WHY WE Should CARE About Prisoners PDF

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Understanding of the prison system and how unjust it is to many members of society...

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Zhuo Yuchen 1002058737 Shao Ya 1001955524 ZhangQi 1001955453 Ein Bint Asem 1002059298 Habiba Mohamed-1002059249

WHY WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT CRIMINALS

INTRODUCTION

T

he discourse surrounding the punishment of offenders inside a society uncovers much around the specific ideology underpinning of control and power inside that society. In 2016, the United States ranked the highest country with prison population

rate in the world, ranking alone to 655 inmates per 100,00 of national population (World Prison Brief, 2016), which has risen 700% since 1970, making it the world’s largest jailer. It’s estimated 6.9 million individuals are right now under the supervision of adult correctional systems, where most of the felonies conducted from misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes. 93% of individuals in jail are male, 7% are female (Glaze & Keable, 2013).

Together, African American and Hispanics contain 58% of all detainees in 2008 (Hartney & Vuong, 2009), that is in spite of the fact that African Americans and Hispanics make up roughly one quarter of the US populace. In addition, one in six black men have been incarcerated as in 2001, and in case these current patterns proceed, it’s expected that this ration will be expected to increase to one in three black men that can anticipate spending time in jail amid his lifetime.

With the rise of mass incarceration, there were severe socio-economic consequences that were impacted the whole society. Recidivism rates in the United States are at an all-time high with over 76.6% of offenders reoffending and returning to prison (National Institute of Justice, 2014), which lead to loss of valuable economic resources and put generations at risk .Within the colony of our time, these high incarceration rates and the implication of this evidence forced us to take a closer look our criminal justice system and ethical policies to determine whether these types of punishment, treatment, and training are considered appropriate to encompass the safety of not just the public, but to those in prison, their families, and the communities for which these men and women originated and to which they return. LITERATURE REVIEW Race and Mass Incarceration Before we determine whether the current system is sufficient, we first need to look at the policies and practices already installed and helped contribute to the rise of incarceration. First, there are two factors that changed in the last 50 years that dramatically changed the rate of incarceration: the likelihood of imprisonment and its length. Compared to the 1960’s a larger share of offenders is sent to prisons and they’re keeping them there longer. Shockingly, crime rate and incarceration were not correlated in this event. Compared to 1978’s you will find that incarceration rate has increased while crime rates had dropped (Mitchell, 2014). This increase is a product of federal system guidelines change of attitude that happened 1970-1980’s during the era of War on Drugs, in result giving lengthy “mandatory minimums” prison sentences for drugs, violent crimes, and repeated offense in the hope by making those punishments so unattractive that it would deter people from committing those crime. However, those methods were used till this day and the criminal justice system began to shift into a more punitive system that based on the restorative

and denunciation theories, which conducts that the only way for retribution to society for crimes is through punishment and condemned. In the last years, US prisons became 103.9% overcrowded, with sometimes more than 4 inmates per cell. Those regulation did not help but create a situation where offenders were swept in the main prison population and left there for years and have nothing to do but refine their criminal skills by learning from more experienced criminals. The most likely groups to be arrested or imprisoned are the Black or Hispanic men. After offenders serve their time and are released back into society, several studies show a significant relationship between certain races and their risk imprisonments. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in 2008 Black and Hispanics make up 58% of prison population even though they only make one quarter of the U.S. population. Also, in Jung’s study, Black men had a recidivism rate of over 65% compared to their white counterparts who had a recidivism rate of 47.6% (2010). In addition, these men were most likely to recidivate at a faster rate compared to whites. However, those rates do not reflect on the attitudes of those minor communities, but on the environment that drives them to it. First, 1 in 9 of African American children are born with a parent who is in prison. Studies found that having an incarcerated parent causes multiple issues including behavior problems that could be carried on to next generations like learning disabilities, mental and physical health issues like asthma, depression, anxiety, ADHD, high cholesterol, and migraines. (Morsy &Rothstein, 2016). Most of the black offenders are inside prison due to non-felony “petty offense” or drug charges. According to the ACLU’s original analysis, marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for the simple possession of marijuana. Nevertheless, it also showed that black people are just as likely to consume or possess

