This paper will focus on studying the past and the present of the American Correctional System. It will center on the principles under which the American prisons operate. The paper will pay specific attention to the history of corrections in the United States, determining who formed the ideas mentioned above, especially why they were implemented and what effect they had on prisoners. The emphasis will be made on the legal rights of prisoners and the various correctional alternatives. Finally, the paper will examine the contemporary issues in corrections comparing the past and the present and defining whether there were any significant changes in the system.
Working as a Federal Correctional Officer is a challenging experience, especially for the person who just graduated from AIU Online Campus. After long 16 months of the application process, it was time to proceed to practice, but the first task turned out to be theoretical. It has become a usual routine to pick the latest graduates and new hires to give classes to fellow officers. The reason for such practice is that they always have the latest teachings from the universities. This time, the task was to speculate on the past and present of the American Correctional System.
One of the first prison systems, Pennsylvania System, was operating under a set of principles that included ideas about the organization and managing a prison and were used in the Eastern State Penitentiary. They were as following:
- Do not treat prisoners harshly, but instruct them that harsh measures can be taken;
- Solitary confinement can be used against further corruption in prison;
- Offenders should reflect on their transgressions;
- Solitary confinement can be exercised as a punishment;
- Solitary confinement is economical (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2006).
These ideas were developed by Robert Vaux, who believed that solitude could become the most effective tool for corrections because humans are social creatures (Stohr, Walsh, & Hemmens, 2013). Initially, these principles were implemented to minimize the cross-contamination of inmates, keep them silent during the whole day, and motivate them to reflect on their errors. Moreover, prisoners were given Bibles, so these principles were believed to lead to enlightenment (Stohr & Walsh, 2016; Hanser, 2014). However, this system was criticized because the prisoners often were punished too harshly and spent up to 23 hours a day in their solitary-confinement cells that resulted in mental illnesses (Whitehead, Jones, & Braswell, 2008). In addition to it, building and maintaining individual cells tuned out to be too expensive, not economical (DeLisi & Conis, 2013).
Since then, the correctional system witnessed numerous reforms aimed at turning it into more humane and, at the same time, effective. Some stages of reforms that should be mentioned are introducing the mark system based on the possibility to reduce the term through good behavior, excellence in educational achievements, and labor; adopting the medical model that implied the work of psychologists with prisoners to help them change; transition towards the community model of corrections assuming that the primary goal of the system is to reintegrate the criminal into society; and, finally, developing and implementing the crime control corrections model that centers on incarceration and strict supervision as the basis for changing the prisoner (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2016).
Modern American Correctional System involves psychologists, social workers, counselors, officers, and other employees. The focus is made on the evidence-based system that aims at finding new ways the change the criminals and justice reinvestment redirecting money saved from reducing the number of prisoners into crime prevention (Clear, Reisig, Petrosino, & Cole, 2006). What can be said is that the emphasis is made on preventing crime and reducing the crime rate and in the case if an individual has crossed the line, help them change and get back to life in society.
References
Clear, T. R., Cole, G. F., & Reisig, M. D. (2006). American corrections. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Clear, T. R., Reisig, M. D., Petrosino, C., & Cole, G. F. (2016). American corrections in brief. (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
DeLisi, M. & Conis, P. J. (2013). American corrections: Theory, research, policy, and practice. (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Hanser, R. D. (2014). Community corrections. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Stohr, M. K. & Walsh, A. (2016). Corrections: The essentials. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Stohr, M. K., Walsh, A., & Hemmens, G. (2013). Corrections: A text/reader. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Whitehead, J. T., Jones, M., & Braswell, M. C. (2008). Exploring corrections in America. (2nd ed.). Newark, NJ: LexisNexis Group.