...Prison Comparison and Contrast The word penitentiary has been in use for over 20 years by many different individuals. At first the word penitentiary was more of an idea but now it is used to describe a prison, or jail. It was supposed to be a place of humane punishment, not a place for physical punishments. It was supposed to practice corrective discipline, to create habits of industry through the application of strictly enforced rules. Its beliefs that prisoners should work steadily by doing productive labor, they should not sit around like they used to do in old jails and prisons. A lot of the early pioneers of the penitentiary were religious men. One man was John Howard. Howard was reformed jail and was a devoted Congregationalist. Thomas Eddy founded the humane penal code in New York in 1796; he was a Philadelphia Quaker and found his way there from Virginia and the New York insurance business. Thomas Eddy made a lot of money fast and turned to social and legal reforms. He worked hard for and built New York’s first state prison, which was called Newgate, in New York City in 1797. He was warden of Newgate for many years and advocated humane imprisonment and the emancipation of slaves for the rest of his life. (1) World War II had a huge impact on the penitentiary system and/or the prisons. The U.S entered the war in 1941. A lot of the troubled youth during this time were giving an option of serving their country or going to prison. Most would say being a soldier would provide...
Words: 699 - Pages: 3
...Prisons were established many years ago as a punishment for people convicted of crimes, usually felonies. It’s a place where your freedom, movements, privacy, and access to basically everything is restricted. You’re told when you can eat, when you can sleep, when you can shower, and when you can use the bathroom. You are confined to an eight by six-foot cell, surrounded by concrete walls, sleeping on a metal bed tray with a thin pad. If prison conditions weren’t already bad enough, imagine living with 40,000 other inmates in a facility that was built with a capacity to house 32,000 inmates. Overcrowding in the U.S. corrections system has become an increasing problem in both state and federal prisons, with most facilities operating at more than 100 percent capacity. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there was an estimated 1.51 million prisoners in state and local correctional facilities at the...
Words: 669 - Pages: 3
...Alcatraz Intro: The island of Alcatraz was much more than a prison: it was inmate's worst nightmare. Some of the most notorious criminals were sent there for some of the worst crimes that have been committed and throughout its many years of being a federal prison, there have been zero confirmed escapes. Overview: Alcatraz, once a federal prison, also used to inhabit other groups of people, not only prisoners. However one of the most common things that the island is known for was the prison, and for a good reason too. Alcatraz was said to be inescapable, officially nobody truly escaped from what was also known as The Rock, but not everyone has the same definition of escape....
Words: 1154 - Pages: 5
...An Overview of Federal Prisons Stephen Hayden CRJ 101: Intro to Criminal Justice Post University 4/19/15 Abstract Federal Prisons in the United States have evolved since 1930. The United States Federal Prisons range in security levels to house inmates that have been incarcerated on a federal level. Based upon the security level in a facility, inmates are given more freedom and have lower staff to inmate ratios. Inmates are required to work so long as their health is cleared, and some prisons offer inmate labor that can contribute to them returning to society. Prisoners are required to have their basic needs met while housed in a federal correction facility, which includes education, health care, and religious demeanor. While federal prisons are trying to maintain standards they face issues such as overcrowding, which can largely effect how the facilities are ran. Recommendations to overcome overcrowding and better facilitate a prisoners release to society will be provided. History of Prisons in the United States “Pursuant to Pub. L. No. 71-218, 46 Stat. 325 (1930), the Bureau of Prisons was established within the Department of Justice and charged with the "management and regulation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions." This responsibility covered the administration of the 11 Federal prisons in operation at the time.” (Federal Bureau of Prisons, n.d.). Since correctional facilities were mandated they have grown and evolved to this current day, and still...