marijuana as white people, but they’re still 4 to 8 times more likely to be stopped, searched, busted, and consequence arrested (ACLU, 2020), and reported to be more likely to served harsher punishments for the same crime as whites. In addition, people who live in poor and minority communities have always had substantially higher rates of incarceration than other groups. As a consequence, the effects of harsh penal policies in the past 40 years have fallen most heavily on blacks and Hispanics, especially the poorest. Black and Hispanic people are 6.4 percent and 8.0 percent are more likely to drop out of high school (NCES, 2018), more likely to live deprived local authority districts, live in poverty, and 13 percent more likely to be unemployed. In result, black people and other ethnic minorities are more likely to end up in prison than in university. (SmartJustice, 2004). Underlying Cause of Incarceration This incarnation pandemic has been a central discussion among politicians and leaders for decades, however the continuous rise of incarceration that remains steady despite the lowered rates of crimes is a deliberate act from the legalized system—and there is a reason for that. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after the Drug on War campaigned (that started as fight against drug epidemic but ultimately enabled the shaping of the prison system as we know it today), many national campaigned arise a rioted against specific type of crimes, including family violence, prostitution, kidnapping, marijuana, sexual psychopaths, and organized crimes. These campaigns gained a lot of public attention and established an infurious media ground. These highly publicized campaigned often painted certain groups and communities as inherently criminal. These campaigns were highly regarded and followed by the general public, which became a picking ground for politician’s candidates to gain the public’s trust. They became vastly invested increasing the number of incarcerations in the pretense of public safety, adapting

harsher and longer sentences for crimes, and stroking the public’s fear through speeches and media to maintain their attention even when crime rates had ceased. For example, in the late 1960’s the U.S. attorney general Nicholas Katzenback provided false or inconclusive information to the general public about crime figures to arise fear in the public (Flamm, 2005). Beside political campaigns, there are numerous economic benefits that came from keeping prisons full in the recent years. Just in 2012, $39 billion tax money were spent alone in maintaining prisons across America. $33.5 dollars actually went to fund the inmates in services like healthcare, education, training, pensions, state lawyers, etc. However, there is a $5.4 billion gap that are unaccounted for (Kincade, 2018). Unfortunately, this is not the only way capitalism benefits from the prison system. Famous food brands, like Hershey, 7-Up, and Oreo, sell their items for almost double the price inside of prison. For example, the normal price of a 7-Up is $1.25 in Walmart, however inside the prison walls it’s sold for $2.25 (Matevousia, Warden 2014). Even worse, food companies like Amerak and Trinity are direct providers for prison food, and they’re notorious for their low-quality, low-nutritious food that they sell for a hefty profit to prisoners, and in result prisoners are six times more likely to contract foodborne illnesses than people on the outside (Delgadillo, 2018). Most prisoners are put to work when they enroll. One source report that almost 1 million prisoners are doing simple unskilled labor including “making office furniture, working in call centers, fabricating body armor, taking hotel reservations, working in slaughterhouses, or manufacturing textiles, shoes, and clothing, while getting paid somewhere between 93 cents and $4.73. Known retails have been known to exploit this cheap labor including McDonalds, Walmart, Starbucks, and Victoria’s Secret. Prisoners who work at high-risk job, like firefighting, are paid $7.25 per hour while on active duty and only $2 per day when they’re not. Capitalism

