Prison

A prison (from Old French prisoun) is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, remand centre, detention centre, gaol, and jail.

In the United States, "jail" and "prison" refer to separate levels of incarceration; generally speaking, jails are county or city administrated institutions which house both inmates awaiting trial on the local level and convicted misdemeanants serving a term of one year or less, while prisons are state or federal facilities housing those awaiting trial on the state or federal level and convicted felons serving a term of more than one year. On the federal level, this terminology has been largely superseded by a more complex five-tier system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Prisons that ranges from low security "Prison Camps" to medium security "Correctional Institutions" and finally maximum security "Penitentiaries".

A criminal suspect who has been charged with or is likely to be charged with criminal offense may be held on remand in prison if he is denied or unable to meet conditions of bail, or is unable or unwilling to post bail. A criminal defendant may also be held in prison while awaiting trial or a trial verdict. If found guilty, a defendant will be convicted and may receive a custodial sentence requiring imprisonment.

As well as convicted or suspected criminals, prisons may be used for internment of those not charged with a crime. Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and "enemies of the state", particularly by authoritarian regimes. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in prisons. A prison system is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons, and depending on their nature, may invoke a corrections system. Although people have been imprisoned throughout history, they have also regularly been able to perform prison escapes.

History

of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, Texas]] For most of history, imprisoning has not been a punishment in itself, but rather a way to confine criminals until corporal or capital punishment was administered. There were prisons used for detention in Jerusalem in Old Testament times, and the Bible details the imprisonment of Joseph in Egypt. Dungeons were used to hold prisoners; those who were not killed or left to die there often became galley slaves or faced penal transportations. In other cases debtors were often thrown into debtor's prisons, until they paid their jailers enough money in exchange for a limited degree of freedom.

Only in the 19th century, beginning in Britain, did prisons as known today become commonplace. The modern prisons system was born in London, as a result of the views of Jeremy Bentham. The notion of prisoners being incarcerated as part of their punishment and not simply as a holding state until trial or hanging, was at the time revolutionary. This is when prisons had begun to be used as criminal rehabilitation centers.

Britain practiced penal transportation of convicted criminals to penal colony in the British colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s and to penal colonies in Australia between 1788 and 1868. France sent criminals to tropical penal colonies including Louisiana in the early 18th century. Penal colonies in French Guiana operated until 1951 (in particular, infamous Île du Diable (Devil's Island)). Katorga prisons were established in the 17th century in Tsardom of Russia in underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East that had few towns or food sources. Since these times, Siberia gained its fearful connotation of punishment.

Design and facilities

is a feature of prisons.]] Male and female prisoners are typically kept in separate locations or separate prisons altogether. Prison accommodation, especially modern prisons in the developed world, are often divided into wings. A building holding more than one wing is known as a "hall". Many prisons are divided into two sections, one containing prisoners before trial and the other containing convicted prisoners.

Amongst the facilities that prisons may have are:

A main entrance, which may be known as the 'gatelodge' or 'sally port' (stemming from old castle nomenclature)

A religious facility, which will often house chaplaincy offices and facilities for counselling of individuals or groups

An 'education facility', often including a library, providing adult education or continuing education opportunities

A gym or an exercise yard, a fenced, usually open-air-area which prisoners may use for recreational and exercise purposes

A healthcare facility or hospital

A segregation unit (also called a 'block' or 'isolation cell'), used to separate unruly, dangerous, or vulnerable prisoners from the general population, also sometimes used as punishment (see solitary confinement)

A section of vulnerable prisoners (VPs), or protective custody (PC) units, used to accommodate prisoners classified as vulnerable, such as sex offenders, former police officers, informants and those that have gotten into debt or trouble with other prisoners

A section of safe cells, used to keep prisoners under constant visual observation, for example when considered at risk of suicide

A visiting area, where prisoners may be allowed restricted contact with relatives, friends, lawyers, or other people

A death row in some prisons, a section for criminals awaiting execution

A staff accommodation area, where staff and corrections officers live in the prison, typical of historical prisons

A service/facilities area housing support facilities like kitchens

Industrial or agricultural plants operated with convict labour

A recreational area containing items such as a TV and pool table

in Finland]] Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire, electrified fencing, secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers, lighting, motion sensors, dogs and roving patrols may all also be present depending on the level of security. Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints, nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility.

