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Comparison of Jails and Prisons

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Comparison of Jails and Prisons
Jail is usually the first place a criminals go once arrested by law enforcement. “Jails hold only about one-tenth of all offenders under correctional supervision, yet admit approximately four times as many offenders each year as all other correctional components combined” (, ). Jails intentions are to protect the public and citizens of each county by housing criminals and keep them off the streets. Majority of people cannot tell the difference when people say a criminal goes to jail when in reality he should be going to prison. There is confusion with serving time in jails and prisons. Jails are local operational correctional facilities that detain accused criminals before or after a judgment or verdict (Seiter, R., 2011).
Jails usually house these criminals for no more than a year. The difference between jails and prisons is that jails are for short sentences oppose to prisons were criminals usually are incarcerated for longer periods. “The average length of stay for a jail is fifteen to twenty days, much less than the average thirty-six month length of stay within a prison”( Seiter, R., 2011p.78 p.2). Sheriffs usually operate the county jails in the different counties of each state and serve as holding of inmates before sentenced. When criminals arrested, get to the jail they will get booked, wait until they receive their sentence or bail out of jail, and await trial. Those criminals that cannot afford to post bail usually stay in jail and await trial. Each case is different, depending on the severity of the crime. The initial admittance into jail, especially the first 72 hours are very critical. “Immediately upon reception of an inmate, jail staff must gather information concerning an arrestee’s physical health, mental health, criminal history, previous institutional history, and potential incompatibles with inmates

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