Improvements to the Correctional System Paper Example

Introduction

The correctional system is a government operated system that manages prisons and the community-based parole and probation programs. The correctional system is an integral part of the criminal justice system which is made by courts, prosecutions, and the police. The correctional system administers a rehabilitative or retribution based programs for the inmates who have been found guilty for breaking the law. The correctional system in American covers the domestic state and federal prisons as well as the international prisons such as the Guantanamo Bay. Policies are essential for improving the functioning of the correctional system and ensuring that it meets its goals (Russo et al., 2017). This paper will assess different approaches through which the correctional system can be improved to fulfill its purpose as a government institution for holding prisons and offering corrective measures for those that have been incarcerated.

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Actions in the Correction System to attain high Professionalism

Training Prison Officers

Education plays a significant role in streamlining activities in any profession. Prison and probation officers training ensures that their operations are in alignment with the law and other internationally recognized regulations that regulate correctional systems. The correctional officer's roles are continuously expanding, and they have become very influential employees in the correctional system (Russo et al., 2017). Prison officer's abuse of the inmate's rights has been reported numerous times which is unprofessional, and this can be corrected through an ambitious training program for the correction officers. The training should include introducing prison standards approach to training to complement the paramilitary training of the prison warders.

Ensuring Respect to Human Rights and the Law

The abuse of human rights in prisons is a significant cause of chaos in jails and hostility between the prison warders and the inmates. Creating a correctional system that respects basic human rights and ensures that prisoners are treated humanely can significantly reduce chaos and help restore peace by ensuring that warders remain professional and uses dialogue instead of force to solve inmate based prisons (Coyle, 2003). Therefore, the correctional system should establish fundamental human rights that should be given unconditionally to the prisoners to ease the work of prison officers.

Conditions of Correctional Facilities Circumvent the "Cruel and Unusual Punishment Standard" of the Eighth Amendment

The American correctional facilities are not observant of the Eighth Amendment due to the inhumane conditions and measures taken by the correctional system. The US correctional facilities are overcrowded, violent, and many inmates have suffered sexual abuse as well as mistreatment based on sexual orientation and gender. The Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment is against the exposure of incarcerated inmates to inhuman conditions which is circumvented by the state of the American correction facilities. Prison health standards and safety cannot be assured due to overcrowding which bypasses the Eighth Amendment standards (De Leon, & Fowler, 2014). The correctional facilities in the US are highly restrictive which ensure the human right abuses are not exposed to the public. Recently, a strike of prisoners in 17 states shows the poor condition of the correction facilities due to poor living conditions and labor where prisoners are threatened of being moved to brutal camps (Pilkington, 2018). The 13th Amendment is used to circumvent the Eighth Amendment which supports servitude in cases of punishment for a crime (Marion, 2009).

Support of Corporal Punishment Removal in US Correctional System

Corporal punishment is the use of physical force on inmates to inflict pain through beatings, flogging and other measures that cause pain and suffering of the incarcerated. The abolition of the corporal punishment in the correctional system is a good thing because it is in alignment with the Eighth Amendment which prohibits any cruel punishments. As such, the removal of the corporal systems in the United States of America is in line with the US constitution. Besides, corporal punishment is inhumane and can be used by prison officers as a means of discrimination as well as instilling fear amongst the incarcerated which affects inmates emotionally and psychologically (Gershoff & Bitensky, 2007). Corporal punishment is degrading and can jeopardize the rehabilitation measures to reintegrate former prisoners back in the community at the end of their sentences due to shame and lack of self-worth/esteem.

Argument against Intermediate Sanctions as a Deterrent of Crime

Intermediate sanctions refer to the alternative punishments that are used to monitor potential offenders who are not in restrictions within probation or incarcerated in correction facilities. The intermediate sanctions are not effective in deterring crime because they are too lenient unlike the life sentences in prisons or hefty fines for a crime committed. The intermediate sanctions are not prohibitive, and some people can be compelled to commit crimes knowing they will be given intermediate sanctions. The only purpose of intermediate sanctions is to reduce the cost of the correction system by reducing the number of people incarcerated (Caputo, 2004). For instance, house arrests and community services are very lenient alternative punishments and criminals in-house detentions for selling drugs can be able to continue their businesses using street peddlers.

Correctional Facilities Preparedness to deal with Mentally Ill Inmates

The correctional services in the United States of American are not equipped to meet the needs of the mentally ill inmates. Unlike the sane incarcerated inmates, mentally ill inmates have behaviors that are violent and require more individual attention. The correctional system personnel such as the prison officers are not given any training to meet the needs of the mentally ill inmates which leads to the use of force and segregation of the mentally ill inmates. Segregation of inmates denies them their fundamental rights of association and can worsen their mental conditions (Galanek, 2015). There is a need for more psychiatric facilities and services within the correctional system to ensure that the mentally ill inmates are treated with dignity and given the necessary psychiatric help instead of being segregated.

References

Caputo, G. A. (2004). Intermediate sanctions in corrections(No. 4). University of North Texas Press.

Coyle, A. (2003). A human rights approach to prison management. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 13(2), 77-80.

De Leon, J., & Fowler, Jr, J. E. (2014). Cruel and Unusual Punishment and the Eighth Amendment. The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 1-3.

Galanek, J. D. (2015). Correctional officers and the incarcerated mentally ill: Responses to psychiatric illness in prison. Medical anthropology quarterly, 29(1), 116-136.

Gershoff, E. T., & Bitensky, S. H. (2007). The case against corporal punishment of children: Converging evidence from social science research and international human rights law and implications for US public policy. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 13(4), 231.

Marion, R. S. (2009). Prisoners for Sale: Making the Thirteenth Amendment Case Against State Private Prison Contracts. Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J., 18, 213.

Pilkington, E. (2018, August 21). US inmates stage nationwide prison labor strike over 'modern slavery' - The Guardian....: Nation - Google News - howlDb. Retrieved October 23, 2018, from http://howldb.com/p/us-inmates-stage-nationwide-prison-labor-strike-over-modern-slavery-the-guardian-1g1a08

Russo, J., Drake, G. B., Shaffer, J. S., & Jackson, B. A. (2017). Envisioning an Alternative Future for the Corrections Sector Within the US Criminal Justice System. Rand Corporation.