Essay on 76% of US Prisoners Reincarcerated: Inadequate Prison System?

Introduction

A prisoner refers to a person who is physically confined in prison and does not have personal freedom. Additionally, it entails any person who has been sentenced to more than one-year confinement by the court system. Statistically, seventy-six percent of prisoners in America end back in prison within five years. Our prison system mainly aims only at the deterrence of the offenders, rather than deterrence and reformation of the prisoner. Additionally, when an individual is incarnated, they should be well prepared for the outside world once they are released.

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The preparation should be both mentals, and also how they will earn a living. Other than spending more money on expanding the prisons to accommodate more people due to increased recidivism, the government should invest more in helping the prisoner reform to help them avoid incarnation again upon release. The primary function of our p system is to punish offenders, which aims at the possibility of them repeating the crime and making them reform to become law-abiding citizens (Listwan, S. J., Cullen, F. T., & Latessa, E. J. 2016).

The components of the criminal justice system are divided into three components of the police, the justice system and the correctional facilities with each of the components taking a different focus to ensure justice is administered on the criminal activities. All these three components are geared towards addressing the criminal element to ensure justice is served, and the community is protected from future occurrences of criminal elements. In the criminal justice system, the accused person, the problem under investigation and alternative position play a critical role in determining the process of the criminal justice system in the determination of one's case (Listwan et al., 2016).

History

The prison system was established in 1892 by the United States government. The enactment of the Three Prison Act saw the establishment for McNeil Island, Leavenworth, and UPS Atlanta. Leavenworth was the first Federal prison that was established in Kansas. However, the prison started housing offenders by 1907. Before its establishment, prisoners were held at a military prison. In 1893, the Federal Prison System was established. In 1930, the Bureau of Prison was established and was charged with the role of regulating and managing all the correctional and federal penal institutions.

The bureau was covering the administration of 12 prisons across the country. By the 1960s, the United States was engaging in an unprecedented historical establishment of prison systems at both the state and federal levels (Listwan et al., 2016). Since 1972, the number of incarcerated prisoners has increased ten-fold. In a given year, about 7,000,000 people are either under the control of correctional service or supervision in the United States. The periods of prison reforms and constructions gave rise to significant changes in the mission and structure of the prison system, the roles of the state and federal agencies for supervising and administering them, as well as the political and legal status of inmates.

Although controlling lousy behavior in the penal system is costly and a challenge, it is possible to minimize the operational costs of prison by rewarding good behavior. The committed discipline of imprisonment can be rewarded in several ways; for instance, reduced sentence, privileged while in jail and parole, notably, rewarding good behaviors as an enticement for the prisoners to reform and live upright lives (Mackenzie, D. L. 2015). Some of the privileges that one can have while in jail for good behavior entail; Having two or three chances to call home per week rather than the standard one time, being placed in more paying jobs in prison, or tasks that are termed more prestigious and furlough. Furlough refers to when a prisoner is permitted to leave the premises and return, some of which can be escorted or not. Furlough can be granted to visit family, attend the funeral of a close family member, or contact a potential employee upon release.

The privileges act as a means of enhancing correctional goals. Parole refers to the permanent release of a prisoner from prison before their sentence is over, although they need to live by specific rules. Probation who does not abide by the conditions goes back to prison. Parole is mainly rewarded for good behavior in court. Notably, the restrictions encourage ethical conduct, which can become a norm even after the correct sentence is over (MacKenzie, D. L. 2015). Many prisoners can get time off their verdict when they exhibit exemplary compliance with the prison disciplinary guidelines. Prisoners serving at most one year in jail are legible for the reduction in sentence.

The argument for and against

The consequences of being convicted of a crime are the additional punitive civil state measures mandated by the statute attached to the criminal convictions. Most prominently, they do not form part of the direct repercussions of the criminal conviction, such as the probation, prisons, and fines. Notably, they are the civil actions initiated by the nation triggered as a result of the sentence. Most prominently, these punitive consequences imposed on the criminals of such kind, they impose social-economic barriers for persons reentering into the state by restricting or denying the privileges otherwise available to the people.