Modern prison designs have sought to increasingly restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout the facility while permitting a maximal degree of direct monitoring by a smaller corrections staff. As compared to traditional large landing-cellblock designs which were inherited from the 19th century and which permitted only intermittent observation of prisoners, many newer prisons are designed in a decentralized "podular" layout. Smaller, separate and self-contained housing units known as "pods" or "modules" are designed to hold between sixteen and fifty prisoners each and are arranged around exercise yards or support facilities in a decentralized "campus" pattern. A small number of corrections officers, sometimes a single officer, is assigned to supervise each pod. The pods contain tiers of cells arranged around a central control station or desk from which a single officer can monitor all of the cells and the entire pod, control cell doors and communicate with the rest of the prison. Pods may be designed for high-security "indirect-supervision", in which officers in segregated and sealed control booths monitor smaller numbers of prisoners confined to their cells. An alternative is "direct-supervision", in which officers work within the pod and directly interact with and supervise prisoners, who may spend the day outside their cells in a central "dayroom" on the floor of the pod. Movement in or out of the pod to and from exercise yards, work assignments or medical appointments can be restricted to individual pods at designated times and is generally centrally controlled. Goods and services, such as meals, laundry, commissary, educational materials, religious services and medical care can increasingly be brought to individual pods or cells as well. Despite these design innovations, overcrowding at many prisons, particularly in the U.S., has resulted in a contrary trend, as many prisons are forced to house large numbers of prisoners, often hundreds at a time, in gymnasiums or other large buildings that have been converted into massive open dormitories. Lower-security prisons are often designed with less restrictive features, confining prisoners at night in smaller locked dormitories or even cottage or cabin-like housing while permitting them freer movement around the grounds to work or activities during the day.

Security levels

The levels of security within a prison system are categorized differently around the world, but tend to follow a distinct pattern. Most developed countries divide prisons into separate security classes depending on the inmate population and the security needed to keep them under control. Accordingly, most developed countries have classes ranging from the most secure, which typically hold violent prisoners and those judged most likely to escape, to the least, which are most often used to house non-violent offenders or those for whom more stringent security is deemed unnecessary. Below are some different examples of prison classifications from around the world.

England and Wales

In England and Wales, prisoners are assigned security classes when they are sentenced. Thus prisons are given security classifications depending on the prisoners they are designed to hold. Therefore, prisons classified as "A" would typically house prisoners assigned the "A" category during sentencing, and be designed with the level of security necessary for that class. The categories of prisoners in descending order are:

Category A: prisoners are those whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security.

Category B: prisoners are those who do not require maximum security, but for whom escape needs to be made very difficult.

Category C: prisoners are those who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who are unlikely to try to escape.

Category D: prisoners are those who can be reasonably trusted not to try to escape, and are given the privilege of an open prison. Prisoners at 'D Cat' (as it is commonly known) prisons, are, subject to approval, given ROTL (Release On Temporary Licence) to work in the community or to go on 'home leave' once they have passed their FLED (Full Licence Eligibility Dates), which is usually a quarter of the way through the sentence.

The British prison system is also divided into "Open" and "Closed" prisons. Categories A-C are considered "Closed" prisons as prisoners cannot be trusted to interact with society, while category D prisons are generally "Open", meaning that prisoners with a good record and who are approved can be allowed limited function in society such as home-leave or a nominal employment.

United States

, a minimum security U.S. federal prison for women]] The exact classification systems differ between county, state, and federal systems. Some common types of prisons include:

Supermax: As the name implies, the custody level goes beyond Maximum by segregating the "worst of the worst" criminals and terrorists who pose a threat to national security. These inmates have individual cells and are kept in lockdown for 23 hours per day. Meals are served through "chuck holes" in the cell door, and each inmate is permitted out of their cell for one hour of exercise per day, alone. They are permitted no contact with other inmates and are under constant surveillance via closed-circuit television cameras.

Administrative: Administrative security is a classification of prisons or detention centers that are for a specific purpose, such as housing mentally ill offenders. These range in levels of security from Minimum to Administrative Maximum Security (ADMAX), as in the case of ADX Florence in Colorado.

Maximum: A custody level in which both design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the need to provide maximum external and internal control and supervision of inmates primarily through the use of high security perimeters and extensive use of internal physical barriers and check points. Inmates accorded this status present serious escape risks or pose serious threats to themselves, to other inmates, to staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Supervision of inmates is direct and constant.

High: The "Middle Ground" for violent crimes, High security institutions have highly-secured perimeters (featuring walls or reinforced fences), multiple- and single-occupant cell housing, the highest staff-to-inmate ratio, and close control of inmate movement.

