1. Corrections: History, Institutions and Populations
Chapter 13
Corrections: History, Institutions and Populations

2. The History of Correctional Institutions
Original legal punishments included:
Banishment
Slavery
Restitution
Corporal punishment
Execution
The first penal institutions were foul places devoid of proper care, food, or medical treatment
Learning Objective One

3. The History of Correctional Institutions
The origin of corrections in the United States is usually traced to 18th century developments in PA
Under pressure from the Quakers, the PA legislature in 1790 called for renovation of the prison systems
Use of mutilation and physical punishment
Learning Objectives One & Two - Even though he himself was voluntarily committed to the asylum shown here, Vincent van Gogh captured the despair of the nineteenth-century penal institution in this detail from an 1890 painting sometimes titled Prisoners Exercising. The face of the prisoner near the center of the picture looking at the viewer is van Gogh’s.

4. The History of Correctional Institutions
The Pennsylvania System
Placed each inmate in a single cell for the duration of his sentence
Based on total isolation and individual penitence
Reflected the influence of religion and religious philosophy on corrections
Learning Objectives One & Five - Eastern State Penitentiary, built in 1829, was at the time the largest and most expensive public structure in the country. Designed by John Haviland, it consisted of an octagonal center connected by corridors to seven radiating single-story cell blocks. Each cell had hot water heating, a water tap, toilet, and an individual exercise yard the same width as the cell. There were rectangular openings in the cell wall through which food and work materials could be passed to the prisoner, as well as peepholes for guards to observe prisoners without being seen. Each cell contained a skylight so that the inmate could look to the heavens.

5. The History of Correctional Institutions
The Auburn System
New York
Tier system
Cells were built vertically on 5 floors of the structure
Congregate system
Most prisoners ate and worked in groups
Fear of punishment
Silent confinement
Learning Objectives One & Five

6. Thinking Point
Compare and contrast the Pennsylvania and the Auburn system.
Which would you advocate? Why?

7. The History of Correctional Institutions
Contract system
Officials sold the labor of prison inmates to private business for use either inside or outside the prison
Convict lease system
Contract system in which a private business leased prisoners from the state for a fixed annual fee and assumed full responsibility for their supervision and control
Public account system
Employment was directed by the state and the products of the prisoners’ labor were sold for the benefit of the state
Learning Objective One

8. Thinking Point Think about the use of prisoner labor.
In what ways, if any, do you believe it should be permissible to use (and benefit from) prisoner labor?
Are there any ethical issues with the use of prisoner labor?

9. The History of Correctional Institutions
Prison Reform Efforts
The National Congress of Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline
Elmira Reformatory
Indeterminate sentence
Learning Objective One - Prison in the late nineteenth century was a brutal place. This line engraving from 1869 shows an inmate undergoing water torture in New York’s Sing Sing Prison.

10. The History of Correctional Institutions
Prisons in the 20th Century
Mutual Welfare League
No more stripes
No more code of silence
No more lockstep shuffle
Movies, radio, visiting, mail
Specialized prisons
Prison industries
Learning Objective One - Elmira Reformatory, training course in drafting, Inmates stand at drafting tables as guards watch and a supervisor sits at a fenced-off desk at the front of the hall. Elmira was one of the first penal institutions to employ education and training programs.

11. The History of Correctional Institutions
The Development of Parole
Developed overseas and transported to the United States
Ticket of leave
By 1901 as many as 20 states had created some type of parole agency
Learning Objective One and Three

12. The History of Correctional Institutions
Contemporary Correctional Institutions
Prisoners rights movement
Violence in the nations prisons
Reconsideration on the purpose of incarceration
Learning Objective Six

13. Jails Five Primary Purposes Detain accused offenders
Hold convicted offenders
Confinement for misdemeanor offenders
Probation/parole violations
Prison overcrowding
Learning Objective Seven

14. Jails Jail Populations and Trends
Decline in crime 1995 – 2008 while increase in jail populations
The jail population has been declining since 2009
9 in 10 jail inmates are adult males
12% of jail inmates are women
Learning Objective Seven - One problem faced by female inmates is forced separation from their children and families. A number of institutions have created programs to remedy this loss. Here, Harris County, Texas, inmate Gwendolyn Jackson and her son Jarell, 8, share a laugh together during a Christmas event for 15 female inmates in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Reentry Services Program. The inmates had presents donated by Navidad en el Barrio to give their children. The women are minimum risk inmates who have had good relationships with their children. The female inmates are also working with Reentry Services in setting goals for a successful transition back into the community in efforts to reduce recidivism. Children accompanied by adults can visit inmates on routine visitation days but without physical contact.