exploits the prison system that demands prisoners to work for cheap labor which in result created a modern-day slavery system that takes advantage of prison labor for a non-livable wage. Unfortunately, the money machine does not end here. In 1980’s the Federal Prison became overcrowded and was ordered by the court to decrease the number. They came up with the most radical solution in which they called it “asset sale” where they sold criminals to private prison companies like Correlation Corp of America (CCA) and GEO Group for $30 to $100 million lease contracts for beds for low/minimum security prisoners in order to relieve the overcrowding issue in the public facility. These private prisons don’t only benefit by trafficking prisoners, but also the department of justice found that they provide lower care, safety, and security for these inmates by substantial savings and “cutbacks” to increase their own profits. Private prisons contract contains a guarantee lock-up quota of 90 to 100% regardless of the crime rate at that point (Public Interest, 2013). These quotas have to be filled annually, in result to judges sometimes give out hasty and dramatic sentencing for misdemeanors or drug offences. In 2008 the scandal “Kids for Cash” unfolded about two judges in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who received $2.6 million bribes for putting kids in juvenile prison system for minor crimes like theft of a CD at Walmart. Groups like GEO and CoreCivic donate millions of dollars every year to politicians to push them to keeping private prisons alive and vote for legislation that will cut back on the rules and regulations the prisons have to abide by. Life Inside Prison The daily schedule of an inmate varies for each prison to the other: whether it’s low, medium, or high. These schedules also depend on the number of lockdown and headcount per day. In minimum and low security prison, inmates are usually given a schedule that starts at morning call at 5:30 am and ends at 9am. New inmates are usually escorted from county jail where the

crime has been committed to the assigned prison based on the severity of your crime. In minimum and low security prisons, inmates are allowed prescribed medication, plain wedding band, earrings for females only, medical or orthopedic approved device, legal documents, religious items, a CD/radio/tape/MP3 player, a flask, and a fan (Fuller, 2017). Each day is divided into specific set of activities that are repeated for the length of the sentences. The day—if lacking riots, lockdowns, or lengthy headcounts—usually follows this schedule: 5:00 a.m. optional morning prayer 5:30 lights on 6:00 breakfast 7:00 exercise, morning prayer, reading 7:30 shower 8:00 work 11:00 lunch 12:00 p.m. work 2:00 exercise, shower, laundry 3:00 visitation, self-help group, or college class 4:00 head count 4:30 dinner 5:00 more education or therapy opportunities 6:00 use phone, socialize, watch TV 9:00 locked back in cell, read, write 11:00 lights out Inmates arrive to prisons through transportation. (Fuller, 2017) There are several conductive programs for self-help or college classes for inmates. Some of the programs available is religious service, drug and alcohol prevention group, religion-based life skill and substance abuse classes, cognitive and behavioral groups targeting violence prevention, personal control, and problem solving skills, women's groups on anger management and domestic violence prevention, life skills classes in parenting, computer skills, and finding and keeping employment, education, general Educational Development (GED) testing preparation, basic adult education classes, GED completion, individual tutoring, credit recovery,

high school completion, English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes, intensive cognitive restructuring and skill building programs, and in-depth drug and alcohol relapse prevention groups (Sheriff’s office). These groups aim to help inmates to successfully rehabilitate and prepare them to re-join society with a useful skillset when they’re done with their sentence. However, life inside of prison poses a whole different set of new challenges and poses a real psychological and physical threat among inmates and their environment makes it challenging to benefit from these programs. There are factors in many prisons that have negative impacts on mental health, including overcrowding, different shapes of violence, enforced isolation, lack of privacy, lack of meaningful activity, confinement from social settings, uncertainty around future prospects (work, relationships, etc.). Increased rates of incarceration have been accompanied by overcrowding and decreased opportunity for rehabilitative programs, as well as a lack of medical and mental health services, which often leads to increase risk of suicide. Coming from some of the most disadvantaged segments of society, many of the incarcerated entered prison in unsound physical and mental health. However, their statues come to declines when they spend time inside. Incarceration is associated with mental illness, substance abuse, risk of disease and infections like HIV, Hepatitis C and Tuberculosis. According to the Center for Disease Control, one in seven inmates is living with HIV, and in an overlapping environment is more likely to pass it on. Solitary confinement is widely used in American prisons, is regarded internationally as torture. Prisoners held in solitary confinement are typically kept in a small, windowless cell for 23 hours a day, with minimal access to lawyers, family, and guards. The number of prisoners currently in solitary is estimated to be around 80,000. In extreme cases, people can spend

