Introduction to Criminal Justice

1
Introduction to Criminal Justice

• Institutional Corrections,
• Prison Life, Inmate Rights,
• Release, and Recidivism
• Chapter Ten and Eleven
• Bohm and Haley

2
Questions

• The United States has the highest
• rate of incarceration in the world.
• What does this mean?
• Does the United States have a more
• serious crime problem than most other nations?
• Explain.

3
Cost Estimates

• Total spending on state and federal prisons in
  fiscal year 2003 was budgeted at 36 billion.
• The average daily cost of incarceration per
  inmate in 2003 was 64.00 (23,360.00 per inmate
  per year).
• For local jails, the average amount budgeted in
  fiscal year 2000 was approximately 36 million
  per jail.
• The overall average 2000 cost per jail inmate was
  58.64 per day (or 21,403,60 per year).

4
Prison Inmate Characteristics

• 88 of prisoners in the United States
• are in state prisons 12 are in federal prisons.
• The largest proportion of state prisoners are
• Male approximately 93 of prison population
• Black approximately 41 of prison population
• Have not completed high school
• Under age 35
• Have never married
• Were employed full-time prior to their arrest
• Had relatively low monthly incomes

5
Prison Inmate Characteristics

• In 2002, the prison population was
• characterized as follows
• 50.5 were serving sentences for violent offenses
• 20.4 for property offenses
• 21.4 for drug offenses
• The remainder for public order offenses

6
Incarceration Facilities

• The organizational and administrative structure
• of institutional corrections is diffuse and
  decentralized.
• Primary administrative responsibility lies with
  the executive branch.
• Legislatures appropriate resources and pass
  statutes that affect sentencing.
• The judicial branch sentences offenders and
  oversees the legality of institutional practices.

7
Organization and Administration by Government

• Federal institutions are administered by
• the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP),
• which was established within the
• U.S. Justice Department in 1930.
• Each state has a department of corrections
• or a similar administrative body
• to coordinate the various adult prisons in the
  state.
• Most adult prisons employ a quasi-military model
• of administration and management.

8
Classification and Other Special Facilities

• Most prisoners are initially sent to a
• classification facility.

Classification Facility
A facility to which newly sentenced offenders
are taken so that their security risks and
needs can be assessed and they can be assigned
to a permanent institution.
9
Classification and Other Special Facilities

• The decision of where to place an offender
• rests on a variety of factors
• The offenders security risk
• Program services the offender needs, such as
  counseling
• Any problems such as alcohol dependency
• The nature of the offense
• The offenders prior record, propensity toward
  violence and escape, and vulnerability to
  victimization by other inmates
• Programs offered at the states institutions, and
  the related crowding levels

10
Mens Prisons

• The general type of mens prisons
• are often distinguished by security level.
• Security Level
• A designation applied to a facility to describe
• the measures taken, both inside and outside,
• to preserve security and custody.

11
Mens Prisons

• As of January 2004, there were 1,041 correctional
  facilities in operation across the United States.
  The simplest security level categorization is
• maximum
• medium
• minimum

12
Mens Prisons

• A recent development is the
• ultramaximum or supermaximum-security
• prison to house notorious offenders
• and problem inmates from other institutions.
• These institutions utilize
• Total isolation of inmates
• Constant lockdowns

13
Custody Level

• The classification assigned to an inmate
• to indicate the degree of precaution
• that needs to be taken
• when working with that inmate.

14
Womens Prisons

• Women make up about 7 of the prison population,
• but the incarceration rate for women
• has grown faster than the incarceration rate for
  men.
• A greater proportion of women than men are
  serving sentences for property offenses and drug
  offenses.
• Women are more likely to have dependent children
  and to be serving their first prison term.
• Prisons exclusively for women tend to be smaller
  and house fewer inmates than institutions
  exclusively for men.
• Dorm and cottage plans are much more common than
  cell-block plans for womens prisons.

15
Co-correctional facilities

• Co-correctional facilities have been in
• operation (in contemporary form)
• since the 1970s.
• Co-correctional facilities usually benefit
• men more than women.

Co-correctional Facilities
Usually small, minimum-security institutions that
house both men and women with the goal of
normalizing the prison environment by
integrating the daytime activities of the sexes.
16
Jail and Its Functions

• A facility, usually operated at the local level,
  that holds
• convicted offenders and unconvicted persons
• for relatively short periods.
• In practice, a jail serves as a catchall
• function in criminal justice and corrections.
• Jails also
• Readmit probation, parole, and bail bond
  violators and absconders.
• Temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer to
  juvenile authorities.
• Hold mentally ill persons.
• Hold individuals for the military.

