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(Redirected from Prisons)
A 'prison', 'penitentiary', or 'correctional facility' is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Prisons are conventionally institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country, such that 'imprisonment' or 'incarceration' is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime.
A criminal suspect who has been charged with or is likely to be charged with a criminal offense may be held ''on remand'' in prison if he or she is denied, refused or unable to meet conditions of bail, or is unable to post bail. This may also occur where the court determines that the suspect is at risk of absconding before the trial, or is otherwise a risk to society. A criminal defendant may also be held in prison while awaiting trial or a trial verdict. If found guilty, a defendant will be convicted and may receive a custodial sentence requiring imprisonment.
Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and "enemies of the state", particularly by authoritarian regimes. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in prisons. A 'prison system' is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons, and depending on their nature, may invoke a corrections system. Although people have been imprisoned throughout history, they have also regularly been able to perform prison escapes.
Male and female prisoners are typically kept in separate locations or separate prisons altogether. Prison accommodation, especially modern prisons in the developed world, are often divided into wings. A building holding more than one wing is known as a "hall".
Amongst the facilities that prisons may have are:
★ A ''main entrance'', which may be known as the 'gatelodge' or 'sally port' (stemming from old castle nomenclature)
★ A chapel, mosque or other religious facility, which will often house chaplaincy offices and facilities for counselling of individuals or groups
★ An 'education facility', often including a library, providing adult education or continuing education opportunities
★ A ''gym'' or an ''exercise yard'', a fenced, usually open-air-area which prisoners may use for recreational and exercise purposes
★ A ''healthcare facility'' or ''hospital''
★ A ''segregation unit'' (also called a 'block' or 'isolation cell'), used to separate unruly, dangerous, or vulnerable prisoners from the general population, also sometimes used as punishment (see solitary confinement)
★ A section of ''vulnerable prisoners'' (VPs), or ''protective Custody'' (PC) units, used to accommodate prisoners classified as vulnerable, such as sex offenders, former police officers, informants, and those that have gotten into debt or trouble with other prisoners
★ A section of ''safe cells'', used to keep prisoners under constant visual observation, for example when considered at risk of suicide
★ A ''visiting area'', where prisoners may be allowed restricted contact with relatives, friends, lawyers, or other people
★ A ''death row'' in some prisons, a section for criminals awaiting execution
★ A ''staff accommodation'' area, where staff and guards live in the prison, typical of historical prisons
★ A ''service/facilities area'' housing support facilities like kitchens
★ Industrial or agricultural plants operated with convict labour
★ A ''recreational area'' consisting of a TV and pool table
Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire, electrified fencing, secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers, lighting, motion sensors, dogs, and roving patrols may all also be present depending on the level of security. Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints, nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility.
Modern prison designs, particularly those of high-security prisons, have sought to increasingly restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout the facility while minimizing the corrections staffing needed to monitor and control the population. As compared to the traditional landing-cellblock-hall designs, many newer prisons are designed in a decentralized "podular" layout with individual self-contained housing units, known as "pods" or "modules", arranged around centralized outdoor yards in a "campus". The pods contain tiers of cells laid out in an open pattern arranged around a central control station from which a single corrections officer can monitor all of the cells and the entire pod. Control of cell doors, communications and CCTV monitoring is conducted from the control station as well. Movement out of the pod to the exercise yard or work assignments can be restricted to individual pods at designated times, or else prisoners may be kept almost always within their pod or even their individual cells depending upon the level of security. Goods and services, such as meals, laundry, commisary, educational materials, religious services and medical care can increasingly be brought to individual pods or cells as well.
Conversely, despite these design innovations, overcrowding at many prisons, particularly in the U.S., has resulted in a contrary trend, as many prisons are forced to house large numbers of prisoners, often hundreds at a time, in gymnasiums or other large buildings that have been converted into massive open dormitories.
Lower-security prisons are often designed with less restrictive features, confining prisoners at night in smaller locked dormitories or even cottage or cabin-like housing while permitting them freer movement around the grounds to work or activities during the day.
See Panopticon for a historical prison design that has influenced modern designs.
Main articles: Military prison
Prisons form part of military systems, and are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime.
Certain countries maintain or have in the past had a system of political prisons; arguably the gulags associated with Stalinism are best known. The definition of what is and is not a political crime and a political prison is, of course, highly controversial. Some psychiatric facilities have characteristics of prisons, especially when confining patients who have committed a crime and are considered dangerous.