Words: 1850 - Pages: 8
...State and Federal Prison System Hope Washington CJS/230 Introduction to Corrections May 19, 2013 John Feltgen A federal prison and a local jail are built nearly the same, but the difference lies in what they are used for. A local county jail is used to detain/incarcerate offenders for one year or less; the state prison is very similar to federal prisons that both incarcerate/rehabilitate and execute offenders. States generally have industries where offenders work and make furniture, license plates and etc. for the state. Federal prisons have fewer jobs but they also have the super max prisons that are like "animal cages" where offenders stay 23 hours a day. 1 hour a day they get to exercise, shower and etc. An example of a state prison system would be the Texas Department of Corrections located in Huntsville, Texas. This facility was established in 1849 and to this day is the headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The growth of state prison populations is the result of “get-tough” legislation which sends more people to prison and keeps them there for longer periods of time. In my opinion, United States corrections professionals could solve the problem of exponential growth in state prison systems by implementing stronger rehabilitation programs. Upon entry in the state prison facility, inmates could be given an incentive to enter and complete one or more rehabilitation program depending on the degree of severity of the crime or crimes that the inmate...
Words: 504 - Pages: 3
...Jail and Prison Paper Tameki Reed CJA/204 05/31/11 Robert White Jail and Prison Paper When it comes to jail and prison, there is a distinctive set of differences. Jail is a place of incarceration that is locally operated, while prisons are conducted by the state government or the federal government. Within the United States, there are about 3,600 jails but there are only about 100 federal prisons or rehabilitation facilities. Jails house inmates who have been convicted of a misdemeanors and their sentence is no greater than two years. In addition, a person may be held in jail while awaiting trial, has an unpaid bond, or was recently jailed. If a person is convicted of a state crime he or she will serve their sentence in a state prison as opposed to federal crimes which lands offenders in federal prisons. A jail’s amenities are very limited because of the light sentence and short periods of time spent there. A county jail offers work release, substance abuse programs, and may provide basic necessities to inmates. Prisons also offer work release programs, vocational training, halfway houses, as well as recreational facilities. Inmates at prisons will serve decades within the facility while others have to serve lifetime sentences behind bars. A major concern of prison staff and administrators is disruptive and violent behavior. Their concerns pertain to the safety of inmates as well as employees of the prison facility. Disruptive and violent behavior is not tolerated in...
Words: 884 - Pages: 4
...Running head: PRISON COMPARISON PAPER Federal Prison Comparison Paper Jessica Cantu University of Phoenix Introduction to Corrections CJA 234 Jeffery Newton November 12, 2011 Federal Prison Comparison Paper There are different kinds of state prisons are: supermax, maximum security, close-high security, medium security, minimum security, and open security. Supermax prisons are permanent lockdown. Maximum security prisons are usually older, larger, walled facilities. They also have the most rigorous security procedures and the lowest inmate to guard ratio. Close-high security are a kind of maximum security but less restrictive and the inmate to guard ratio is a bit higher. Medium security prisons are smaller and newer, and have double fences instead of walls. These prisons also have dorm or pod housing rather than cells; however, the inmate to guard ratio is a bit higher. Minimum security prisons are also newer and smaller as well as minimal perimeter security and fewer internal controls. Again there is an even higher inmate to guard ratio and the inmates live in rooms or dorms and have more privacy and amenities than those in other prisons. Open security prisons are better known as nonsecure facilities; work release centers, prerelease centers, and halfway houses. These facilities have no armed guards and no fences (Foster, 2006). John Gotti John Gotti grew up in poverty but quickly rose in prominence, and was one of the crime family's biggest...
Words: 1711 - Pages: 7
...State and Federal Prison Systems Leslie Cable 4/12/2013 CJS/230 Larry Doyle State prisons hold people who are arrested by local police and sheriff departments. Federal prisons hold people who are arrested by the federal bureau of investigations (FBI). The state and federal prisons have security levels for every type of prisoners. State prisons are run by the department of corrections while the federal prisons are run by the justice department. “The Federal Bureau of Prisons was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by President Herbert Hoover on May 14, 1930,” (Foster, 2006, Pg. 134). State prisons have more inmates than they do staff while federal prisons have more staff than they do prisoners. An example of a state prison is San Quentin state prison in California. San Quentin was opened in the 1850s and housed both men and women prisoners. In 1933, the women’s prison at Tehachapi was built. Tehachapi was shut down after an earthquake hit it in July 1952 then it was reopened as a men’s prison three years later. “Despite periodic schemes to shut it down – “the prison that would not die” – San Quentin held nearly 6,000 inmates in 2003,” (Foster, 2006, Pg. 127). The only way I could explain the growth of state prisons is that more people are arrested for crimes than ever before. People are committing more crimes than he is or she is used to and then are sentenced to prison time. More people are arrested for drug related...
