...Prison Violent Misconduct Sylwia Chamot April 20th, 2011 Dr. Hassett- Walker Senior Seminar CJ 4600, Section 02 Spring Semester 2011 Incarceration rates rose to unprecedented levels in the history of the U.S.’s imprisonment. Therefore, concern about social control of the incarcerated, that is, prisoners’ behavior, has increased. High inmate disciplinary infractions, especially violent infractions, are a threat to the safety of prison, of correctional staff, and of other inmates. Nevertheless, the issue of discipline in prison is important from an economic perspective, because an estimated average cost per infraction at a medium security prison is $970 (Jiang & Fisher-Giorlando, 2002). For these reasons, Jiang & Fisher- Giorlando conducted a research to help explain violent incidents, incidents against correctional staff and incidents against other inmates in prison. Identifying the risk factors of inmates to commit violent acts of misconduct is of great importance to prison administration. This type of research can assist in the classification process of inmates entering institutions as well as the ongoing classification adjustments of inmates already in custody. This study will identify and investigate factors for violent institutional misconduct. These factors include; however, are not limited to race...
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...Investigation of Gang types and Prison Misconduct” - Ruddel, R., Gottschall, S. (May 5, 2011) To date, there has been very little scholar investigation towards the different types of gangs in Canadian penitentiaries, and their unique contributions to prison misconduct. Gangs in the correctional system are one the biggest problems facing correctional staff and administrators. Does every gang pose the same threat towards the Canadian correctional system? This study is an attempt at comparing the various gang members admitted into the correctional system between January 1, 2006 and August 31, 2009. It examines the offence-related characteristics of 1,636 gang members compared to 1,649 non-gang member counterparts. The 5 distinct types of gangs studied are: Aboriginal, Asian, street, outlaw motorcycle (OMG), and traditional organized crime (TOC). This study revealed that there are, in fact, distinct characteristics to each gangs conduct in the correctional system: Aboriginals have highest misconduct, highest rates of previous incarceration; street gangs were similar in violence but had less previous prison sentences; OMG had lower involvement in violent offences, but had longest sentences. Aboriginal gangs being the most violent, then Asian and street, followed by OMG gangs and TOC as the least. The closer examinations of these security threat groups (STG) suggest that the correctional system should imply different strategies to counter prison misconduct with gangs. Instead of aiming...
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...org/index.php?option=com_content&id=1583:the-role-of-police-in-democracy&Itemid=85 2. Corruption – (Chapter 7 – Police Corruption and Responses) Article: Griffith, D. (2003, October 1). Corruption: Cracking Down on Bad Cops. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.policemag.com/channel/patrol/articles/2003/10/corruption-cracking-down-on-bad-cops.aspx Web Sites: Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.policemisconduct.net/statistics/ Police Corruption and Misconduct. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/PoliceCorruptionandMisconduct White, S. (1999, July 4). Controlling Police Corruption. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/paradox/hwhite.html 3. Misconduct – (Chapter 13 - Correctional Professionals: Misconduct and Responses) Article: Staff Misconduct. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.correctionsone.com/staff-misconduct/articles/ Web Sites: A Correctional Officer's Challenge; Does Abuse or Neglect lead to...
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...Discuss Institutional Aggression (24 marks) The deprivation model suggests that the subculture of prison originated within the walls of the constitution. Thus, it is the deprivations that the inmates faced and attempted to cope with that were so extreme that healthy relationships could not be formed with members of the community outside the walls. Gresham Sykes suggested five particular deprivations responsible for inmate aggression, one of which is the Deprivation of Liberty. Deprivation of liberty is when by being imprisoned behind walls, the felon feels as though society no longer consider him to be a person that can live in a respected and trusted manner in the free world. The nature of the institution conveys this loss through symbols such as uniform, and the loss of liberty is further implied by the prisoner having to obtain permission for simple tasks such as eating, sleeping or showering etc. Another deprivation Sykes suggested is the Deprivation of Goods and Services. Prisons confine offenders in poverty-like conditions perceived by the inmates from disadvantaged backgrounds as being worse than the conditions they came from (ie. Lack of home cooked food and cigarettes of preference.) Some inmates felt as though the prison system allows poverty conditions in order to economically regulate and control the inmates, and despite some majority of them accepting responsibility for their conditions, the deprivation of goods and services still brought a sense of failure to the...