17
Jail Functions

• Hold individuals for protective custody.
• Hold individuals for contempt.
• Hold witnesses for the courts.
• Release convicted inmates to the community upon
  completion of sentence.
• Transfer inmates to other authorities.
• House inmates for federal, state or other
  authorities.
• Sometimes operate community-based programs.
• Hold inmates sentenced to short terms.

18
Inmate Society

• Central to the inmate society of
• traditional mens prisons is the convict code.
• Convict Code
• Values, norms, and roles that regulate
• the way inmates interact with one another
• and with prison staff.

19
Prisonization

• The process by which an inmate
• becomes socialized into the customs
• and principles of the inmate society.

20
Violence and Victimization

• It is generally agreed that there is more
  physical violence
• by inmates in todays mens prisons
• than there was in earlier periods.
• Commonly cited reasons for high rates
• of prison violence include
• Improper management and classification practices
  by staff
• High levels of crowding and competition over
  resources
• The young age of most inmates in many prisons
• Increases in racial tensions and prison gang
  activity

21
Violence and Victimization

• Common motives for physical violence in prison
  are
• To demonstrate power and dominance over others
• To retaliate against a perceived wrong, such as
  the failure of another inmate to pay a gambling
  debt
• To prevent the perpetrator from being victimized
  (for example, raped) in the future
• A good deal of prison violencebut not
• allhas sexual overtones. In addition,
• not all instances of sex in prison are violent.
• not all instances of sex in prison are
  homosexual.
• sexual encounters can involve both inmates and
  staff.

22
Violence and Victimization

• Like all societies, the inmate society has
• an economy with a black-market component,
• known as the sub-rosa economy.
• Sub-rosa Economy
• The secret exchange of goods and services that,
• though often illicit,
• are in high demand among inmates
• the black market of the prison.

23
Inmate Coping and Adjustment

• Life in prison is different from living in
• the free community. Prison life includes
• Pronounced deprivation of personal freedom and
• material goods
• Loss of privacy
• Competition for scarce resources
• Greater insecurity, stress, unpredictability

24
Life in Womens Prisons

• Life in womens prisons is similar to life
• in mens prisons in some respects, but
• there are also important differences.
• Womens prisons are usually not characterized by
  the levels of violence, interpersonal conflict,
  and interracial tension found in mens
  institutions.
• Womens prisons are often less oppressive.

25
Life in Womens Prisons

• Female inmates are more likely to have children
• and to have been living with those children
  immediately before incarceration.
• In some cases, very young children may live with
  their mothers in prison for a temporary period.
• Some women lose custody of their children.
• Often children live with other relatives and have
  little or no visitation.
• A distinguishing feature of the inmate society
• in many womens prisons is the presence of
• make-believe families, known as pseudofamilies.
• Women adopt male and female family roles.
• Kinship ties cut across racial lines.

26
Access to the Courts and Legal Services

• The U.S. Supreme Court has granted inmates
• Unrestricted access to the federal courts
• The ability to challenge in federal court not
  only the fact of their confinement but also the
  conditions under which they are confined
• The conditions of confinement (Cooper v. Pate)
• The First Amendment to the Constitution
• guarantees freedom of
• speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion.
• The U.S. Supreme Court has
• made numerous decisions in this area.

27
Procedural Due Process in Prison

• Inmates can face disciplinary action
• for breaking prison rules.
• The United States Supreme Court has held
• that they are entitled to due process, including
• A disciplinary hearing by an impartial body
• 24 hours written notice of the charges

28
Release and Recidivism

• Inmates may be released from prison
• in a number of ways, including
• Expiration of the maximum sentence
• Commutation
• Release at the discretion of a parole authority
• Mandatory release

29
Release and Recidivism

• When inmates are released from
• correctional institutions, the hope is that
• they will not experience recidivism.
• Recidivism
• The return to illegal activity after release.

30
Release and Recidivism

• A recent study found
• 46.9 were reconvicted for a new crime
• 25.4 were resentenced to prison for a new crime
• 51.8 were returned to prison (25.4 for a new
  crime and 26.4 for a technical violation of
  release conditions

31
Release and Recidivism

• In the end, imprisonment is a reactive response
• to the social problem of crime,
• and crime is interwoven with other
• social problems such as
• poverty, inequality, and racism.