Words: 714 - Pages: 3
...History of state and federal prisons The histories of the state and federal prison systems have some connections which both systems has something distinctive. The State is usually operated by the state governments and consists of prisoners that are considered blue collar criminals and the federal systems are mainly associated with white collar criminals. Both prison systems have security levels which include minimum, low, medium, and high levels of security. History of punishment dates back to the origin of various civilizations. The former colonial criminal edicts were a inquisitive blend of English barbarity, religion, and pragmatism. Ever since the beginning of the world people have devised ways to punish individuals who commit offensive and intolerable acts. The idea of prisons however came later and the use of jails and detention methods was seen as more humanitarian process when compared to formal corporal methods to punish an offensive individual. In 1700 century the former philosophy of prison was presented and was accepted widely. In 1790 first ever prison was constructed in United States named as Walnut Street Jail. As the time went by the framework and processes of prison systems were devised and by 1930 The Federal Bureau of Prison was developed by congress that was headed by President Herbert Hoover .The original impartial United States prison was an old army penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and started accommodating offenders in 1895 (Keve,1995). In1880s...
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
...History of State and Federal Prisons Kenneth Washington CJS/230 Theresa Degard History of State prisons The state prison systems of today were founded on the nineteenth-century penitentiary, which was based on the legal reforms of the eighteenth-century Age of Enlightenment. One more name for the state jail is the Department of Corrections which has quite a lot of security levels. For jails there is maximum security which is one earliest as well as the biggest. Additionally, it has much security in order to protect the inmates. Also there is higher security which is a bit less rigid like the maximum security. Next there is medium security that several states have in the smaller and jails which is more constructive. Additionally, in place of walls there are fences. Typically the prisoners are not as harmful having fewer people who break free. Also there is minimum security in the jails which normal contain the rooms and dormitories. Moreover, there are lots of security guards too. Typically individuals with less serious sentences as well as brief sentences are put I minimum security. Lastly, we have the open security jails that contain work -release programs, society based services, in addition to half way homes. These kinds of programs with the jails overpopulations in addition to attempting to rehabilitate the culprit and prepare them back for community. History of Federal prisons The federal jails were signed into by President Hoover...
Words: 377 - Pages: 2
...History of State and Federal Prisons Latoya Morris CJS/230 6/25/2014 Anthony McBride History of State and Federal Prisons History of State Prisons. Today, the state prison systems are based off of the legal reforms in the 18th century, but founded in the 19th century. The state jail has held another name for the recent years which is the Department of Corrections and with that it holds many levels of security that is needed for the separation of different prisoners. The three levels of security are maximum, medium, and minimum security. Each level has a different way of handling and dealing with the inmate and not overstepping boundaries to make sure that inmate is treated accordingly. The state prison also has a lot of security guards. There are programs and society services that help the inmate with rehabilitation such as work release programs and placing them in a halfway house to get them back on their feet and acclimated to society and the communities. History of Federal Prisons. The federal prisons are under the administration of President Hoover in the early 1930s. Federal prisons did exist in the 1890s but there was no core system to make sure that these prisons were being run accordingly. Not many federal crimes were executed till after the civil war, so they really didn’t have a use for a federal prison. The new system was brought up and made up of multiple institutions with thousands of inmates. The federal prison is similar to the...