It is plain from many decrees in the "Corpus Juris Canonici" that the Roman Catholic Church has claimed and exercised the right, belonging to a perfect and visible society, of protecting its members by condemning the guilty to imprisonment. The object of prisons originally, both among the Hebrews and the Romans, was merely the safe-keeping of a criminal, real or pretended, until his trial. The ecclesiastical idea of imprisonment, however, is that confinement be made use of both as a punishment and as affording an opportunity for reformation and reflection. This method of punishment was anciently applied even to clerics. Thus, Boniface VIII (cap. "Quamvis", iii, "De poen.", in 6) decrees:
:Although it is known that prisons were specially instituted for the custody of criminals, not for their punishment, yet we shall not find fault with you if you commit to prison for the performance of penance, either perpetually or temporarily as shall seem best, those clerics subject to you who have confessed crimes or been convicted of them, after you have carefully considered the excesses, persons and circumstances involved in the case.
The Church adopted the extreme punishment of perpetual imprisonment because, by the canons, the execution of offenders, whether clerical or lay, could not be ordered by ecclesiastical judges. It was quite common in ancient times to imprison in monasteries, for the purpose of doing penance, those clerics who had been convicted of grave crimes (c. vii, dist. 50). The "Corpus Juris", however, says (c. "Super His", viii, "De poen.") that incarceration does not of itself inflict the stigma of infamy on a cleric, as is evident from a papal pronouncement on the complaint of a cleric who had been committed to prison because he vacillated in giving testimony. The reply recorded is that imprisonment does not ipso facto carry with it any note of infamy.
As to monastic prisons for members of religious orders, we find them recorded in decrees dealing with the incorrigibility of those who have lost the spirit of their vocation. Thus, by command of Urban VIII, the Congregation of the Council (21 September, 1624) decreed:
:For the future, no regular, legitimately professed, may be expelled from his order unless he be truly incorrigible. A person is not to be judged truly incorrigible unless not only all those things are found verified which are required by the common law (notwithstanding the constitutions of any religious order even confirmed and approved by the Holy See), but also, until the delinquent has been tried by fasting and patience for one year in confinement. Therefore, let every order have private prisons, at least one in every province.
The crimes in question must be such as by natural or civil law would merit the punishment of death or imprisonment for life (Reiffenstuel, "Jus Can. univ.", no. 228). Innocent XII reduced the year required by the above-mentioned decree to six months (Decree "Instantibus", 2). A decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council (13 November, 1632) declares that a religious is not to be judged incorrigible because he flees from imprisonment, unless, after being punished three times, he should make a fourth escape. As the civil laws do not, at present, permit of incarceration by private authority, the Congregation on the Discipline of Regulars has decreed (22 January, 1886) that trials for incorrigibility, preceding dismissal, should be carried out by summary, not formal, process, and that for each case recourse should be had to Rome. A vestige of the monastic imprisonment (which, of course, nowadays depends only on moral force) is found in the decree of Leo XIII (4 November, 1892), in which he declares that religious who have been ordained and wish to leave their order cannot, under pain of perpetual suspension, depart from the cloister (exire ex clausura) until they have been adopted by a bishop.
There is a popular assumption that sending people to prison reduces their offending. This has not yet been proven. Studies of the impact of imprisonment on later offending have found that offending actually slightly increases after a term in prison compared to after some other, non-residential sanction.[1] This meta-analysis of one hundred separate studies found that offending was around 7% higher after imprisonment than after a non-residential sanction, and this finding was statistically significant. Another meta-analysis of 101 separate tests of the impact of prison on crime found a 3% increase in offending after imprisonment.[2] Longer periods of time in prison do not make the outcomes any better; to the contrary, offending increases by around 3% as prison sentences increase in length.[1]
What is effective in reducing offending is effective rehabilitation programmes.[2] Effective programmes are characterised by three things: firstly, they provide more hours of for people with a higher risk of reoffending, as judged by known risk factors (the Risk Principle); secondly, they address problems and needs that have a proven causal link to offending (the Needs Principle); and thirdly, they use cognitive-behavioural approaches to effect change (the Responsivity Principle). In support of the first principle providing rehabilitation to people at lower risk of reoffending results in a 3% reduction in reoffending. Providing rehabilitation to people with a high risk of reoffending is three times as effective, resulting in a 10% reduction in subsequent offending.[2] Risk of reoffending is judged by looking at age at first offence, number of prior offences, level of family and personal problems in childhood and other historical factors, along with level of current needs related to offending. Those individuals who had many personal and family problems in childhood (particularly 19 or more), started offending before puberty, and have committed multiple priors are more likely to reoffend in future, according to longitudinal studies internationally.[6]
In support the Needs Principle, when programmes target needs and problems that have some causal relationship to crime (known as 'criminogenic' needs) as opposed to those that do not, there is a 19% reduction in reoffending.[2] In support of the responsivity principle, when programmes use cognitive-behavioural methods to bring about changes in behaviour, thinking and relationships related to crime there is a 23% reduction in reoffending.[2] When all three principles are accorded with, the impact on offending is a 26-32% reduction.[2][10] This is in comparison to a 3-7% increase in offending that is found with imprisonment.
