The demographic group most affected by the war on drugs and the incarceration boom are the juveniles. Youth who turn to drugs and alcohol abuse are faced with harsh reality at YSI Facilities, another branch of the private prison industry. Rather than being charged with fines appropriate to their offenses and being sent to rehabilitation or other forms of drug treatment, non-violent offenders are locked away with long, harsh sentences. This profit-driven war on drugs and other substance abuse ruins the lives of the inmates, turning them into harder criminals by exposing them to such environments. According to a project run by The Huffington Post, 40% of juvenile offenders sent to private prisons on account of drug related crimes are arrested and convicted of harsher crimes in less than a year from their release (Kirkham).
Volunteers that were assigned as prisoners found out about their acceptance into the experiment when they were arrested in their home or on campus by real police. Investigation into human nature followed. Prisoners experienced being degraded, all types of punishment, despair, and depression as they started to actually believe they were prisoners. Guards took their role seriously as they enforced the law and asserted power and authority. The Stanford Prison Experiment, which was supposed to last for two weeks, ended after six days when researchers realized that some of the guards were becoming very abusive and some of the prisoners were forgetting that they were not real prisoners, and that this was just an experiment.
Criminal Justice April 4, 2011 Term Paper For many years, abuse in prisons has been a serious issue and over the years, the abuse has only gotten worse. We see on the news of this happening in other countries but many Americans do not realize this is happening in our country as well, right under our noses. Some of the most unimaginable things take place in prisons not too far from where we live. Everyday, inmates undergo a variance of different forms of abuse. According to www.hrw.org, some forms of abuse are being beaten with fists and batons, stomped on, kicked, shot, stunned with electronic devices, doused with chemical sprays, choked, and slammed face first onto concrete floors by the officers whose job it is to guard them.
“How People Turn Monstrous” reveals the incident of eight soldiers and Staff [Sgt.] Ivan Frederick II mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison with humiliating sexual behavior and physical abuse such as stripping them naked with bags over their heads and stomping on their hands and feet. Mark Buchanan believes they “only did what many of us would have done if placed in the same situation”(384). Buchanan provides us with a great resource such as the experiment at Stanford University by Philip Zimbardo. Few college students were put in a real life situation similar to Abu Ghraib.
In the United States, there are million of women and men being convicted of crimes and sent to prison. The prison system is thought to be a place for rehabilitation, for convicted felons to change their life from being a menace to society to begin a positive contributor. However, for many years prisons have not been able to meet their goal due to unlawful treatment of prisoners and corrupt authoritative figures in the prison system. Many prisoner do not get the protection the law provides. In the Rita Hayworth and Shaw shank Redemption written by Stephen King, the prison system and it’s corruption is presented in support of these accusations.
Too many people have hurt by this, not only Andrews and Myurans family and friend but our whole world. Firstly Andrew and Myuran had made a drug rehabilitation centre in the prison that has turned a lot of people around and towards a new life. Andrew became a minister who focused on counselling and he became a mentored for his fellow inmates. Myuran became an artist who focused to establish a drug counselling program and he was teaching his fellow inmate’s jobs skills like computer work and graphic designing, for when they get out of prison. Would you kill a man after he has been change?
Since then 2,800 rapists were convicted and sent to jail, including one hundred and twenty-one who raped repeatedly. Because this law was passed it became mandatory for repeat offenders, however only eight of those offenders were sentenced to chemical castration. Around the country there are increasingly severe sex offender laws that are convincing criminals to take drastic measures to try to prove that they are fit to be in our society. As drastic as resorting to a treatment so brutal that it hasn’t been in use in the justice system for decades. This is known as voluntary castration and was first offered in the state of Texas for repeat offenders.
An article in the Los Angeles Daily News the County Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka said “the additional jail beds are “critically needed” because realignment required inmates diverted from state prisons to serve their entire sentence in county jails, leaving the Sheriff’s Department scrambling for space for its other inmates” (Para 5, 2013). Because of realignment the jails have also become overpopulated now so they are re-opening a jail in the city of Taft. This also means that the serious offenders that were released, re-offended and were put into jail are able to serve full sentences before being released early
Gangs in prison is not a new phenomena, gangs in prisons have been prevalent since the 1960’s and continue to have a major role in the corrections system today. To understand why gangs continues to have such a high impact on the system we must look at the history and types of gangs, how they developed in the corrections system and the impact these gangs have on the violence in the prison. What actions are being taken to deplete these gangs of their power and organizations in prison today? First, what is the definition of “gang”? One definition is “a group of criminal or hoodlums who band together for mutual protections and profit”.
Jason Lockhart November 4, 2011 University Of Georgia Composition I-45 “My Experience In Jail” Last year around summertime was one of my biggest life changes; I was arrested and took to the downtown police station for questioning. I was under the influence at the time I was arrested and while being questioned I could see that the detectives had a mean face expression but, when I turned to look at my mother and sister’s face through the glass across the room it hurted me even more because, I could see that they were in so much pain and sadness because of the situation I had gotten myself into. The only thing that was on mind at the time was coming back home to my family but, things didn’t turned out that way at all. I refuse to cooperate with the detectives because, I wanted my lawyers present because, I know I was innocent of all charges so the detectives called for a jailer to come and escort me to a holding cell and they place me in handcuffs which was tight and cold to my wrist and flesh. The holding cell was so boring, cozy, very well lit and the bed was very uncomfortable from the one I was use to laying in at my house, which made it hard for me to go to sleep.