Words: 369 - Pages: 2
...The State and Federal Prison System Axia College Both state and federal prison systems have a long history in the United States as well as a significant presence in modern times as the prison populations for both state and federal prisons continue to grow. State and federal prisons each have their own types of institutions and security levels and house different types of criminals due to their differing jurisdictions over state versus federal prisoners. This paper will discuss the state and federal prison systems and their respective histories, recent growth in prisoner populations, different types of facilities, security levels, and types of criminals. American state prisons were originally used as workhouses where prisoners could work off what they owed to the state for their crimes through hard labor, but the purposes for state and federal prisons eventually shifted towards using prisons with the intention of punishment and incapacitating the criminal by removing them from society. Not surprisingly, many of the ideas for the development of the first prisons in the United States came from England. The history of the American prison system began with the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia, which served as the first prototype for the Pennsylvania model for prisons where prisoners worked at tasks in solitary confinement in order to pay off their debt to society and theoretically reflect upon what they had done (Johnston, 2010). The Pennsylvania...
Words: 2119 - Pages: 9
...State and Federal Prison Systems CJS/230 May 21, 2012 Frank Merenda The number of prisons in each state, today, range from “three in North Dakota to over 100 in Texas”.(Foster, 2006) Although there are many state prisons they were all basically based on the Auburn model, established in 1816. Federal prisons also began this way and in 1930 the Federal Bureau of Prisons was created and the federal prisons of today have not changed much since then. The Texas Department of Corrections (TDC), established in 1849, located in Huntsville Texas, is a good example of a state prison system. Today, the central unit in Huntsville is still the headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and it known as the “capital of capital punishment”. (Foster, 2006) It is said this facility carries out more executions than any other prison. Be that as it may and even with the state and federal prison systems separated the state prisons growth still continues. The “get-tough” legislation and the “War on Drugs” have tripled jail and prison populations. (Foster, 2006) Today a lot of the state prison growth comes from parole violators and increased confinement of violent criminals. The growth has slowed some from the past but it still continues. To help slow the growth in the state prison systems U.S. correction professionals could try spending more on treatment and rehabilitation to keep nonviolent offenders out of prison. The drug problems of today seem to be filling up...
Words: 667 - Pages: 3
...History of State and Federal Prisons Joshlyn Aday CJS/230 John Feltgen November 14, 2013 Since the beginning of the criminal justice system, when the English brought over the concept that is the foundation for our criminal justice system today, there has been a sought out concept: There must be a reason for punishing criminals other than simple vengeance. This usually happens within the criminal justice system, but not often do people have to pay for the crimes that they’ve done. As a result, the first penitentiaries, predecessors of prisons today, were built with a view to behavior modification procedures (Foster, 2006). Today we have these institutions called state and federal prisons. They’ve had their number of changes throughout the years for modification. Just as any one thing throughout the world, they have their differences as well as their similarities. Looking to the past, we can pinpoint some sort of starting line for the development of what we call the prison system. In Norfolk, England circa 1875, nearing the end of the Age of Enlightenment, Sir Thomas Beever announced the grand opening of Wymondham Gaol. Towards the end of the Enlightenment, the Western civilization, looking inward, believed it was more civilized and reformations began to touch every aspect of life, including dealings with criminals. Belief in the scientific method drove society to find more humane ways of dealing with the lawless while perhaps transforming these into law-abiding, productive...
Words: 679 - Pages: 3
...and Federal Prison Systems Denise Silven CJS/230 July 10, 2011 Joseph Micieli Assignment: State and Federal Prison Systems An example of a state prison system would be the Texas Department of Corrections located in Huntsville, Texas. This facility was established in 1849 and to this day is the headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Additionally, this facility became the “control model in Texas prisons” and “emphasized farm work and strict discipline within a centralized bureaucratic environment.” The growth of state prison populations is the result of “get-tough” legislation which sends more people to prison and keeps them there for longer periods of time. (Foster, 2006). In my opinion, United States corrections professionals could solve the problem of exponential growth in state prison systems by implementing stronger rehabilitation programs. Upon entry in the state prison facility, inmates could be given an incentive to enter and complete one or more rehabilitation program depending on the degree of severity of the crime or crimes that the inmate committed. I believe that an inmate that sees a program to completion is possibly dedicated to changing their behavior in order to avoid becoming a repeat offender. The security levels in state and federal prisons are maximum-security, close-high-security, medium-security, minimum-security, and open-security. The differences in these levels are: (1) maximum-security prisons have...
Words: 419 - Pages: 2