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...service to the public. The author, Rich Martin stated that the major cause of police corruption is mediocrity. It is the leadership’s responsibility to maintain a high level of conduct within a department to prevent the mediocre. He states that some reasons for the corruption is the work that police do. It is measured in results. Therefore, the officers will find ways to complete these tasks and some choose to cut corners or violate the law and not even consider it being unethical. (Martin, 2011) A report made by the National Police Misconduct reported in their Semi-Annual that there were 2, 854 law enforcement officers alleged to have engaged in misconduct. It also stated that there were 207 law enforcement leaders’ police chiefs or sheriffs that were cited in those reports. It included how many civilians that were involved in the law enforcement officer misconduct. It concluded that there were 2, 568 victims of reported police misconduct. (Packman, 2009) An example of police corruption in the United States happened in Missouri. An officer is accused of having sex with two women in exchange for not arresting them. The officer, Jeffrey Holmes visited a motel room to meet with a prostitute. The woman, identified as CC told investigators that once they reached the room, he proceeded to arrest her. The officer began touching CC and told her he had no money and took his pants off. She then interpreted as free sex. She feared that if she didn’t; she would go to jail. Another...
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...services. This affects the professional development of correctional officers by improving management, giving a defense against lawsuits, an effort to improve the conditions of inmates, more accountability and public credibility for administration and prison staff, a safer and better environment for offenders and correctional workers, and establishing criteria that helps better employees, programs and the physical structure on a regular basis. Privatization as it relates to prisons occurred because of the growth in the prison systems in the last 25 years. Privatization can allow new prisons to open faster, it can achieve economics in the area of costs, it frees up limited resources from the government to use for other priorities, it helps achieve economics in operational costs, provides improvement of services, cuts the cost of operating prisons, offers new programs for prisoners easier than with the government, and are held more accountable than government operations. The number so state prisoners in private prisons have declined over the past five years by about 10,000. Only the rapid increase of federal inmates in private prisons has allowed private prisons to maintain no more than 120, 000 inmates. The longer private prisons are in operation, the...
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...in a rational state of society” “The current Judicial System is directed by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is formed by 7 judges (a chief justice and six associate justices) named by the Governor. The structure of the Judicial System includes a Court of Appeals, Superior Court, a District Court (civil & criminal), and Municipal Court. There are 12 judicial districts. The State of Puerto Rico also has a district court comparable to those of the states of US. Each district court has at least one district judge and can have more than a score of district judges, as well as a clerk, a United States Attorney, a United States Marshall, one or more United States Magistrates, bankruptcy judges, probation officers, court reporters, and their staffs. Each state has a court system that is independent of the Federal Court system. State courts have trial courts at the bottom level (village, town) and appellate courts at the top. Some states have two appellate levels; Puerto Rico will be set up to have only one appellate court”( Welcome to Puerto Rico: Government). Town Courts or Village Courts Puerto Town and village courts have jurisdiction over a broad range of matters including vehicle and traffic laws, small claims, evictions, civil and criminal matters. The Town and village courts will play a vital role in the 78...