There are several likely reasons why effective rehabilitation programmes have so much more impact on offending than prison. Firstly, residential approaches—whether in prison or some other live-in option—tend to be less effective than non-residential approaches.[2] These researchers found that effective programmes delivered in the community were followed by a 35% reduction in reoffending, whereas effective programmes delivered in residential settings (such as prisons and halfway houses) were followed by a 17% reduction in reoffending. One very likely reason for this is that for teens and adults, mixing with antisocial peers increases the risk of offending. In prison or residences inmates spend a great deal of time with other people immersed in criminal pursuits and beliefs, whereas in community-based programmes there is more opportunity to mix with people involved in constructive, law-abiding activities. Antisocial peers in prisons and residences can form a very powerful pressure group, subtly and not so subtly influencing the behaviour of other inmates.
As of 2006, it is estimated that at least nine million people are currently imprisoned worldwide.[12] It is believed that this number is likely to be much higher, in view of general under-reporting and a lack of data from various countries, especially authoritarian regimes.
In absolute terms, the United States currently has the largest inmate population in the world, with more than 2 million[13] in prison and jails, even though violent crime and property crime have been declining since the 1990s according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.[14] In 2002, both Russia and China also had prison populations in excess of 1 million.[15] In October 2006, Russian prison population was decreased to 869,814 which translated into 611 prisoners per 100,000 population.
As a percentage of total population, the United States also has the largest imprisoned population, with 738 people per 100,000 serving time, awaiting trial or otherwise detained.[16]
In March 2007, the United Kingdom had 80,000 inmates (up from 73,000 in 2003 and 44,000 in 1985) in its facilities, the highest rate in the European Union (a record formerly held by Portugal).
The high proportion of prisoners in some developed countries is from various causes, but the attitude towards drug-taking plays a considerable part. In undeveloped countries, rates of incarceration are often lower, though this is not a rule. In general, such societies have less goods to steal and a more community based social system, with less judicial law-enforcement.
The value of 743 in the USA includes 491 prisoners per 100,000 in prisons,[18] and 252 prisoners per 100,000 in jails.[19]
Mean: Estimate of 197 (196.63)
Median: 92
Range: 696
Prisons for juveniles (people under 18) are known as young offenders institutes and hold minors who have been convicted, many countries have their own age of criminal responsibility in which children are deemed legally responsible for their actions for a crime.
Most jails in the Republic of Ireland were built in the 19th century, including Kilmainham Gaol (no longer in use), Mountjoy Prison and Portlaoise Prison. A new €30m prison is planned at Thornton Hall to replace Mountjoy.
Many prisons in Australia were built by convict labour in the 1800s. During the 1990s, various state governments in Australia engaged private sector correctional corporations to build and operate prisons whilst several older government run institutions were decommissioned. Operation of Federal detention centres was also privatised at a time when a large influx of illegal immigrants began to arrive in Australia.
Prisons in Turkey are classified as closed, semi-open and open prisons. Closed prisons are separated into different kinds according to its structure and the number of the prisoners held. Examples are A type, B type, and F type. F types are the ones in which high penalty prisoners are held. Most which are being built today are L types that are for low penalty prisoners.
France has 188 prisons in mainland and the oversea territories. Statistics showed around 50,000 places on July 1, 2005 for around 60,000 prisoners.
★ Official website
★ Official statistic (2005)
Germany has 194 prisons (of which 19 are open institutions). Official statistics showed 80,214 places on March 31 2007. On the same day, there were 75,719 prisoners (of which 13,168 pre-trial; 60,619 serving sentences; 1,932 others, i.e. mainly civil prisoners; 4,068 were female). This is less than the highest value of 81,176 prisoners on March 31 2003.[20][21]
There are many famous works of literature describing or discussing prisons. Examples include:
★ ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', classic adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père.
★ ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'', famous poem by Oscar Wilde.
There have been several films produced that depict prison life, including:
★ ''Le Trou'' (1960) Directed by Jacques Becker
★ ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967) Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
★ ''A Clockwork Orange'' (1971) Directed by Stanley Kubrick
★ ''Papillon'' (1973) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
★ ''Stir Crazy'' (1975) Directed by Sidney Poitier
★ ''Midnight Express'' (1978) Directed by Alan Parker
★ ''Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979) Directed by Don Siegel
★ ''Ghosts... of the Civil Dead'' (1988) Directed by John Hillcoat
★ ''Blood In Blood Out'' (1993) Directed by Taylor Hackford
★ ''The Shawshank Redemption'' (1994) Directed by Frank Darabont
★ ''Dead Man Walking'' (1995) Directed by Tim Robbins
★ ''The Chamber'' (1996) Directed by James Foley
★ ''The Rock'' (1996) Directed by Michael Bay
★ ''American History X'' (1998) Directed by Tony Kaye
★ ''The Green Mile'' (1999) Directed by Frank Darabont
★ ''The Last Castle'' (2001) Directed by Rod Lurie
★ ''Half Past Dead'' (2002) Directed by Don Michael
★ ''Chicago'' (2002) Directed by Rob Marshall
★ ''Let's Go to Prison'' (2006) Directed by Bob Odenkirk
★ ''Animal Factory'' (2000) Directed by Steve Buscemi
★ ''American Me'' (1992)
There have also been several television programs, including:
★ ''Porridge (TV)'' (1974-1977)
★ ''Prisoner (TV series)'' (1979-1986)
★ ''Oz (TV series)'' (1997-2003) HBO
★ ''Bad Girls (TV series)'' (1999-2006)
★ ''Prison Break'' (TV series) (2005-present)
Corresponding with prisoners is very helpful to them but carries risks for both correspondents—improper mail to inmates can cost them privileges (normally, all mail to inmates is read by prison staff). Use of a pen-pal service reduces (but not eliminates) these risks—as of 2005, there were more than 36 such services for U.S. prisoners. The Missouri Department of Corrections has stated that, as of June 1, 2007, inmates will not be allowed to use prison pen-pal websites.("Acting upon the recommendation of an Offender Fraud Committee he formed in 2005, Missouri Department of Corrections Director Larry Crawford announced today the Department will ban offenders from soliciting pen pals on the internet. The ban takes effect June 1st.")