Consequently, these punitive actions are said to impose negative impacts on housing, rights of honoring the property, employment, mobility, imagination, and other privileges. Such consequential convictions impose recidivism and prevent a meaningful reentry of the victims for a given meantime. Furthermore, the collateral consequences adversely affect the economically stranded populations in society. Most importantly, the defendants are allowed, as a matter in due process, to be cautious of the pinpointed repercussions, either before taking the plea or upon the conviction.

Some of the examples of the most current statute in America that imposed remarkable collateral consequences on the convicted crimes include: New Mexico denies, suspends, or revokes the license 12A of a barber or cosmetology. In this regard, the board will, in accordance with the "Uniform Licensing Act (61-1-1 NMSA 1978), give a punitive action or impose a fine, hamper or deny to issue or renew or suspend a license for any of the following causes: "the commission of any crime postulated in the cosmetologists and barbers Act (61-17A-1nmsa 1978). This is the consequence of a conviction of an offense under moral turpitude. Another example is in Washington, where a family child may not be placed with the member of the convicted person's household. The department may eliminate members who have recorded criminal cases as speculated in the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) regulations.

Parole and probation are privileges granted to the criminals to avoid prison or severe fines and released after serving part of their sentence. The ultimate objective of parole and probation is to rehabilitate the offenders by guiding them back to society while mitigating the probability of them from committing a new crime. It is a very paramount approach to youth and juvenile cases. For instance, youth have the potential of transforming and engaging to more meaningful activities in the society as opposed to adults, and thus the likelihood of them being changed stands at higher top-notch. Moreover, a debate has arisen as to why the sentencing juvenile without parole should be banned (MacKenzie, D. L, 2014). Notably, it is unconstitutional to uphold juvenile life sentences without parole as it violates the eight amendments of the constitution. This is a steward strand in banning the sentencing juveniles as it will substantially mitigate the number of deaths of youth in prisons.

Duties of State Welfare Officials in Prisoner's reformation

There are states which have welfare officials, although they usually are very few. The officials help prisoners to adjust to prison life and ensure that they maintain communication with their families. Notably, this helps in providing that the prison is not only concerned in custody and deterrence, but also rehabilitation and reformation of the criminals. The elected officials are expected to be people with a stable temperament, humanity, ability to get on well with people, integrity, patience, and a sense of social service (MacKenzie, D. L, 2014).

Educational services

Educating prisoners help in reforming their original character because when a person is released from prison with more skills that which they were incarnated with, they are likely to have a lower recidivism rate. , most of the people who are imprisoned in America do not have high school diplomas. Educating prisoners makes them have a better future upon release, makes them more socially competent, and reduces recidivism, all of which help in reducing recidivism. Although investing more in prison education will need more funding from taxpayer's money, in the long run, it saves because more funds would have been used to finance incarnation.

Although the government is putting many efforts into prisoner education, individuals, groups, and non-governmental organizations are also helping (MacKenzie, D. L, 2014). They help by volunteering to tutor prisoners who are preparing for their GEDs to help them get better grades, which will give the prisoners better opportunities in the future. Additionally, vocational training also helps prisoners have more chances of getting jobs, hence reduces recidivism. The vocational course entails training in car maintenance for an auto repair, food and beverages, word processing for computer management healthcare, and the like.

References

Listwan, S. J., Cullen, F. T., & Latessa, E. J. (2016). How to prevent prisoners reentry programs from failing: Insights from evidence-based corrections. Fed. Probation, 70, 19.

MacKenzie, D. L. (2015). What works in corrections: reducing the criminal activities of offenders and delinquents. Cambridge University Press.

MacKenzie, D. L. (2014). Evidence-based corrections: Identifying what works. Crime & Delinquency, 46(4), 457-471.