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...Rights A major part of the evolution within the prison system is prisoner rights. Even though citizens loose many of their rights once committing a felony, there are still rights afforded to those individuals incarcerated. Prisoner rights are important to maintaining balance within the prison system. They give the prisoners a voice, which prevents prison officials from abusing their power. Prisoner rights are necessary to maintaining a particular level of care for inmates, for it forces the correctional staff to be more hands on in their approach. This way they may also receive the treatment necessary for proper rehabilitation, as well as the tools for reintegration into society. It seems prisoner rights have played an essential role in the evolution of the prison system; it has had both positive and negative effects on inmates, and when looking at the key elements in obtaining those rights it is important to recognize the 8th amendment and section 1983 of civil rights litigation. Rights for prisoners can be a great benefit to the individual inmate should they choose to take advantage of them. While in the past, the system may have worked against inmates wanting to have their issues heard and a fair review of their case, the present era offers various courses of legal action for inmates to take. Prisoners are now able to speak out against cruel and unusual punishment. They can file lawsuits against prison guards for misconduct, as well as against other inmates, and they can...
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...Even those that are incarcerated need to have the proper care from a physician or medical staff, so that their needs can be met even if they have done something wrong. Ethical Treatment of Prisoners Medical Facilities When it comes to prison medical facilities, there usually are not enough in prisons to accommodate the inmates. It has been estimated that 95% of inmates received by the federal prison systems need immediate medical care for preexisting conditions (Alexander, 1972). Those that are larger prisons have their own hospital facilities while smaller prisons and jails use community hospitals. Jails have a more critical problem. The American Medical Association did a survey that showed 65.5% had only first-aid facilities and 78% had no formal arrangements with physicians in the community for the medical care of those in the jails. This same study also found that 80% of the medicines given in jails were given by non-medical personal (AMA, 1972). It is viewed that the inmates are not required or should receive medical treatment that is needed. The Eighth Amendment requires that prison officials provide a system of ready access to adequate medical care. Prisoners must have the ability to ask for care on a regular basis. Prison officials show deliberate indifference to serious medical needs if prisoners are unable to make their medical problems known to the medical staff, if sick calls are not conducted regularly...
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...Prosecutorial Misconduct * Prosecutorial misconduct is best described as illegal acts utilized by a prosecutor to persuade a jury to wrongly convict an individual accused of a crime or securing a severe sentence that may not be justified towards the actual crime. Often times there are occurrences of individuals that are wrongfully convicted, many of these individuals are incarcerated for extended periods of time before their cases are even heard or brought before a jury. * Ineffective assistance by criminal counsel An attorney providing ineffective assistance can be considered as those occurrences when the service provided by an attorney to a defendant proves to be ineffective and in doing so, would be a violation of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. Ineffective assistance of counsel is defined in the Supreme Court’s ruling surrounding the landmark case of Strickland v. Washington (1984). In order for a defendant to prove ineffective assistance, the individual would first have to provide proof that demonstrates that his counsel’s performance was inefficient due to the attorney make a large number of errors. Secondly, the defendant must demonstrate that the attorney's errors directly impacted the defendant’s case prejudicially. In this instance prejudice takes on the meaning of….the trial would have resulted in a different outcome it not for the fact of the attorney’s errors resulting in the sentencing be affected. * Judicial misconduct Judicial misconduct refers...
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...How can the police or prison or probation service be seen to be effective? Critically examine measures used and explore alternatives. Introduction: Imprisonment and jailing has been an effective way to protect the society from corrupt people and individuals with criminal tendencies. The theory behind imprisonment is to isolate the wrong-doer from the society as the person can be harmful and dangerous to other people, and also stop him from enjoying civil liberties, thus enhancing the sense of deprivation and lack of freedom as a punishment to deter him from repeating the crime in the future. Although this may sound an ideal way to deal with criminals, the ground realities are quite different from the expected results. As no solution is perfect and without flaws, the same goes with this problem of handling criminal behaviour and controlling uncivil citizens, thus increasing problems inside the prisons and penitentiaries. Prisons hold a complete new world inside them. As the most dangerous people from all over the country or province/state are collected in a single space, the chances of different mishaps and unwanted happenings are increased a hundred fold. Therefore, the prison service or probation service should be capable of handling such situations. Furthermore, the prison service should competent enough to prevent any incidents from happening at all. Containing any undesirable situations, preventing jailbreaks, controlling prisoner riots, thwarting murder attempts...