★ Anton Praetorius (early prison reformer)
★ Community service
★ Department of Corrections
★ Dispute Resolution
★ Jailhouse lawyer
★ Kishka (prison cell)
★ Penal labour
★ Penology
★ Prison abolition movement
★ Prison education
★ Prison escape
★ Prison officer
★ Prison reform
★ Prison religion
★ Prison sexuality (homosexuality and abuse in prisons)
★ Prisoners' rights
★ Punishment
★ Rehabilitation
★ Specific prisons
★
★ List of prisons
★
★ List of notable prisons
★
★ Correctional Facilities of Ontario, Canada
★ Types of imprisonments
★
★ False imprisonment
★
★ House arrest
★
★ Life imprisonment
★
★ Protective custody
★
★ Remand
★
★ Solitary confinement
★ Types of prisons
★
★ Boot camp
★
★ Borstal
★
★ Death Row
★
★ Jail
★
★ Juvie
★
★ Panopticon
★
★ Penal colony
★
★ Private prisons
★
★ Roundhouse
★
★ Supermax
★
★ Village lock-up
★ Game
★
★ Prison Tycoon
1. Smith et al, 2002
2. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
3. Smith et al, 2002
4. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
5. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
6. e.g.Moffit T E, Caspi A, Harrington H and Milne B J (2002) Males on the life-course persistent and adolescence-limited pathways: Follow-up at age 26, Development and Psychopathology, 14: 179 - 207
7. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
8. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
9. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
10. Andrews et al, 1990
11. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
12. World Prison Population List
13. Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005 Harrison, Paige M., Allen J. Beck
14. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance.htm
15. Entire World - Prison Population Totals
16. World Prison Population List (Seventh Edition)
17. Prisoners in Australia, 2005[1]
18. US Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisons[2]
19. US Bureau of Justice Statistics, Jails[3]
20. Official Prison Statistics of Germany (from the German statistics office)
21. Prison Archive (from the University of Bremen)
★ Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, New York: Random House 1975.
★ Peter Kropotkin, "In Russian and French Prisons". Online book. This is a criticism of the existence of prisons.
★ James (Jim) Bruton, ''Big House: Life Inside a Supermax Security Prison'', Voyageur Press (July, 2004), hardcover, 192 pages, ISBN 0-89658-039-3.
★ George Jackson, ''Soledad brother'', ISBN 978-1556522307.
★ Paula C. Johnson, ''Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women in Prison'', New York University Press 2004.
★ Marek M. Kaminski (2004) ''Games Prisoners Play''. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11721-7. http://webfiles.uci.edu/mkaminsk/www/book.html
★ Ted Conover. ''Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing''. Knopf, 2001. Trade paperback, 352 pages, ISBN 0-375-72662-4.
★ Mark L. Taylor. ''The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America''. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-8006-3283-4.
★ Wil S. Hylton. "Sick on the Inside: Correctional HMOs and the coming prison plague". ''Harper's Magazine'', August 2003.
★ World Prison Population List (fourth edition) UK Home Office, 2003. .
★ Jorge Franganillo. "Blogs in prison libraries", 2006. Summary of a cultural extension workshop in a juvenile detention facility.
★ Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. and the Aristocracy of Prison Profits.
★ Prison Statistics - US Bureau of Justice Statistics
★ Home Office, UK - Justice & prisons
★ Prison abolition
Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick, Canada is an institution that is part of Corrections Canada. Opened in 1880 as a maximum security prison, it now functions as a medium security facility.
A 'prison', 'penitentiary', or 'correctional facility' is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Prisons are conventionally institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country, such that 'imprisonment' or 'incarceration' is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime.
