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ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR CHAPTER 10

The state government primarily operates prisons. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the prison

system operates under the title, the Department of Corrections. As far as federal prisons, they

are operated by the federal government, the United States Department of Justice, and operate

under the title, the Bureau of Prisons.

In 1940, sociologist Donald Clemmer was one of the first to describe the psychological effects of

prison life. When prisoners adapted to prison life they began surrendering their self-esteem and

initiative to a dependency upon the system. Prisoners lost sight of the normal society beyond the

chained walls. Clemmer coined the phrase, prisonization, to describe this effect. He also wrote

The Prison Community in 1940 & 1958.

 Baby boomers are maturing and the United States prison population has climbed ever

higher.

 Americans fear crime and politicians turn fear into get tough legislation that sends more

people to prison and keeps them there for longer terms.

 The War on Drugs tripled the prison population.

PRISONS: MINIMUM SECURITY

Minimum security is a lower level of security. Often, there are open fences in lieu of walls; this

was so people could actually see into the prison, which had some effect on the traditional

seclusion of inmates behind impenetrable walls. The mode of housing changed from cellblocks

to dormitories and rooms with more privacy and amenities. The ratio of guards to inmates was

reduced, and the minimum-security prisons have become more open, making it easier for

inmates to move around. The absolute controls that were so much a part of the old-style

penitentiary was relaxed which tends to reduce the impact of prisonization on inmates.

1. Open institutions: low end of the security scale. Includes pre-release centers, work release centers, prison farms or camps.

2. Cosmetic changes: increasing perimeter fencing to make the public think they are safer. Increased due to public fears.

3. In minimum-security prisons, there are more programs offered than maximum; more movement among the inmates.

4. In Virginia, minimum security is considered Level 1 - low; Level 1 - high; Level 2

PRISONS: MEDIUM SECURITY

Similar to minimum security. They are lower level of security with double fences instead of

walls. Medium security prisons are usually the starting place for new inmates not perceived as

dangerous or escape risks.

In Virginia, medium security is basically considered Level 3 and Level 4.

PRISONS: MAXIMUM SECURITY

Early penitentiaries practiced maximum security; indeed, our mental image of a prison is derived

from the architecture of these institutions: high walls, guard towers, cellblocks stacked in tiers,

massive concrete and steel construction. The early American prisons not only maximized

security, they also practiced isolation and intimidation to a high degree. Maximum-security

prisons are often older, larger, walled institutions surrounded by razor ribbon or barbwire fencing

atop the concrete walls.

In Virginia, maximum security is basically considered Level 5 and Level 6.

PRISONS: SUPERMAX

1990s: increase in supermax style prisons. Alcatraz, in 1934, was first in country deemed a

supermax. With the increase in the number of inmates overall, the number of inmates considered

unmanageable, dangerous or high risk also increased. Pelican Bay, CA, Florence, CO, Red

Onion, VA

Supermax refers to the highest level of security that can be applied to a prison housing unit.

Inmates are kept in single person cells, generally locked down 24/7. Being in a supermax is an

earned status. It is based mostly on the behavior on what the inmate does after he gets to prison,

rather than what he has done before. Most supermax inmates do not have work assignments, nor

do they have access to ordinary prison recreation, inmate organizations, or programming.

Visiting is restricted. Privileges are non-existent or very, very minimal. Contact with other

people, including staff, is very limited. The inmate is isolated in his cell as much as possible

with brief outdoor exercise periods in a small, individual exercise yard. Supervision is very high,

in some, much higher than that provided inmates on death row. Some entire prisons are

designated as supermax; other prisons have cellblock units so designated. Supermax refers as

much to a type of inmate who cannot be controlled in maximum security, as it does to a

particular prison architectural or management style. About 2% of total prison population is

supermax.

The supermax prison in Virginia is Red Onion Prison.

SPECIAL HOUSING UNITS (SHU):

Many prisons have a SHU with security conditions similar to supermax, but housing disciplinary

offenders for shorter periods rather than long-term security and control problems. Special

housing would once have been called "the hole", where inmates were subject to physical

punishments, restricted diets, and sensory deprivation. Some supermax prisons also have special

housing units within them, and some SHU use a level system where the worst behaved inmates

are kept on the lowest level.

BACK END ALTERNATIVES:

Expanding the use of and strengthening of post-incarceration controls in the community

PAROLE: The status of offenders conditionally released from a confinement facility prior to the

expiration of their sentences & placed under supervision.

Intensive supervised parole

Electronic monitoring of parolees

Community-corrections centers (halfway houses)

Boot camps and early release programs

SUMMARY:

Imprisonment is the harshest penalty imposed on most offenders

Both the commitment rate and length of sentence have increased in the last decade

Most prisons have become overcrowded

To alleviate overcrowding, corrections has expanded front-end and back-end alternatives

Types of prisons: Minimum, Medium, Maximum, Supermax

The recidivism rate of ex-prisoners remains unacceptably high