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...Callous and Cruel; Use of Force against Inmates with Mental Disabilities in US Jails and Prisons Human Rights Watch Detailed in this report are the some of the abuses which mentally ill inmates report occurring, such as staff at times responding with violence when prisoners engage in behavior that is symptomatic of their mental health problems, even if it is minor and non-threatening misconduct such as urinating on the floor, using profane language, or banging on a cell door. They have used such force in the absence of any emergency, and without first making serious attempts to secure the inmate’s compliance through other means. Force is also used when there is an immediate security need to control the inmate, but the amount of force used...
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...Correctional Officers Experience The control exercised over offenders in a correctional environment is called custody. The custody levels are maximum, medium, to minimum they refer to the way prisons or units within prisons are classified. The three C’s of corrections are care, custody, and control that correctional officers learn in training. The correctional officers will present themselves as professional at all times. The officers will let the prisoners know we are here to keep safety and security within the prison walls. The prison having well-trained officers and well-orchestrated schedule for the officers to follow will help to better security within the prison. The officers will communicate with each other at all time they are in the prison own stress as it is. Inmates can pick up on the officer’s inability to focus on their job and use that. Correctional officers will have to keep work life and home life separated. How do you ensure professionalism among the corrections staff? Communities rely on federal and state prisons, county jails, and other correctional facilities to help ensure public safety by operating secure facilities. Correctional officials recognize that their work is a public service and that unethical behavior and /or misconduct erodes public confidence in these officials. It is for this reason that corrections departments across the country adopt and enforce codes of ethics and conduct for correctional officers and other employees whose job...
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...Prison Environment Autumn Smith CJS/230 September 1, 2013 Fred Waltz INTRODUCTION Prisons have many differences however the environment is always similar. In the passage below I am going to define this environment and how it influences the institutional management ad custody. I will also discuss the changes if any are needed to improve institutional management. As the reader you will learn what secure custody methods are and how it is affected by the environment. If there are any improvements that can be made I will discuss them also. THE ENVIROMENT Not at all like home, is prison not the place to enjoy life. Inside the overcrowded, dirty, concrete walls danger lurks. Hundreds of troubled people are housed together living their lives. Prisoners always have to protect themselves from other inmates whom are violent and have no care for others. The management and custody is influenced by the environment in many ways. Most of the contraband that is found in prisons is from too close of relations between inmates and staff. There is also mare leniency given to some inmates in these situations. It is certain that drugs weapons and sexual relations can change the safety and structure of the prison environment. There are things that can be done to ensure this type of misconduct is seen less. There will always be criminals and people being sent away to jail/prison. It’s very expensive to keep building facilities to hold all the inmates. Going back to faculty having close...
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...aggression (24 marks) Since prison aggression has been on the rise psychologists have tried to explain why aggression occurs in institutions. Two models have been developed: importation and deprivation. They focus on whether aggression is due to the persons characteristics or the situation they are in. Zimbardos prison experiment has also helped to contribute to research into this. The importation model claims that those who engage in institutional violence are likely to have particular values/attitudes/experiences and that violence is a result of personal characteristics rather than the prison itself. It is also thought that because younger inmates have a harder time adjusting to the surroundings therefore are more likely to confront other inmates and staff with violence because they deem it an appropriate response. Other research has also shown that black people are more associated with institutional aggression because they ‘import’ cultural norms e.g. violence, from impoverished societies, into the prison therefore affecting other inmates and staff. Harer and Steffenmeiser found that although white inmates had a higher level of alcohol and drugs misconduct, black inmates did display higher rates of violent behaviour. This supports the model because it shows that the racial differences and different characteristics that come with that are ‘imported’ into the prison. It was also found by Keller and Wang that high security inmates were most likely to assault staff. Inmates that had longer...
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