Institutional Corrections

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Chapter 11: Institutional Corrections

Introduction: Institutional Corrections • Institutional corrections: facilities used to detain individuals

in criminal justice system • Early America • Jails served as holding pens • Not considered a punishment

• Corporal punishment: physical punishment in response to an offense, designed to discipline and reform an offender • Examples: whipping, caning, and the death penalty

Introduction: Institutional Corrections

• Institutional corrections changed in terms of purpose, philosophy, and structure of punishment • United States = first country to use

imprisonment as primary means to punish AND rehabilitate criminals.

• Penology: the study of principles of punishment for criminal (and in past, immoral) acts.

• Attitudes switched between more punitive and more reformative stances. • Eventually, ”get-tough-on-crime” >

rehabilitation • New penology: the study of principles of

punishment, often reflecting the contemporary turn toward view that punishment IS the primary role of prison.

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Brutal Early Years Brutal Early Years • Early America: based on philosophy of lex

talionis • Goal: “eye for an eye” and retribution

approach

• Hanging: used in early days of the United States as penalty for worst offenses • 1949: Last public hanging in U.S. for

Rainey Bethea (rape and murder) • 1996: Last hanging in the U.S. for William

Bailey • Flogging: serious beatings or whippings • Public display

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Brutal Early Years Brutal Early Years

• Mutilation: amputation of body parts to curtail a perpetrator’s ability to reoffend • Examples: thieves = hands

severed • Gossip’s bridle or scold’s helm:

heavy iron device that covered an offender’s head

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Brutal Early Years

Brutal Early Years

• Branding: served as record to alert others of past offenses • First offense: hand • Repeat offense: forehead • Women: marked clothing (e.g.,

scarlet letter “A” for adultery)

• Stocks: painful punishment generally administered with public humiliation

• Pillory: painful punishment that forced the offender into a standing position with hands, head, and ears nailed to pillory wood

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Penitentiaries

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Pennsylvania System

• Pennsylvania System: philosophy that isolation and silence is necessary for offender reflection, reformation, and rehabilitation.

• “Separate system”: another name

• Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia: first facility

• Eastern State Penitentiary: early example of Pennsylvania System.

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Pennsylvania System

• Enforced silence, as it was a hub- and-spoke style with only a peephole for staff to see in the individual cells.

• Increasing numbers of individuals being sentenced to time in a penitentiary made it increasingly difficult to maintain the intended level of isolation, silence, and discipline.

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Auburn System Moving Toward Humane Treatment: Penitentiaries • Auburn system: based on reformation where

inmates housed separately and not allowed to communicate.

• Congregate system: Another name for the Auburn System, which reflects the silent congregation experienced by inmates during the day.

• The correctional practice of walking “in lockstep” was originally implemented here, and is still practiced in some prisons today.

Historical Perspectives in

Institutional Corrections:

Auburn System

• The work of inmates was critical to the Auburn System • They worked in private industry producing

goods at a low price. • Auburn was the first prison to earn money

from convict labor.

• The Auburn System permitted severe corporal punishment (usually with rawhide whips) to maintain discipline, although it was less harsh than the floggings practiced in the previous era.

• Functional until overcrowding compromised the ability of correctional officers to maintain discipline over the prisoners.

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Contract and Convict Leasing Systems Contract and Convict Leasing Systems • Convicts develop skills and appropriate work habits for reformatory

purposes

• Contract system: prison officials sold the labor and services of inmates to private contractors

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Contract and Convict Leasing Systems Contract and Convict Leasing Systems • Convict leasing system: private businesses paid the state for control of inmates.

• Primarily used in the South • Private control à extreme abuses. • Very popular after abolition of slavery in 1865. Why??

• Abolition of slavery and the Black Codes • Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery • In the South, Black Codes developed

• Former slaves being incarcerated, and labor sold via convict leasing system

• Black Codes: Statutes that criminalized trivial behavior, such as obscene language, of newly freed slaves.

• Result? Massive increase in Black prison population.

