Sunday, May 3, 2020

Jails and Prisons free essay sample

Many people hear the words prison and or jail, and they believe that both are one in the same but in reality they are very much different. Jails are correctional facilities that house offenders before or after they are sentenced for their crimes committed. Those individuals that are confined in jails are: * Individuals pending arraignment and awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing * Probation, parole, and bail bond violators and absconders (Seiter,2011 pg 71) There are many different other reasons jails house inmates. Jails are full service facilities that offer security, food service, medical care, and offender programs and are therefore different from lockups, which are commonly located in police stations and hold people only for a short period of time, usually no more than forty-eight hours. †(Seitter, 2011) Sheriff’s and local governments oversee the day to day operation of jails and there are different jails such as the regional jail which were created because th e basic operations of jails were becoming complicated for small counties and the need for funding to continue operations. We will write a custom essay sample on Jails and Prisons or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are about 3,600 jails in the United States. â€Å"The size of the jail population is a product of decisions made by various law enforcement entities that the jail serves, the courts, and other segments of the criminal justice system. The size of the jail population is also affected by local, state, and federal laws; crime rates; and public attitudes about crime. †(nicic. gov) The length of stay and those admitted to jails are quite different from prisons. There have been almost 9 to 11 admissions to jail and the average length of stay is 15 to twenty days. Sometimes a person stays longer if they are still fighting a case thus pushing out their court dates which extends their stay provided they cannot afford bail. â€Å"During 2003, 686,437 inmates were admitted to state and federal prisons, 656,320 inmates were released, and the average length of stay for released inmates was 36 months. The jail system booking and release procedures are on a constant whirlwind with bail bonds and so forth. There are different jails as well such as state jails and county jails. In state jails an inmate can spend no more than two years maximum. Prisons Prisons are run by state governments and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. There are only about 100 federal prisons, detention centers, and correctional institutions in the U. S. Prisons were created to house inmates that are serving a sentence of one year or more that are convicted of crimes. Prisons offer more to inmates such as work programs, Halfway houses and other educational programs that could possibly benefit the offender. These sorts of incentives are not offered in jails because inmates are usually serving shorter sentences. There are different facilities such as BOP operated prisons, long term contract facilities and jails/short term facilities. Many offenders in prison are set in place by their security levels. Some are deemed as low risk, medium risk or high risk offenders which determine where they are housed. The prison budget has been over exceeded with the operations and also building more prisons to prevent overcrowding. Corrections is the fifth-largest area of state spending after Medicaid, secondary education, higher education and transportation. State spending on prisons has swelled as the nation’s jail and prison population has climbed to 2. 3 million people, or about one in every 100 adults. But grim budget realities are forcing state lawmakers’ hand. †(pewtrusts. org) There is a difference in jails and prisons as well as how they are operated. Prisons house offenders that have been convicted of crimes whereas jails house those awaiting trial as well as those serving shorter sentences. Prisons and jails have come a long way and there will be more changes to come with the world’s crime rate as it is. References At Least 23 States Cut Funding for Prisons This Year, August 11, 2009 The Pew Charitable Trusts http://www. pewtrusts. org/our_work_report_detail. aspx? id=54481 Corrections: An Introduction; Richard P. Seiter 3rd edition 2011 Upper Saddle River New York Jail Resource Issues What Every Funding Authority Need to Know, Gary M. Bowker February 2002 http://static. nicic. gov/Library/017372. pdf Jails and Prisons free essay sample The four types of prisons are women’s, maximum, medium, and low security. Women’s prisons in our country are very different in some aspects as the male’s prisons. Women have greater needs than men do. They have to adjust to their needs, whether it is pregnancy, or the emotional needs of the woman. Maximum Security prison is a massive building with large inmate population. They offer tight security, high fences, thick walls, and secure cells. They are very closely monitored concerning every moment they are incarcerated there. (Schmalleger, 2011)Medium security prisons are permitted more freedom generally than the maximum security prisoners. They receive more privileges such as they can go to the prison yard, exercise room, and the library. They still strict security but they have more freedom. (Schmalleger, 2011) Minimum security prisons offer a number of programs for the prisoners. They offer services to help rehabilitate the prisoners. The primary force behind the minimum security is the prisoners’ own restraint. We will write a custom essay sample on Jails and Prisons or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are there because of their behavior and they have the choice to stay there and do well or get transferred to another level based on their behavior. (Schmalleger, 2011) These types of prisons are also classified as federal, state, women, and private prison’s. Even though every one of these institutions is different they are all there for the same reason. Prisons are made to house the most violent to the first time offenders. The concept of the institutions is to provide safety to the communities from these offenders. To keep control and keep them housed in a facility to spend out their sentence. (Schmalleger, 2011) Jail plays a very important role in our criminal justice system. Before an inmate gets sentenced to prison, they are often watched in jail to see how they react with others. Based on how they act in jail usually decides what kind of prisoner they will become. Jail is also used in our system for those spending less than a year in jail, to keep down overcrowding of prisons. They house individuals pending arraignment, readmit probation or parole, temporarily houses juveniles, the mentally ill, and bail bond violators. They also hold individuals for the military, they transfer inmates to their designated facility, and they also operate community-based programs. In conclusion all of the prisons and jails in our country work together like a fine oiled machine. They work together to ensure that an inmate gets from one place to another. They also work together to ensure the inmate remains safe and that the public is safe from the offenders.

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