A criminal suspect who has been charged with or is likely to be charged with a criminal offense may be held ''on remand'' in prison if he or she is denied, refused or unable to meet conditions of bail, or is unable to post bail. This may also occur where the court determines that the suspect is at risk of absconding before the trial, or is otherwise a risk to society. A criminal defendant may also be held in prison while awaiting trial or a trial verdict. If found guilty, a defendant will be convicted and may receive a custodial sentence requiring imprisonment.
Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and "enemies of the state", particularly by authoritarian regimes. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in prisons. A 'prison system' is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons, and depending on their nature, may invoke a corrections system. Although people have been imprisoned throughout history, they have also regularly been able to perform prison escapes.
Design and facilities
Male and female prisoners are typically kept in separate locations or separate prisons altogether. Prison accommodation, especially modern prisons in the developed world, are often divided into wings. A building holding more than one wing is known as a "hall".
Amongst the facilities that prisons may have are:
★ A ''main entrance'', which may be known as the 'gatelodge' or 'sally port' (stemming from old castle nomenclature)
★ A chapel, mosque or other religious facility, which will often house chaplaincy offices and facilities for counselling of individuals or groups
★ An 'education facility', often including a library, providing adult education or continuing education opportunities
★ A ''gym'' or an ''exercise yard'', a fenced, usually open-air-area which prisoners may use for recreational and exercise purposes
★ A ''healthcare facility'' or ''hospital''
★ A ''segregation unit'' (also called a 'block' or 'isolation cell'), used to separate unruly, dangerous, or vulnerable prisoners from the general population, also sometimes used as punishment (see solitary confinement)
★ A section of ''vulnerable prisoners'' (VPs), or ''protective Custody'' (PC) units, used to accommodate prisoners classified as vulnerable, such as sex offenders, former police officers, informants, and those that have gotten into debt or trouble with other prisoners
★ A section of ''safe cells'', used to keep prisoners under constant visual observation, for example when considered at risk of suicide
★ A ''visiting area'', where prisoners may be allowed restricted contact with relatives, friends, lawyers, or other people
★ A ''death row'' in some prisons, a section for criminals awaiting execution
★ A ''staff accommodation'' area, where staff and guards live in the prison, typical of historical prisons
★ A ''service/facilities area'' housing support facilities like kitchens
★ Industrial or agricultural plants operated with convict labour
★ A ''recreational area'' consisting of a TV and pool table
Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire, electrified fencing, secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers, lighting, motion sensors, dogs, and roving patrols may all also be present depending on the level of security. Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints, nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility.
Modern prison designs, particularly those of high-security prisons, have sought to increasingly restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout the facility while minimizing the corrections staffing needed to monitor and control the population. As compared to the traditional landing-cellblock-hall designs, many newer prisons are designed in a decentralized "podular" layout with individual self-contained housing units, known as "pods" or "modules", arranged around centralized outdoor yards in a "campus". The pods contain tiers of cells laid out in an open pattern arranged around a central control station from which a single corrections officer can monitor all of the cells and the entire pod. Control of cell doors, communications and CCTV monitoring is conducted from the control station as well. Movement out of the pod to the exercise yard or work assignments can be restricted to individual pods at designated times, or else prisoners may be kept almost always within their pod or even their individual cells depending upon the level of security. Goods and services, such as meals, laundry, commisary, educational materials, religious services and medical care can increasingly be brought to individual pods or cells as well.
Conversely, despite these design innovations, overcrowding at many prisons, particularly in the U.S., has resulted in a contrary trend, as many prisons are forced to house large numbers of prisoners, often hundreds at a time, in gymnasiums or other large buildings that have been converted into massive open dormitories.
Lower-security prisons are often designed with less restrictive features, confining prisoners at night in smaller locked dormitories or even cottage or cabin-like housing while permitting them freer movement around the grounds to work or activities during the day.
See Panopticon for a historical prison design that has influenced modern designs.
Other types
Military and political
Main articles: Military prison
Prisons form part of military systems, and are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime.
Certain countries maintain or have in the past had a system of political prisons; arguably the gulags associated with Stalinism are best known. The definition of what is and is not a political crime and a political prison is, of course, highly controversial. Some psychiatric facilities have characteristics of prisons, especially when confining patients who have committed a crime and are considered dangerous.
Ecclesiastical prisons
It is plain from many decrees in the "Corpus Juris Canonici" that the Roman Catholic Church has claimed and exercised the right, belonging to a perfect and visible society, of protecting its members by condemning the guilty to imprisonment. The object of prisons originally, both among the Hebrews and the Romans, was merely the safe-keeping of a criminal, real or pretended, until his trial. The ecclesiastical idea of imprisonment, however, is that confinement be made use of both as a punishment and as affording an opportunity for reformation and reflection. This method of punishment was anciently applied even to clerics. Thus, Boniface VIII (cap. "Quamvis", iii, "De poen.", in 6) decrees:
:Although it is known that prisons were specially instituted for the custody of criminals, not for their punishment, yet we shall not find fault with you if you commit to prison for the performance of penance, either perpetually or temporarily as shall seem best, those clerics subject to you who have confessed crimes or been convicted of them, after you have carefully considered the excesses, persons and circumstances involved in the case.