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Contract and Convict Leasing Systems Contract and Convict Leasing Systems • Inmates treated inhumanely and sometimes died • Convict leasing explicitly stopped in the early 1900s

• Correctional officers: people charged with managing inmates who are incarcerated

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections The Reformation Movement • The Reformation Movement: born during the 1870 meeting of National

Prison Association

• New methods of incarceration were needed. • Why? • O v e r c r o w d i n g

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: The Reformation The Reformation Movement • Declaration of Principles: called for institutions focused on reformation

and rejected notion punishment was the main goal

• Summary of Declaration of Principles

• Elmira Reformatory

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: The Reformation

Historical Attention to Female Inmates

• Little attention paid to living conditions of female inmates

• 1873: Indiana Women’s Reformatory first all-female maximum-security facility under Declaration of Principles

Historical Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Punitive Approach Return to the Punitive Approach • Reformation did little to reduce recidivism • Early 1900s: many abandoned reformation movement

• If success based on recidivism, then rehabilitation or reformation are failures • “Warehousing” of inmates has ramifications

Current Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Just Deserts Just Deserts • Just Deserts: sentencing perspective focused on proportionality vis-à-vis

the crime

• Parole abolished at federal level and in roughly half of states.

• Inmates have limited privileges and conditions are harsh • Determinate, longer, and harsher sentences common

Current Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Solitary Confinement Solitary Confinement • Type of imprisonment in which an inmate is physically, visually, and

audibly confined

• Often overused and misused • Also referred to as “the hole,” SHU, AdSeg

Current Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Solitary Confinement Solitary Confinement • Usually kept in small cell 23 hours a day • Can be used as punishment, to protect the inmate from self or others

• Often has negative physical and psychological consequences

•How does one get sent to the SHU?

Study participant, “Kathy” (White, F, WCC) recalls her experience:

“They were complicating the phones.

She (another inmate) said, ‘What did you say?’

I said, so much for standing in line.

And she (the other inmate) said, ‘Well I was in line ahead of you. You just didn’t see it. I guess we all look alike to you.’

I said, I didn’t say any of that.

Study participant, “Kathy” (White, F, WCC)

‘And this girl comes up, and just BOOM.

She takes her pointer as hard as she can and whacks me into the head where it throws me into the locker.

And she starts on me, she starts saying, ‘I hate you. I hated you the minute you walked in here. You’re like every cop and every judge that’s ever put me in prison.’

Study participant, “Kathy” (White, F, WCC)

‘I said, you don’t think any of your activities ever did?

She said, ‘Oh you want to fight?’

And then they started surrounding me. The other girls. And they say ‘Where are your White friends now? You should’ve been friends with us. We would have protected you. No more.’

I said I’m out. And I just broke through.”

Study participant, “Logan” (White, M, WCC)

“Listen, I’m not here because I did anything wrong.

And the psychiatrist would say, ‘remember, you are here because there are consequences.’

And I said, having Covid is not a consequence of wire fraud. Having Covid is a consequence of being in a prison where the CO’s (correctional officers) don’t wear their mask.”

Study participant, “Mark” (Black, M, WCC) •He described the inability to receive visitations and recreational time as “very excruciating.”

•He also shared a similar experience to Logan (White, M, WCC) two weeks prior to release.

•Mark had to isolate in the “hole” before release and described it as his worst experience while incarcerated.

Current Perspectives in Institutional Corrections: Solitary Confinement

Solitary Confinement • Approximately 60,000–

80,000 in solitary confinement

• 4.4% of state and federal inmates and 2.7% of local jail inmates solitary

• More frequently used with Black inmates

• Also has an educational bias

• LGBTQ inmates are much more likely to be placed in solitary in a prison setting

Contemporary Jails and Lockups Contemporary Jails and Lockups • Jail: local facilities managed by cities and counties • Lockups: local facilities used to detain individuals for 24 to 48 hours

• Jails house people who awaiting trial, serving sentences <1 year, and have been convicted and awaiting sentencing

• Jails often paid to house federal felony prisoners serving longer sentences

• Facilities generally house those who can’t afford to pay bail • Jail population

Contemporary Prisons

Prisons house convicted offenders serving sentences of 1+ year for felony offenses

• Classification review: assessment made to determine offender’s risk level and needs

• Levels of federal prison security 1. Administrative maximum (ADMAX)

penitentiary. “Supermax” 2. High security penitentiary. 3. Medium security federal correctional

institution (FCI). 4. Low-security FCI. 5. Minimum security federal prison camp.