15. Jails Jail Conditions Low-priority item in the criminal justice system
County level administration results in lack of regulation
Physical deterioration
Many jail inmates are sexual abuse survivors
Many jail inmates suffer from mental illness
Learning Objective Seven

16. Jails New-Generation Jails Modern designs to improve effectiveness
Continuous observation, both direct and indirect
Learning Objective Eight

17. Prisons Types of Prisons Maximum security prisons
Super maximum security prisons
Medium security prisons
Minimum security prisons
Learning Objective Nine

18. Prisons Maximum Security Prisons
Houses dangerous felons and maintains strict security measures, high walls, and limited contact with the outside world
Byword is security
Prisons are designed to eliminate hidden corners where people can congregate

19. Prisons Super Maximum Security Prison
Houses the most predatory criminals
Can be independent correctional centers or locked wings of existing prisons
Lock inmates in their cells 22 to 24 hours a day
Effectiveness has achieved mixed review
Fear that long hours of isolation may be associated with mental illness and psychological disturbances

20. Thinking Point Super Maximum Prisons
How do you feel about super maximum prisons?
Do you believe there are situations for which these are an acceptable form of confinement? Why or why not?

21. Prisons Medium Security Prisons
Less secure institution that houses nonviolent offenders and provides more opportunities for contact with the outside world
Promote greater treatment efforts

22. Prisons Minimum Security Prisons
Least secure correctional institution, which houses white-collar and nonviolent offenders, maintains few security measures, and has liberal furlough and visitation policies
Inmates are allowed a great deal of personal freedom
Criticized for being like country clubs

23. Alternative Correctional Institutions
Prison Farms and Camps
Shock Incarceration in Boot Camps
Community Correctional Facilities
Private Prisons
Learning Objective Nine

24. Alternative Correctional Institutions
Prison Farms and Camps
Found primarily in the South and the West
Been in operation since the 19th century
“The Life of Jesus Christ” - a three-and-a-half-hour play with a cast of 70, plus a mule, two horses, a lamb, and a camel - made its debut in a three-day run at the prison farm at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The production featured men from Angola and women from the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, who traveled nearly two hours by bus each morning to this 18,000-acre prison farm on the Mississippi River. Much of the cast was in rehearsal on and off for two years. Shown here on right is Levelle Tolliver, who plays Judas. Tolliver, a talented actor, shot a man in the head in 1993.

25. Alternative Correctional Facilities
Shock Incarceration in Boot Camps
Shock incarceration
Short term correctional program based on a boot camp approach that makes use of a military like regime of high intensity physical training
Boot camp
A short term militaristic correction facility in which inmates undergo intensive physical conditioning and discipline
Inside the Ordnance Road Correctional Center in Glen Burnie, Maryland, 19-year-old inmate Kenneth Lee puts sheets on his plastic covered mattress. He serves his prison sentence one weekend at a time, living in a dormitory-style room housing a dozen men. Alternative correctional institutions have sprung up around the nation as a response to overcrowding and high recidivism rates.

26. Alternative Correctional Facilities
Community Correctional Facilities
Community treatment
The attempt by correctional agencies to maintain convicted offenders in the community rather than in a secure facility
Includes probation, parole, and residential programs
Halfway house
A community based correctional facility that houses inmates before their outright release so that they can become gradually acclimated to conventional society

27. Alternative Correctional Institutions
Private Prisons
Corrections Corporations of America
There are about 450 correctional facilities run by private firms
Little sound evidence that private prisons are cheaper to run and/or produce better results
Some state governments still view private prisons as a low cost alternative
Learning Objective Nine

28. Thinking Point
Determine whether or not the state you reside in uses private correctional facilities.
In what ways?
Do you support or oppose this idea? Defend your position.

29. Inmate Populations Disproportionately young, male, minority, and poor
Growth Trends
Why has the prison population continued to grow as crime rates dropped?
Future Trends
Rate of increase has slowed
Budget cutbacks may halt the expansion of prison construction and cause the housing of ever more prisoners in already crowded prison facilities
Learning Objective Ten