The Church adopted the extreme punishment of perpetual imprisonment because, by the canons, the execution of offenders, whether clerical or lay, could not be ordered by ecclesiastical judges. It was quite common in ancient times to imprison in monasteries, for the purpose of doing penance, those clerics who had been convicted of grave crimes (c. vii, dist. 50). The "Corpus Juris", however, says (c. "Super His", viii, "De poen.") that incarceration does not of itself inflict the stigma of infamy on a cleric, as is evident from a papal pronouncement on the complaint of a cleric who had been committed to prison because he vacillated in giving testimony. The reply recorded is that imprisonment does not ipso facto carry with it any note of infamy.
As to monastic prisons for members of religious orders, we find them recorded in decrees dealing with the incorrigibility of those who have lost the spirit of their vocation. Thus, by command of Urban VIII, the Congregation of the Council (21 September, 1624) decreed:
:For the future, no regular, legitimately professed, may be expelled from his order unless he be truly incorrigible. A person is not to be judged truly incorrigible unless not only all those things are found verified which are required by the common law (notwithstanding the constitutions of any religious order even confirmed and approved by the Holy See), but also, until the delinquent has been tried by fasting and patience for one year in confinement. Therefore, let every order have private prisons, at least one in every province.
The crimes in question must be such as by natural or civil law would merit the punishment of death or imprisonment for life (Reiffenstuel, "Jus Can. univ.", no. 228). Innocent XII reduced the year required by the above-mentioned decree to six months (Decree "Instantibus", 2). A decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council (13 November, 1632) declares that a religious is not to be judged incorrigible because he flees from imprisonment, unless, after being punished three times, he should make a fourth escape. As the civil laws do not, at present, permit of incarceration by private authority, the Congregation on the Discipline of Regulars has decreed (22 January, 1886) that trials for incorrigibility, preceding dismissal, should be carried out by summary, not formal, process, and that for each case recourse should be had to Rome. A vestige of the monastic imprisonment (which, of course, nowadays depends only on moral force) is found in the decree of Leo XIII (4 November, 1892), in which he declares that religious who have been ordained and wish to leave their order cannot, under pain of perpetual suspension, depart from the cloister (exire ex clausura) until they have been adopted by a bishop.
Rehabilitation
There is a popular assumption that sending people to prison reduces their offending. This has not yet been proven. Studies of the impact of imprisonment on later offending have found that offending actually slightly increases after a term in prison compared to after some other, non-residential sanction.[1] This meta-analysis of one hundred separate studies found that offending was around 7% higher after imprisonment than after a non-residential sanction, and this finding was statistically significant. Another meta-analysis of 101 separate tests of the impact of prison on crime found a 3% increase in offending after imprisonment.[2] Longer periods of time in prison do not make the outcomes any better; to the contrary, offending increases by around 3% as prison sentences increase in length.[1]
What is effective in reducing offending is effective rehabilitation programmes.[2] Effective programmes are characterised by three things: firstly, they provide more hours of for people with a higher risk of reoffending, as judged by known risk factors (the Risk Principle); secondly, they address problems and needs that have a proven causal link to offending (the Needs Principle); and thirdly, they use cognitive-behavioural approaches to effect change (the Responsivity Principle). In support of the first principle providing rehabilitation to people at lower risk of reoffending results in a 3% reduction in reoffending. Providing rehabilitation to people with a high risk of reoffending is three times as effective, resulting in a 10% reduction in subsequent offending.[2] Risk of reoffending is judged by looking at age at first offence, number of prior offences, level of family and personal problems in childhood and other historical factors, along with level of current needs related to offending. Those individuals who had many personal and family problems in childhood (particularly 19 or more), started offending before puberty, and have committed multiple priors are more likely to reoffend in future, according to longitudinal studies internationally.[6]
In support the Needs Principle, when programmes target needs and problems that have some causal relationship to crime (known as 'criminogenic' needs) as opposed to those that do not, there is a 19% reduction in reoffending.[2] In support of the responsivity principle, when programmes use cognitive-behavioural methods to bring about changes in behaviour, thinking and relationships related to crime there is a 23% reduction in reoffending.[2] When all three principles are accorded with, the impact on offending is a 26-32% reduction.[2][10] This is in comparison to a 3-7% increase in offending that is found with imprisonment.