Contemporary Prisons Institutional Corrections Security Levels • States use a variety of categorizations, making a definitive list difficult, but

the following security levels are found in most states: • Super-maximum. • Maximum-security. • Medium-security. • Minimum-security.

Contemporary Prisons: SUPERMAX Super-Maximum Prisons

• Super-maximum prisons: The most secure and restrictive of all prisons, which are (in theory) reserved for the most dangerous of offenders. • May be a stand-alone facility or a specialized unit

within another prison. • Inmates normally confined to their cells 23 to 24

hours a day, alone. • No access to recreational, educational, religious, or

treatment activities, and inmates eat in their cells. • Virtually no human contact and constant supervision,

often via camera.

• Some argue these facilities are a cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional.

Contemporary Prisons: SUPERMAX Super-Maximum Prisons

• In 2013, approximately 25,000 were held in long-term solitary confinement in supermax prisons.

• There is one federal supermax (ADMAX) facility, in Florence, Colorado, known as ADX or “the Alcatraz of the Rockies.”

• ADX houses 400 inmates, who each live in solitary confinement, even when released for just 5 hours a week of recreation.

• ADX is not supposed to house the seriously mentally ill, but some argue that this is not the reality at ADX.

• Inmates at ADX are always escorted by at least three (3) officers, with no visitors or contact with outside world, and the facility is designed to be too confusing and disorienting to escape.

• The “Z-unit” of ADX used for behavioral issues is completely dark and soundproof. This unit is known as the “black hole” and inmates there may be restrained to a concrete bed.

• Lawsuits have been filed against ADX alleging chronic abuse, failure to properly diagnose, and neglect of mentally ill prisoners.

• Houses notorious criminals including: Ted Kaczynski, John Walker Lindh, Robert Hanssen, Zacarias Moussaoui

Contemporary Prisons: MAXIMUM

Institutional Corrections Security Levels

• Maximum-security prisons: most secure facilities available in many states

• May also house inmates who are disruptive, or have long sentences.

• Inmates commonly confined to cells 23 hours a day.

• Movement is controlled via remote-controlled doors.

• Numerous checkpoints and gates make escape nearly impossible.

• Exterior has large walls, motion sensors, razor wire, electrified fences, and armed guards.

• Alcatraz, which closed in 1963, is the most famous of these.

Contemporary Prisons: MEDIUM Institutional Corrections Security Levels • Medium-security prisons: house inmates who

have committed less serious crimes • Inmates housed in cagelike cells with more

interaction between inmates. • May have access to work and treatment

programs. • Lower staff-to-inmate ratio than in higher-

security facilities. • May have double fencing, which is patrolled

regularly, and have electronic detection devices.

• Leavenworth, Kansas, has a men’s federal medium-security facility

Contemporary Prisons: MINIMUM Institutional Corrections Security Levels

• Minimum-security prisons: house mainly nonviolent white-collar criminals who are thought to pose little or risk

• Dormitory-style housing with communal bathrooms.

• May or may not have a perimeter fence.

• Inmates partake in community projects (such as litter cleanup) and work to support the operation of the facility.

• Some famous minimum-security inmates include Martha Stewart, Leona Helmsley (businesswoman), Lauryn Hill (recording artist), Sun Myung Moon (religious leader), and Piper Kerman (author of the memoir Orange Is the New Black). Their offenses were nonviolent, like tax evasion and money laundering.

Contemporary Prisons Prison Populations • At the end of 2018, 1.47 million people were confined in prisons • Highest female incarceration rates

• Several states incarcerate more than 1% of males

• Prison populations are declining in some states, primarily because: • Sentences for less serious offenders are getting shorter. • Fewer serious offenders are being diverted to community corrections.

