The US Penal System

Sociologija , 2018

It is likely that there is no phenomenon that has led to more discussion and which has caused such contradictory assessments as the case of the prison sentence and the penitentiary institutions in which it is carried out. It seems that criminologists and penologists can not agree on any matter related to the prison sentence and penitentiary institution -from when they were created -to the explanation of why they survive despite all the criticism.

The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 2018

In contrast, the inmate has been at the centre of more recent work, which privileges the specific experience of penality. Consequently, Davie's focus on the great men and woman of English prison history could be seen as a rather old-fashioned approach to adopt in reframing the evolution of the penal system. However, it would be remiss to regard Davie's work as merely a Whiggish recounting of the lives of the great and the good of prison reform. As a preface from esteemed prison historian, Sean McConville, notes, this is a 'sweeping survey. .. (of the). .. men and women who in past years struggled imperfectly with some of the most difficult issues in public life and private morality' (p.10). Through the lens of his selected individuals, Davie frames a number of key moments of evolution and change in the period between the publication of John Howard's The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, in 1777, and the 1850 Select Committee on Prison Discipline, a point by which Davie argues, 'the hope that a single, carefully-designed and well-managed prison could effectively "grind" or otherwise transform its inmates into honest men and women had been all but abandoned' (p.517). In the intervening period, the attempt to transform the function and experience of prison, through rules, regulations, and architecture, was the aspiration shared by the penitentiary ten selected here. The prison underwent major reforms in this period, which saw the transformation of the prison from a semi-private institution into one in which the government would increasingly play a role. The passage of the Penitentiary Act of 1779 would herald a new conception of the prison, the fusing of more traditional bodily correction with spiritual and

Handbook of Prisons, 2007

2015

Countries with similar economies, cultures, languages and politics tend to have similar penal systems, albeit with some surprises and anomalies (Cavadino and Dignan, 2006). The purpose of this chapter is to explore the penal systems in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to see if they converge with other Western, developed, industrialised democracies and what lessons can be learnt from the anomalies that emerge. The chapter is divided into five sections. Imprisonment in pre-partition Ireland is reviewed before moving on to examine how the penal systems in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland developed after partition. Next, everyday prison life is explored to investigate how order and control is maintained as well as the extent to which the needs and quality of life of those imprisoned are addressed. Lastly, the suitability of prison accountability mechanisms are reviewed to determine their ability to promote change and encourage improvements and reform in Irish and Northern Ireland prisons. Imprisonment in Pre-Partition Ireland Up until the mid-nineteenth Century, the primary methods of punishment in the island of Ireland were public punishments (such as executions) and transportation. In 1775, transportation to America was discontinued due to the American War of Independence and the use of public punishments were no longer deemed desirable because of their failure to deter criminality, increased questioning of the legitimacy of public executions and potential for such displays to agitate national unrest and uprisings against English and Scottish gentry, who had colonised the island of Ireland since the 16 th and 17 th Centuries (Kilcommins et al. 2004). This Routledge Handbook of Irish Criminology 2 led to an increased interest in the prison as a place of punishment, with the introduction of legislation to promote prison reforms and establish a prison inspectorate. Prior to this, prisons had primarily been viewed as holding cells for people awaiting trial, sentencing, transportation or public punishment and were managed locally with conditions varying depending on a person's ability to pay (Ignatieff, 1981). Prison reforms provided an official salary for jailers and required local authorities to provide food and medicine to those imprisoned at public expense (Kilcommins et al. 2004). Failures to adhere to these reforms led to the appointment of local prison inspectors and an inspector-general who reported to parliament (Kilcommins et al. 2004). Unfortunately, this interest in prison reform was short-lived as the colonisation of Australia from 1788 to the 1850s meant that transportation was reintroduced as the primary means of punishment (Kilcommins et al. 2004). In addition, national uprisings and rebellions in the island of Ireland at this time meant that the use of corrective methods and reforms were postponed in favour of suppression (Kilcommins et al. 2004). Nonetheless, attempts were made to restructure imprisonment so that it could be used as an alternative to transportation. The penitentiary system was introduced to reform individuals through solitary imprisonment, labour and religious instruction, with Millbank in London and Richmond in Dublin chosen as the sites for the first penitentiary prisons in Britain and Ireland (Heaney, 2003). While the penitentiary system operated in Millbank between 1816 and 1843, it was less successful in Richmond due to an inappropriate prison design, lack of planning, insufficient supervision, staff malpractice as well as tensions between the Catholic Chaplin and Protestant Governor (Heaney, 2003). Further, people tended to prefer transportation to the strict discipline, lengthy periods of detention and unfamiliar evangelical atmosphere (Heaney, 2003). For these reasons, Richmond penitentiary was closed after eleven years (1820-1831) and transportation continued to be a popular punishment, with

Facta Universitatis: Series Law and Politics, 2017

Referral to serve a sentence of imprisonment in a penitentiary institution is a very stressful experience for all convicted offenders. They are obliged to put an end to their former lifestyle and continue living in a penal institution of a closed type, governed by strict rules of conduct and featuring very diverse population of inmates. Due to the loss of freedom, many convicts are deprived of numerous privileges they used to have outside prison. In reaction to these " deprivations " , they commit new crimes while serving their prison sentences. For this reason, time spent in prison can be an important criminogenic factor. In the first part of the paper, author discusses the forms of deprivation in penitentiary institutions and their impacts on prisoners' life. Then, the author points out to the criminogenic impact of the prison environment and the necessity to conduct empirical research in this area. Finally, the author underscores the need to find effective measures to reduce the criminogenic impact of the prison environment and turn penitentiaries into facilities for genuine rehabilitation and re-socialization of prisoners.

This essay reviews trends since the early 1980s in the number of inmates confined in American prisons as well as possible factors contributing to the massive increase in prison admissions (ranging from highly functionalist structural accounts to more culturally embedded midrange ones). Defining features of the late twentieth century imprisonment boom are discussed, encompassing global notoriety; persistent racial disparities; the role of felony drug filings, convictions and sentences in fueling both the scale and racial disparities of imprisonment; and regional and jurisdictional variations in trends across three planes: federal-state, interstate, and intrastate. Finally, the recent “stabilization” of incarceration rates in the United States is described and possible implications considered.