There are several likely reasons why effective rehabilitation programmes have so much more impact on offending than prison. Firstly, residential approaches—whether in prison or some other live-in option—tend to be less effective than non-residential approaches.[2] These researchers found that effective programmes delivered in the community were followed by a 35% reduction in reoffending, whereas effective programmes delivered in residential settings (such as prisons and halfway houses) were followed by a 17% reduction in reoffending. One very likely reason for this is that for teens and adults, mixing with antisocial peers increases the risk of offending. In prison or residences inmates spend a great deal of time with other people immersed in criminal pursuits and beliefs, whereas in community-based programmes there is more opportunity to mix with people involved in constructive, law-abiding activities. Antisocial peers in prisons and residences can form a very powerful pressure group, subtly and not so subtly influencing the behaviour of other inmates.
Population statistics
As of 2006, it is estimated that at least nine million people are currently imprisoned worldwide.[12] It is believed that this number is likely to be much higher, in view of general under-reporting and a lack of data from various countries, especially authoritarian regimes.
In absolute terms, the United States currently has the largest inmate population in the world, with more than 2 million[13] in prison and jails, even though violent crime and property crime have been declining since the 1990s according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.[14] In 2002, both Russia and China also had prison populations in excess of 1 million.[15] In October 2006, Russian prison population was decreased to 869,814 which translated into 611 prisoners per 100,000 population.
As a percentage of total population, the United States also has the largest imprisoned population, with 738 people per 100,000 serving time, awaiting trial or otherwise detained.[16]
In March 2007, the United Kingdom had 80,000 inmates (up from 73,000 in 2003 and 44,000 in 1985) in its facilities, the highest rate in the European Union (a record formerly held by Portugal).
The high proportion of prisoners in some developed countries is from various causes, but the attitude towards drug-taking plays a considerable part. In undeveloped countries, rates of incarceration are often lower, though this is not a rule. In general, such societies have less goods to steal and a more community based social system, with less judicial law-enforcement.
| USA | Russia | Australia | UK | Turkey | Canada | Germany | Italy | France | Vietnam | Sweden | Denmark | Japan | Iceland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 743 | 713 | 126[17] | 124 | 107 | 102 | 98 | 92 | 80 | 75 | 64 | 61 | 37 | 29 |
The value of 743 in the USA includes 491 prisoners per 100,000 in prisons,[18] and 252 prisoners per 100,000 in jails.[19]
Mean: Estimate of 197 (196.63)
Median: 92
Range: 696
Juvenile prisons
Prisons for juveniles (people under 18) are known as young offenders institutes and hold minors who have been convicted, many countries have their own age of criminal responsibility in which children are deemed legally responsible for their actions for a crime.
Prisons by country
Ireland
Most jails in the Republic of Ireland were built in the 19th century, including Kilmainham Gaol (no longer in use), Mountjoy Prison and Portlaoise Prison. A new €30m prison is planned at Thornton Hall to replace Mountjoy.
Australia
The main cell block of Fremantle Prison, Western Australia.
Many prisons in Australia were built by convict labour in the 1800s. During the 1990s, various state governments in Australia engaged private sector correctional corporations to build and operate prisons whilst several older government run institutions were decommissioned. Operation of Federal detention centres was also privatised at a time when a large influx of illegal immigrants began to arrive in Australia.
Japan
Turkey
Prisons in Turkey are classified as closed, semi-open and open prisons. Closed prisons are separated into different kinds according to its structure and the number of the prisoners held. Examples are A type, B type, and F type. F types are the ones in which high penalty prisoners are held. Most which are being built today are L types that are for low penalty prisoners.
United Kingdom
Canada
France
France has 188 prisons in mainland and the oversea territories. Statistics showed around 50,000 places on July 1, 2005 for around 60,000 prisoners.
★ Official website
★ Official statistic (2005)
Germany
Germany has 194 prisons (of which 19 are open institutions). Official statistics showed 80,214 places on March 31 2007. On the same day, there were 75,719 prisoners (of which 13,168 pre-trial; 60,619 serving sentences; 1,932 others, i.e. mainly civil prisoners; 4,068 were female). This is less than the highest value of 81,176 prisoners on March 31 2003.[20][21]
United States
Popular culture
There are many famous works of literature describing or discussing prisons. Examples include:
★ ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', classic adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père.
★ ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'', famous poem by Oscar Wilde.
