Newjack Reflection Paper PDF

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Reflection paper over a book called Newjack by Ted Conover (APA Format)...

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Charles James Burgess CJUS 3400.900 17 April 2017 Newjack Reflection Paper Throughout this book, Ted Conover allowed and provided the insight to see and experience behind the scenes of a correctional facility in Sing Sing . Reading this book, I have personally gained a plethora of knowledge on just how physically and mentally strenuous a day in prison can truly be for not only the inmates, but for the correctional officers as well. In chapter four, Ted Conover states how prison can warp or distort the personality of prisoners, but no one ever thinks or considers how it affects the correctional officer’s lives. Before reading this book, I was completely oblivious to how strenuous of a job being a correctional officer really is . These individuals are essentially living the life as an inmate just on the other side of the bars. Correctional officers put on the same uniform and are trapped within the same walls throughout the day and nights just like the lives of inmates. While they do get to go home at night, they still must live and understand the everyday life of an inmate. From my understanding, majority of the job of being a correctional officer is to carry out the purpose of a correctional facility, which is correcting and controlling the individual, so that this individual may function according to the norms of society . Although this may be the purpose, it does not necessarily mean that all correctional

facilities function this way. I have learned that some correctional officers tend to see the worse in most inmates and refer to them as the scum of the earth, which is why I think correctional facilities can sometimes be referred to or perceived as warehouses with meat being stored. When you think about a warehouse you think of a large open space filled with inanimate objects that many people forget about , much like inmates in prison. Some of these correctional officers are in some cases basically dehumanizing these inmates, which in turn can potentially negatively affect these individuals psychologically. This is especially worse when correctional officers find the reasoning behind why certain inmates are imprisoned. Depending on the reasoning, the inmates could potentially be treated in an unjust and inhumane way solely based on why they were imprisoned. Therefore, it is very discouraging when correctional officers find out the reasons for these people to be in prison. An example of this change in punishment was provided in the book when the individual named Twitch was introduced. Before reading this book, I had extremely conservative views, consisting of seeing imprisoning of individuals as an effective way of correcting and forcing the individual to reflect upon what they did and why they deserve to be in prison. I never truly understood how anyone could not find imprisoning individuals as an effective way versus rehabilitating. Although, after reading this book, I now see the importance of how ineffective some of their methods in the hopes of changing these inmates truly are .

For example, locking individuals in a hole for days is an inhumane way to deal with a prisoner just to get the correctional officers point across. This type of treatment has an extremely negative influence on the individual mentally and physically . I now understand that the goal should be to correct the individuals who have a chance of getting out, not to make them potentially lose their humanity and essentially become disconnected from society in the long run. This is one of the main reasons why I think recidivism rates are so high , which leads me in to my next point on why rehabilitation is an essential part in any correctional facility . Like I previously stated, these individuals have altered behaviors, which is the reasoning why they cannot abide by the basic norms of society. The only way I foresee a change in these individuals’ personalities is through rehabilitation programs provided by the prisons. A prison consists of a wide variety of different individuals who have committed a wide range of different offenses , such as murder, rape, burglary, etc. Specifically, in a prison , it is very hard to differentiate between each inmate and assess him or her, mainly due to the fact that all of these inmates are pooled together in a large building. Every inmate has a different story and in order for them to begin some type of treatment, the correctional officers need to understand the individuals in the hopes to correct them. The only issue with rehabilitating would obviously be underfunding , as taxpayers would fund these programs. Providing alternatives, such as programs to

receive your GED, will allow and give these inmates a chance to change their lives for the better. These inmates could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. By ostracizing them immediately, we are essentially forcing them to remain in prisons. A lot of these inmates are non-violent offenders who are being incarcerated for years over something small, such as a minor drug possession. I truly believe we have a universal court system that considers themselves to be very objective, but these punishments, such as sentencing for several years is not the most effective way of correcting these individuals. Personally, I think it would be both effective and feasibly efficient to have individuals with such offenses, attend programs aiding them. To house individuals over minor crime offenses would continuously add to the prison population and potentially not correct the individual , which will in turn add to the recidivism rate. Overall, I have taken a lot from this reading and have significantly questioned my previous views. I now have an understanding of just how arduous it is for not only inmates, but for correctional officers that must endure handling these individuals on an everyday basis. This experience has allowed Ted Conover to firsthand go through these experiences and share his experiences with the reader to give them a better understanding of the overall picture. Also, although these individuals have committed crimes, there are still human beings just like the correctional officers . We should be focusing on correcting the individuals , not making the matters worse. Works Cited

Conover, T. (2000). Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing. New York: Random House....