Prison: Inside and Out Essay -- Criminal Justice

Freedom in any society is a condition that is directly correlated to the compliance of society’s rules, regulations, and laws. This right afforded to citizens under the constitution is surrendered by those who choose to disregard and trample on the set of standards and behavior needed for a society to maintain order and avoid anarchy. When loss of freedom is the tool used to punish this segment of society, prisons become the instrumentality used to carry out the various freedom restrictions under the law for each individual. Citizens who find themselves incarcerated in prison will be exposed to an entirely different environment than those in free society. In addition, there is a psychological impact on those being reintroduced into society after having completed long-term sentences, an impact many believe contribute to the high recidivism rates in the United States. The criminal justice system with all of its connected inner workings may not address all of the concerns inside and out of our current prison system, but just as we have improved on our prisons from the past, we will continue to improve and implement new techniques and design precise programs in our future prisons. The saying, crime does not pay, probably held more significance a century ago when the judicial system and prison officials focused on the idea that severe punishment was the best deterrent to crime. Punishment in prisons was more than just loss of freedom, it involved chain gangs, hard-labor, the hole, and other inhumane treatment designed to ward off the would be criminals and beat the current criminals into submission. Today, Jeremy Bentham’s theory that punishment must outweigh the benefits of crime is addressed only through loss of freedoms. Prison... ...I Law Enforcement Bulletin: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/july-2010/cell-phones-as-prison-contraband Coley, R. J., & Barton, P. E. (2006). Lock Up and Locked Out: An Educational Perspective on the U.S. Prison Population. Princeton New Jersey: Policy Evaluation and Research Center. Retrieved April 28, 2012, from http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PIC-LOCKEDUP.pdf Hanson, D. J. (2010). Effectiveness of D.A.R.E. Retrieved from Alcohol Problems and Solutions: http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/youthissues/1059145293.html McDonnell, B.. (2011). Improving Public Safety through Prisoner Reentry Programs. Ripon Forum, 45(2), 6-7. Retrieved April 29, 2012, from ProQuest Social Science Journals. (Document ID: 2387305821). Seiter, R. P. (2011). Corrections an Introduction. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education.