There have been several films produced that depict prison life, including:
★ ''Le Trou'' (1960) Directed by Jacques Becker
★ ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967) Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
★ ''A Clockwork Orange'' (1971) Directed by Stanley Kubrick
★ ''Papillon'' (1973) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
★ ''Stir Crazy'' (1975) Directed by Sidney Poitier
★ ''Midnight Express'' (1978) Directed by Alan Parker
★ ''Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979) Directed by Don Siegel
★ ''Ghosts... of the Civil Dead'' (1988) Directed by John Hillcoat
★ ''Blood In Blood Out'' (1993) Directed by Taylor Hackford
★ ''The Shawshank Redemption'' (1994) Directed by Frank Darabont
★ ''Dead Man Walking'' (1995) Directed by Tim Robbins
★ ''The Chamber'' (1996) Directed by James Foley
★ ''The Rock'' (1996) Directed by Michael Bay
★ ''American History X'' (1998) Directed by Tony Kaye
★ ''The Green Mile'' (1999) Directed by Frank Darabont
★ ''The Last Castle'' (2001) Directed by Rod Lurie
★ ''Half Past Dead'' (2002) Directed by Don Michael
★ ''Chicago'' (2002) Directed by Rob Marshall
★ ''Let's Go to Prison'' (2006) Directed by Bob Odenkirk
★ ''Animal Factory'' (2000) Directed by Steve Buscemi
★ ''American Me'' (1992)
There have also been several television programs, including:
★ ''Porridge (TV)'' (1974-1977)
★ ''Prisoner (TV series)'' (1979-1986)
★ ''Oz (TV series)'' (1997-2003) HBO
★ ''Bad Girls (TV series)'' (1999-2006)
★ ''Prison Break'' (TV series) (2005-present)
Corresponding with prisoners
Corresponding with prisoners is very helpful to them but carries risks for both correspondents—improper mail to inmates can cost them privileges (normally, all mail to inmates is read by prison staff). Use of a pen-pal service reduces (but not eliminates) these risks—as of 2005, there were more than 36 such services for U.S. prisoners. The Missouri Department of Corrections has stated that, as of June 1, 2007, inmates will not be allowed to use prison pen-pal websites.("Acting upon the recommendation of an Offender Fraud Committee he formed in 2005, Missouri Department of Corrections Director Larry Crawford announced today the Department will ban offenders from soliciting pen pals on the internet. The ban takes effect June 1st.")
See also
★ Anton Praetorius (early prison reformer)
★ Community service
★ Department of Corrections
★ Dispute Resolution
★ Jailhouse lawyer
★ Kishka (prison cell)
★ Penal labour
★ Penology
★ Prison abolition movement
★ Prison education
★ Prison escape
★ Prison officer
★ Prison reform
★ Prison religion
★ Prison sexuality (homosexuality and abuse in prisons)
★ Prisoners' rights
★ Punishment
★ Rehabilitation
★ Specific prisons
★
★ List of prisons
★
★ List of notable prisons
★
★ Correctional Facilities of Ontario, Canada
★ Types of imprisonments
★
★ False imprisonment
★
★ House arrest
★
★ Life imprisonment
★
★ Protective custody
★
★ Remand
★
★ Solitary confinement
★ Types of prisons
★
★ Boot camp
★
★ Borstal
★
★ Death Row
★
★ Jail
★
★ Juvie
★
★ Panopticon
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★ Penal colony
★
★ Private prisons
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★ Roundhouse
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★ Supermax
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★ Village lock-up
★ Game
★
★ Prison Tycoon
Notes
1. Smith et al, 2002
2. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
3. Smith et al, 2002
4. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
5. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
6. e.g.Moffit T E, Caspi A, Harrington H and Milne B J (2002) Males on the life-course persistent and adolescence-limited pathways: Follow-up at age 26, Development and Psychopathology, 14: 179 - 207
7. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
8. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
9. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
10. Andrews et al, 1990
11. Andrews and Bonta, 2003
12. World Prison Population List
13. Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005 Harrison, Paige M., Allen J. Beck
14. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance.htm
15. Entire World - Prison Population Totals
16. World Prison Population List (Seventh Edition)
17. Prisoners in Australia, 2005[1]
18. US Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisons[2]
19. US Bureau of Justice Statistics, Jails[3]
20. Official Prison Statistics of Germany (from the German statistics office)
21. Prison Archive (from the University of Bremen)
References
★ Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, New York: Random House 1975.
★ Peter Kropotkin, "In Russian and French Prisons". Online book. This is a criticism of the existence of prisons.
★ James (Jim) Bruton, ''Big House: Life Inside a Supermax Security Prison'', Voyageur Press (July, 2004), hardcover, 192 pages, ISBN 0-89658-039-3.
★ George Jackson, ''Soledad brother'', ISBN 978-1556522307.
★ Paula C. Johnson, ''Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women in Prison'', New York University Press 2004.
★ Marek M. Kaminski (2004) ''Games Prisoners Play''. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11721-7. http://webfiles.uci.edu/mkaminsk/www/book.html
★ Ted Conover. ''Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing''. Knopf, 2001. Trade paperback, 352 pages, ISBN 0-375-72662-4.
★ Mark L. Taylor. ''The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America''. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-8006-3283-4.
★ Wil S. Hylton. "Sick on the Inside: Correctional HMOs and the coming prison plague". ''Harper's Magazine'', August 2003.
★ World Prison Population List (fourth edition) UK Home Office, 2003. .
★ Jorge Franganillo. "Blogs in prison libraries", 2006. Summary of a cultural extension workshop in a juvenile detention facility.
★ Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. and the Aristocracy of Prison Profits.
External links
★ Prison Statistics - US Bureau of Justice Statistics
★ Home Office, UK - Justice & prisons
★ Prison abolition
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