminals are constantly shown living in fear of other inmates or working tirelessly on roads or laundry mats.
Some of the problems associated with sexual coercion are lack of awareness by public and government, under reporting, risk to other inmates, and health risks, such as HIV and increased health care costs. Increasing staff recognition, facility accountably and restricted inmate access might help reduce the number of sexual assaults in prison. Unfortunately, whatever extreme steps are taken to reduce this problem, there will always be some type of sexual coercion in the prison system. Other problems with the inmate population are aging and mentally ill. How do we keep them safe while in prison but manage to make it fair and cost effective? Since the aging and mentally ill inmates are the most vulnerable and easily victimized, this portion of the inmate population posses problems for the whole system.
The movement for prisoners' rights is based on the principle that prisoners, even though they are deprived of liberty, are still entitled to basic human rights. Advocates for prisoners' rights argue that they are often deprived of very basic human rights, with the cooperation of the prison authorities. Alleged violations often include: • Prison authorities turning a blind eye to assault or rape of prisoners, failing to take sufficient steps to protect prisoners from assault or rape, or even allegedly arranging for prisoners to be assaulted or raped by other inmates as a form of punishment (see prisoner rape) • Providing insufficient treatment for serious medical conditions • Refusing freedom of expression, to read materials, and communicate (particularly in cases of foreign languages in prisons) • Punishing prisoners who raise complaints about bad conditions • Taking away prisoners' rights to sue prison officials or governments for maltreatment, or to receive compensation for injuries caused by the negligence of prison authorities. • Depriving inmates of freedom of religion. • Blockading inmates rights to legal materials and access to the courts.
It is up to the jury and the judge to determine if an individual is guilty of the crime or not. If they are found not guilty then they don’t have to face the penalty, but if they are then they are sentenced to prison for a certain amount of time depending on the crime they have committed. Being in prison, prisoners have some rights that they are deprived of such as freedom to go where they please, on a schedule of when they can eat and shower, certain time they can leave their cells, a certain time they can make phone calls. I think it’s unethical to confine an individual to the correctional facility and expose the individual to danger. I believe it’s unethical to not feed the prisoners just because they aren’t acting right or if they get into a fight with another prisoner or cellmate.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment Kristin Mara Southern New Hampshire University 1 June 2014 Graeme Newman’s theory of the “just and Painful” Graeme Newman’s book “Just and Painful” discusses the confusion on punishment in the prison system. He discusses that there should be corporal punishment but by design. There needs to be a structured system on how criminals pay their dues for the crime committed. A person accused of a vicious rape should not be equaled to someone who stole from a grocery store. But unfortunately when they are sent to prison they both are humiliated and somewhat tortured to the same degree.
At the Juvenile Detention Facility, I had to deal with male juvenile sex offenders. I was disgusted when I read the notes while we did the intake process. Some victims were as young as 6 months old and some were disabled senior citizens. In my eyes, these victims could not defend themselves and these juveniles should have been places in a harsher facility. It took a lot out of me to not judge harshly on these juveniles who were wanting to turn their lives around so that they
There has to be a consequence for breaking laws and committing crimes for anyone. However, there is also a big difference between a non-violent crime and a violent crime. Someone who is arrested for drug possession verses someone arrested for murder is like night and day so should they be punished alike for such different crimes? I think the whole drug epidemic needs to be overhauled and corrected. Rather than put these people in jail where they just sit till they get out why not have a different type of jail where they are housed and rehabilitated with appropriate treatment and awareness?
Why should tax payers be forced to pay these amounts to keep nonviolent criminals sitting in prison cells where they become bitter and more likely to repeat their offenses when they are released? It’s almost like getting robbed all over by the same nonviolent criminals. Next, I will talk about why the prison systems are failing. The plain truth is that
Prison is used to custody people who violate against the law inorder to deprivale their liberty as a kind of punishment. Separate the law violated citizens from the society to maintain social order, deter others potential offenders from criminal behaviour, and also ensecure the public safety. Nevertheless most of the prisoners will reintegerate to society, we should give them an opportunity to reform, however how to prevent them from recidivate is a pressing issue among the world. In US, it contain the world highest incarceration rate, 7,308,200 up to 2008 were sent to prisons and jails. The report of recidivism rate are vay, in the 2009 Florida prison recidivism study which study the prisoners who were released from 2001 to 2008 showed the