decades in solitary confinement. In 2016, Albert Woodfox reentered society after spending more than 40 years in isolation. The BJS report that approximately 25% of people in prison and 35% of those in jail who had spent 30 days or longer in solitary confinement during the previous year had symptoms of serious psychological distress. The rates were similar for those who only spent 1 day in isolation. (A. White & Leonard, 2020). Because of its prison system, the US is the only country in the world where more men are raped than women. There were 216,000 victims of rape in US prisons in 2008. That is roughly 600 a day or 25 every hour (United States Department of Justice, 2011), and the mortality rate was 275 for every 100,000 people, the highest since data collection began in 2001. In Florida county prison 2017, 428 inmates died when inside those bars (Sainato, 2019). These rates are steadily rising and will continue to surge due to varying degrees of underfunding, understaffing, negligence, and a system inadequately in place to address serious mental healthcare and medical issues of individuals who inevitably find themselves caught within the criminal justice system. Racial division is widely spread inside the walls of prison. African Americans and Hispanics remain to have much higher numbers incarcerated for a lengthier sentence than whites, which contributes to racial and ethnic disparities within the inmates. In addition, living under the prison environment creates more tension between them which sometimes escalates into violence. Grouping is very common inside of prison, where inmates lay their loyalties for protection for a specific type of group. Estimates of gang membership vary greatly from approximately 9 percent to as much as 24 percent of the prison population during the past two decades (Hill, 2004, 2009; Knox, 2005; Wells et al., 2002). However, despite these divisions and grouping, life inside of prison lacks connection or trust between inmates. In his book retailing his life inside of

prison for the last 10 years, John Fuller quoted: “always remember: no one in prison is your friend. Do not trust that anyone has your back, no matter how close you think you are to a cell mate, or anyone else. It’s survival of the fittest. An inmate might be manipulating you to get you to buy things for him, or even to conduct “business” for him.” Which means despite the tight knit groups that are formed, genuine connections between inmates are a rare thing. Another thing is that in prisons, there is a shift of identity that is adhered by the social roles that are expected to be followed. In Phillip Zimbardo’s famous Standard Prison Experiment (1971), we found that when society members are individualized and put in a specific role— prisoners or guards—they start to lose their sense of identity and adopt new ways to survive like “get tough” attitudes. (McLeod, 2020). Guards often known for such transformations and were known no not only express roughness and brutality with prisoners and turn blind eye on certain activities, but also were linked to multiple homicide cases that lead to inmate’s death by the use of excessive force. Returning to society and Re-offending It is evident that there needs to be much needed change its criminal justice system of the United States. Poor Black men are being incarcerated at a disproportionate rate and many are being released, only to find themselves being reintegrated back in the criminal justice system. Many find that they do not have the necessary support, resources, or financial ways to be able to survive out in the real world (Phelps 2011). Most Americans believe that after you commit a crime and pay your debt to society, the punishment ends. You have the chance to rebuild your life and get a fresh start. But the reality is much harsher. We punish people with criminal records long after they’ve paid their debt to society. In his 2000 Howard League Conference speech, Gurbux Singh once said “If you have

been unfairly treated by the system, charged with a harsher crime than was appropriate, given a custodial sentence instead of community service, given a longer prison sentence than others committing the same crime, and been bullied and victimized while in prison , are you likely to emerge from prison as a sane, sanguine, reformed character?” The obvious answer is no. Despite the long wait, many freed inmates have a hard time adjusting to the civilian life, and within the first 3 years 67% of them end up back in prison (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2021). This is because the prison system not only fail to rehabilitate inmates, but it gives them new set of problems that they’re unequipped to face in the outside world. When someone finally gets released from prison, even if they want to live a normal life and be a productive member of society, their employment options are severely limited. “It’s estimated that an individual who has a felony on their recor...