Contemporary Prisons

Contemporary Prisons: Private prisons

Privatization of Prisons • Started in the 1980s and as

successor to convict leasing

• All aspects of a prison managed by private agencies • At the end of 2016,

approximately 24,900 federal prisoners and 94,200 state prisoners were in privately run facilities.

• 13.2% of federal prisoners and 7.7% of state prisoners.

Contemporary Prisons Privatization of Prisons Advantages of privately run prisons • They are cheaper to operate than public prisons and reportedly more efficient, though

research has not found any difference in efficiency/cost between private and public prisons.

• Purportedly reduce recidivism, although this has not been supported by research.

Disadvantages of privately run prisons • Some states bar private prisons • Ghost inmates: Nonexistent inmates charged to the government (and taxpayers) by

private prisons. • Per contracts, if capacity exceeds 90%, the state pays a higher per-diem per inmate. • Private prisons generally have less qualified staff, who on average receive only 3 weeks of

training, as opposed to 12 to 16 weeks for public prisons; this leads to more danger for inmates, staff, and public.

• In most states private prisons are not under the supervision of the state department of corrections.

• Ghost employees: Nonexistent employees for whom private prisons have illegally charged the government (and ultimately taxpayers).

Contemporary Prisons Privatization of Prisons • August 2016: U.S. Department of Justice planned to end use, but

reversed in February 2017

• Use of private prisons has expanded beyond housing convicted offenders

Contemporary Prisons

Proportion of Incarcerated Population in Private Prisons, 2017

No private prisons

Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin

0.1%–10% Alabama, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia

10.1%–20% Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, federal

20.1%–30% Hawaii, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma

>30% Montana, New Mexico

Source: Adapted with data from the Sentencing Project, https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/private-prisons-united-states.

Diversity in Jails and Prisons Certain groups of offenders tend to be disproportionately represented in prison and jail populations

Gender, Race, and Hispanic Origin in Jail • 85+% of jail population since 2000 male

• City and county jails demographics • Percentage of White inmates increased from 2008 to 2018

• Percentage of Black individuals fell 21% from 2008 to 2016 • Proportion of Latinos is stable at about 15%

Diversity in Jails and Prisons

Gender, Prisons, and Prisoners • Explosive growth in female inmates

• In 2018, there were 8 times more female inmates than in 1980.

• Predictors of female incarceration • Mental health issues. • Substance abuse. • Sexual victimization. • Poverty.

• Characteristics of female prisoners • Most women are in prison for

nonviolent crimes. • Most were victims of childhood

and adult physical and sexual abuse.

• More likely to suffer from mental illness than men.

• Twice as likely to be HIV positive than men.

• 60% of women had used drugs in the month prior to the arrest that led to incarceration.

Diversity in Jails and Prisons Race and Hispanic Origin, Prisons, and Prisoners • Disproportionate number of people of color • Demographics at the end of 2017: • 29% of prisoners were non-Hispanic White, 34% were Black, 24% were

Hispanic, and 13% were non-Hispanic “other.”

• Black and Hispanic men more likely to be incarcerated than non-Hispanic White men

Diversity in Jails and Prisons LGBTQ Inmates • LGBTQ inmates face additional challenges • Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) measures for LGBTQ inmates • Prohibited placing LGBTQ inmates in dedicated facilities, units, or

wings in adult prisons, jails, or community confinement facilities solely on the basis of such identification or status, unless such placement is in a dedicated facility, unit, or wing established in connection with a consent decree or legal settlement. • Forbids search of physical examination to determine genital status;

rather, placement must be based on a case-by-case determination based on a number of factors, including inmate safety and health, security issues, and inmate’s view regarding their safety. • Must be allowed to shower separately.

Technology and Institutional Corrections

Corrections embrace use of technology • Controlled, sliding doors • Electronic surveillance • Videoconferencing: facilitate visitation, meetings,

and medical care

• Telemedicine: provide medical care to inmates remotely

• Body-imaging scanners: detect contraband 46