Medium: A custody level in which design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the need to provide secure external and internal control and supervision of inmates. Inmates accorded to this status may present a moderate escape risk or may pose a threat to other inmates, staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Supervision remains constant and direct. Through an inmate's willingness to comply with institutional rules and regulations, increased job and program opportunities exist.

Close Security: Close Security prisons are institutions which house inmates too dangerous for Low Security, but who did not commit a crime worthy of incarceration in a Medium Security Facility. These prisons are rare, as most inmates fall into either "Medium" or "Low" Security Classifications. These facilities are often located in separate areas of a Low or Medium security Prison.

Low: A custody level in which both the design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the goal of returning to the inmate a greater sense of personal responsibility and autonomy while still providing for supervision and monitoring of behavior and activity. Inmates within this security level are not considered a serious risk to the safety of staff, inmates or to the public. Program participation is mandated and geared toward their potential reintegration into the community. Additional access to the community is limited and under constant direct staff supervision

Minimum: The Lowest Level of Security to which an inmate can be assigned directly. This type of Prison is typically a "Prison Farm", or other work-oriented facility, and most often houses petty or "White collar" criminals.

Pre-release. A custody level in which both design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the goal of restoring to the inmate maximum responsibility and control of their own behavior and actions prior to their release. Direct supervision of these inmates is not required, but intermittent observation may be appropriate under certain conditions. Inmates within this level may be permitted to access the community unescorted to participate in programming, including but not limited to work release or educational release.

Types

in unincorporated Lee County, Texas is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Youth Commission.]] in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a military prison.]]

Juvenile

Prisons for juveniles (people under 17 or 18, depending on the jurisdiction) are known as young offender institutes or similar designation and hold minors who have been remanded into custody or serving sentence. Many countries have their own age of criminal responsibility in which children are deemed legally responsible for their actions for a crime. Countries such as Canada may try to sentence a juvenile as an adult, but have them serve their sentence in a juvenile facility until they reach the age of majority, at which time they would be transferred to an adult facility.

Military

Prisons form part of military systems, and are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime.

Political

Certain countries maintain or have in the past had a system of political prisons; arguably the gulags associated with Stalinism are best known.

Psychiatric

Some psychiatric facilities have characteristics of prisons, particularly when confining patients who have committed a crime and are considered dangerous. In addition, many prisons have psychiatric units dedicated to housing offenders diagnosed with a wide variety of mental disorders.

Rehabilitation

Meta-analysis of previous studies shows that prison sentences do not reduce future offenses, when compared to non-residential sanctions. This meta-analysis of one hundred separate studies found that post-release offenses were around 7% higher after imprisonment compared with non-residential sanctions, at statistically significant levels. Another meta-analysis of 101 separate tests of the impact of prison on crime found a 3% increase in offending after imprisonment. Longer periods of time in prison make outcomes worse, not better; offending increases by around 3% as prison sentences increase in length.

In support of the Needs Principle, programs that specifically target criminogenic needs (causal needs and problems), see a 19% reduction in reoffending. compared to a 3–7% increase in offending found with imprisonment alone.

Residential approaches—whether in prison or some other live-in option—tend to be less effective than non-residential approaches. In her classic book, The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century Brenda Vogel makes it very clear that the needs of incacerated people affect every single librarian in the United States. Most offenders are eventually released from institutions. On re-entry to the general population these offenders become a part of the public. They should then be encouraged and supported in the use of public libraries. Families of offenders may need specialized services during the incarceration and after. Think of families traveling many miles to visit someone in prison or jail. Librarians in the general population can assist people when they get out of jail or prison; they can help the families of people in jail. The public library model applied to correctional facilities is provided in a study by Clark and MacCreigh.

Prison ministry

Rabbi Philip R. Alstat, an early champion of prison ministry who served as a chaplain for three decades for The Tombs, the Manhattan Detention Facility, described the role of prison chaplains through its link to both rehabilitation and resocialization. In a 1970 interview with a New York Times reported, he was quoted as saying, "My goals are the same as those of the prison authorities--to make better human beings. The only difference is that their means are discipline, security, and iron bars. Mine are the spiritual ministrations that operate with the mind and the heart."

Population statistics

As of 2006, it is estimated that at least 9.25 million people are currently imprisoned worldwide. It is probable that this number is likely to be much higher, in view of general under-reporting and a lack of data from various countries, especially authoritarian regimes. The image (right) shows large spots of blue and grey in middle Africa and the Middle-East, where these regimes are most common.

