Introduction
Today, I would like to raise the topic of deviance in society. This topic consists of two major aspects – social groups and social control mechanisms – and as an aspect of the latter, I chose the American prison system for the central theme of my presentation. America can be called outstanding for many reasons; unfortunately, not all of those reasons are positive. According to statistics, the United States of America is incredibly reliant on its prison systems as a control tool. In 2015, it hosted one-fourth of the total world criminal population (Rothschild, 2019). I will begin with a short historical description of such high incarceration rates and explain the actual state of the American prison system. Consequently, I will provide a detailed example of the last supermax prison remaining in the U.S. – The United States penitentiary, administrative maximum facility (ADX), located near Florence, Colorado.
Mass Incarceration
Although it is hard to identify where the tendency of increased incarceration originated, I traced specific critical points in its development. Several aggressive political campaigns against immigrants and racial minorities occurred at the end of the 19th century (Rothschild, 2019). The incarceration was further intensified in the mid-60th when the crime rate across the country grew rapidly and uncontrollably. The politicians of that time took advantage of the population’s anxiety and linked criminality to the changes in the community’s racial composition and the Vietnam War protests (Rothschild, 2019). These events were closely followed by the federal war on drugs in 1971, which produced unprecedented numbers of drug imprisonment. As time passed, criminal laws became even more strict and severe – the three-strike reforms and the ones that introduced mandatory minimums can be good examples. Coming back to the present, we can see the system that, in many ways, encouraged and simplified the incarceration process.
Actual State of the American Prison System
The modern prison system can be divided into a state and a federal layer, with criminal law being a concurrent power. Consequently, state, or territorial prisons, are generally responsible for holding violators of state laws, while federal prisons generally focus on the violators of United States federal laws. Federal prisons fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). However, another type of prison is capable of accommodating any prisoners – a private prison. In 2016, out of 1,5 million people in state and federal prisons, roughly 9 percent were incarcerated in private prisons (Gotsch & Basti, 2016). Unfortunately, the profit orientation of such structures perversely motivates them to increase the incarceration rate further.
Prison Classification
Distancing from a rather grim discussion, let us focus on more emotionally neutral information. Prisons have five levels of security, ranging from I to V. Minimum security facilities are designed for people responsible for non-violent crimes; they resemble dormitories, which are patrolled and guarded by correctional officers. Medium security facilities already have cells; compared to the previous type, when there might be no fence around the building, medium security implies a double fence that is constantly guarded. A third electrically wired fence might be added in between for close security prison. Its cells can only accommodate two people, with the doors having a remote control. For maximum security, all cells are individual. Prisoners can leave the cells once in 23 hours but remain in the cell block – an exterior cage. As for the supermax facilities, they provide the highest level of security possible. They are famous for their cells of solitary confinements, where a prisoner might be contained for a full 24-hour day. The ADX is nowadays the last supermax facility in the U.S., and now, I will focus on the details of this intimidating prison.
ADX Unit Structure
Overall, ADX has nine housing units that correspond to six security levels. From the highest to the lowest security level, they are called “Range 13”, the control unit, the special security unit, the special housing unit, the general population units, the step-down units, and lastly, the Kilo unit (District of Columbia Corrections Information Council, 2018). The severity of incarceration peaks in the “Range 13” unit, where an inmate is not allowed to leave the cell at all and has no contact with other people. The situation in other units provides a slight relief in a 2-hour ability to go out into the cell block and have some socialization. The Kilo unit is an exception to the system, a unit reserved for inmates who could not be confined to other facilities (District of Columbia Corrections Information Council, 2018). Such inmates are usually designated to ADX because of the concerns for their safety among other inmates.
Administration
Moving on to the unit’s management, I would like to tell you about its hierarchy. All inmates confined in the unit fall under the responsibility of the unit team. It consists of the unit manager responsible for the non-custodial operation, the case manager responsible for the inmate’s caseload, and the counselor – an intermediary between inmates and the other staff (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2008). Although BOP does not provide any information about the female representation directly at ADX, it does share the statistics across all BOP facilities – it is roughly a 70 to 30 relation between male and female staff members (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2022). Apart from the management and the correctional officers, additional staff fulfills general day-to-day requirements, such as food, laundry, cleaning, and medical support.
Control Processes
Control processes at ADX include harsh regiment and provide little educational and vocational programming. An inmate is often left to self-education with text material or a TV broadcast of recorded videos or slide shows (District of Columbia Corrections Information Council, 2018). On rare occasions, prisoners can attend out-of-cell group sessions; monitored phone calls are limited to one per month, lasting fifteen minutes. If an inmate behaves accordingly to ADX rules, he might be given more time for these activities.
Programs for Inmates
A particular program for inmates represents the only way of leaving ADX. It is called a step-down program, designed to be a two-year process. It firstly requires an inmate to spend one year of “clear” conduct (District of Columbia Corrections Information Council, 2018). An inmate then is transferred to a step-down unit for a further six months and then spends the last six months in Florence High, the other facility of the Florence complex with the maximum level of security. It is still the maximum level but might feel like a relief, considering what ADX has to offer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I can tell that the American prison system in its current state is far from perfect. This system purposefully increased the incarceration rate throughout its history with clever political manipulations of society’s current moods and reforms that sped up and simplified the incarceration process. Furthermore, the prison facilities in the U.S. nowadays can be genuinely intimidating with their rules and policies. Ironically, the country built on the principles of freedom relies so much on the prison system as a social control mechanism.
References
District of Columbia Corrections Information Council. (2018). USP Florence administrative maximum security (ADX) inspection report and USP Florence-high survey report. Web.
Federal Bureau of Prisons. (2008). USP Florence ADMAX admissions & orientation handbook.
Gotsch, K., & Basti, V. (2018). Capitalizing on mass incarceration US growth in private prisons. The Sentencing Project.
Rothschild, C. (2019). The incarcerated state (s) of America: The causes, consequences, and solutions to mass incarceration in the United States. The Rice Examiner, 2(1), 103-129.
Staff gender. (2022). Federal Bureau of Prisons. R