Who can write my DB?
Blackbarbie
PrisonsandJailsastotalinstitutions.pptxJails and Prisons
Looking inside total institutions
Definition of total institution
Canadian Erving Goffman coined this term
He wrote, “A total institution may be defined as a place of residence and work where a large number of like-situated individuals cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period of time together lead an enclosed formally administered round of life (Goffman, 1968: 11).
"Total institutions (such as prisons, boarding schools, psychiatric hospitals, concentration camps, etc. ) are distinctive and have much in common" (Goffman, 1968: 15) because, as Goffman points out, they depart from the basic social arrangements in modern western society "that the individual tends to sleep, play and work in different places with different co-participants, under different authorities and without an overall rational plan" (Goffman, 1968: 17).
Glimpses inside the total institution
It is very difficult to appreciate what life is like in jail or prison so I have selected a few videos, and stories for you
Please listen to Ismael Nazario who speaks about his experience in Rikers as a youth https://www.ted.com/talks/ismael_nazario_what_i_learned_as_a_kid_in_jail?language=en#t-671125
Also, please read a piece published by the Marshall project here https:// www.themarshallproject.org/2018/07/12/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-prisoner
Finally, hear the story of Mr. Melendez who spent 17 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. Now exonerated, he has visited UTA and spoken about this experience. He paints a vivid picture of those 17 years here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k6C7ZVhaHE
Why is working in prisons important for social workers?
Criminal justice system is marked by the confluence of race, class, gender, and inequality in the United States
Mass incarceration has been called one the most pressing social problems of our time (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002)
The CJ system is fragmented
Over 50,000 different agencies responsible
Prisons account for the fastest growing segment of government employment (nearly 750,000 people in 2004)
Most people are imprisoned for non-violent crimes
Remember that Race, Class, Gender Matter
African American men disproportionately imprisoned
Women account for the fastest growing prison population
African American women: 571% increase in 20 years
Latinas: 131% increase in 20 years
Caucasian women: 75% increase in 20 years
More women are incarcerated per capita for drug crimes than men (about 34% of women and 19% of men)
60% of men and 40% of women unemployed at arrest, 1/3 earned less than 5000$ last year.
Privatization of prisons – total institutions and turning a profit for shareholders
Beck, A.J. (2000). Prisoners in 1999. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Guerino, P., Harrison, P.M., & Sabol, P.M. (2011). Prisoners in 2010. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prisoners in 1999 available online here: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p99.pdf
Private prisons in Texas
http://www.texasprisonbidness.org/map
https://www.texasobserver.org/private-prison-bubble-bursts/
Draw of Private prisons
Lower costs
Good investment for stakeholders
Cheap labor for big business (IBM, Nortel, Texas Tech, Target, etc.)
Address massive increase in carceral population
BUT
Safety of inmates and guards compromised
Incentive to increase carceral population
Dodgy ethics
Private facilities
Pay prisoners less for labor (as little as 17 cents per hour or $20/month)
Less rigid hiring practices
Higher inmate to guard ratios
Not always advantageous to local work force
