Historical Origins and Evolution of Corrections

STUDENT REPLIES

STUDENT REPLY 1# KIMBERLEE LEVETT

Political factors are a recurring topic in corrections history that is reflected in current practices. In the past, political sentiments, and the desire to make changes significantly impacted the shape of corrections (Stohr and Walsh, 2017). Political influence has played a significant role in the expansion of prisons. In early correctional facilities, officials or guards were appointed for political reasons to maximize profits from the prison industry. In today's society, for-profit private prisons follow the same policies. For-profit private prison companies increase their profits by promoting policies that result in more people being incarcerated using political campaign donations, lobbyists, and relationships with government officials (Clarke, 2012).

To ensure a steady stream of inmates for their facilities, private prison companies have secured profitable government contracts and harsher laws that primarily house minorities. First, the war on drugs got out of control, and the increase in illegal immigration resulted in many nonviolent people's incarceration. Second, mandatory-minimum sentencing laws resulted in a throw-away culture, with long, cruel, and unnecessary prison terms (Brooks, 2015). This theme of political factors should only operate to ensure the rehabilitation of the inmates and not for profit. Politicians and the government should advocate for more funding for parole and probation programs that provide job training, counseling, and education to help reduce the prison population.

References

Brooks, D. (2015). The Prison Problem. The New York Times, p. 27.

Clark, M. (2012). Private Prison Companies Use Political Influence to Increase Incarceration | Prison Legal News. https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2012/nov/15/private-prison-companies-use-political-influence-to-increase-incarceration/.

Stohr, M. K., and Walsh, A. 2017. Corrections The Essentials Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication, Inc Chapter 3, Correctional History: The 17th to 20th Centuries (pp. 42-63

STUDENT REPLIES

STUDENT #2 Deaquanitta Scott

The theme i chose from the history of corrections is physical punishment to psychological punishment. here were many different ancient and barbaric forms of torture used as criminal punishment. This practice is generally known as coral punishment and it includes any kind of physical punishment meant to inflict pain or discomfort. There were numerous forms of corporal punishment, including amputation, beating, shackling, dunking, and locking into stocks or pillories. most societies settled on flogging which is whipping or caning. It was popular in British, Spanish, Dutch, German, and French settlements and is still used in parts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Corporal punishment is based on the punishment philosophy of deterrence in other words, if people are humiliated, or injured, they will not commit another crime. By the 18th century, corporal punishment was largely replaced with psychological punishment. Prison became more popular. The early prisons were used more like jails, where criminals were held for a short time while awaiting their trials or awaiting their punishments. The 18th century prisons were a closer to what we know today. They were correctional facilities used for long term confinement of criminals, who had been convicted of a crime and were serving a sentence.

Reference

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