In absolute terms, the United States currently has the largest inmate population in the world, with more than 2½ million or more than one in a hundred adults in prison and jails. Although the United States represents less than 5% of the world's population, over 25% of the people incarcerated around the world are housed in the American prison system. Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph T. Hallinan wrote in his book Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation, "so common is the prison experience that the federal government predicts one in eleven men will be incarcerated in his lifetime, one in four if he is black." In 2002, both Russia and China also had prison populations in excess of 1 million. By October 2006, the Russian prison population declined to 869,814 which translated into 611 prisoners per 100,000 population.

As a percentage of total population, the United States also has the largest imprisoned population, with 739 people per 100,000 serving time, awaiting trial or otherwise detained.

In March 2007, the United Kingdom had 80,000 inmates (up from 73,000 in 2003 and 44,000 in 1985) in its facilities, one of the highest rates among the western members of the European Union (EU) (a record formerly held by Portugal). The highest imprisonment rates among the larger EU members include that of Poland, which in August 2007 had about 90,000 inmates, i.e. 234 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, |- | Russian Federation | 611 |- | New Zealand | 186 |- | United Kingdom | 148 |- | Netherlands | 128 |- | Australia | 124.5 |- | Canada | 107 |- | Italy | 104 |- | South Korea | 104 |- | Ireland | 101 |- | Germany | 95 |- | Turkey | 91 |- | France | 85 |- | Sweden | 82 |- | Denmark | 77 |- | Japan | 62 |- | Iceland | 40 |- | India | 22 |}

Countries

, Western Australia]]

Asia and Oceania

;Australia Many prisons in Australia were built by convict labour in the 19th century. During the 1990s, various state governments in Australia engaged private sector correctional corporations to build and operate prisons whilst several older government run institutions were decommissioned. Operation of Federal detention centres was also privatised at a time when asylum seekers began to be mandatorily detained in Australia.

;China China's prison population is estimated at about 2 million.

;Japan

;New Zealand is a 19th-century brick stockade located just south of the Auckland CBD, a very populous (and affluent) neighbourhood of Mt Eden in Auckland, New Zealand.]] New Zealand currently maintains 19 prisons around the country. The Department of Corrections has an annual budget of NZD$748 million and assets worth over NZD$1.7 billion. Official statistics show (as of June 30, 2007) that there are currently 7,605 prisoners within the New Zealand correctional system. (5,490 Sentenced Prisoners and 1,552 Remanded Prisoners) + 5,795 staff. Breakouts are only at 0.15 per 100 prisoners and there is a rate of only 15% positive drug results during random drug testing in NZ prisons.

Europe

;Estonia Estonia currently maintains 5 prisons around the country: Harku Prison, Murru Prison, Tallinn Prison, Tartu Prison and Viru Prison. 3555 (2719 convict and 836 arrestant) prisoners were incarcerated in Estonia prisons and jails in 2009. Prison population per 100,000 inhabitants are 284 (2006–2008;Eurostat)

;France The French Ministry of Justice's French Prison Service division has 194 prisons in mainland and the overseas territories. As of 1 January 2009, statistics showed approximately 52,000 available places, with around 58,000 "hosted" prisoners. France is home to Fleury-Mérogis Prison, Europe's largest correctional facility.

;Germany Germany has 194 prisons (of which 19 are open institutions). Official statistics showed 80,214 places on March 31, 2007. On the same day, there were 75,719 prisoners (of which 13,168 pre-trial; 60,619 serving sentences; 1,932 others, i.e. mainly civil prisoners; 4,068 were female). This is less than the highest value of 81,176 prisoners on March 31, 2003.

;Ireland There are currently 14 prisons operating in the Republic of Ireland with a total bed capacity of 4,106 as of the 31 December 2009. The daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2009 was 3,881. However, most of these prisons currently operate at or above capacity.

;Poland As of the end of August 2007, Poland officially declared 90,199 prisoners (13,374 pre-trial; 76,434 serving sentences; 391 others; 2,743 prisoners were female), giving an imprisonment rate per 100,000 inhabitants of about 234. The overpopulation rate (number of prisoners held compared to number of places for prisoners) was estimated by the official prison service as 119%.

The growth rate of imprisonment in Poland during 2006–2007 was approximately 4% annually, based on the August 2007 estimate of 90,199 prisoners and the June 2005 estimate of 82,572 prisoners.

;Turkey Prisons in Turkey are classified as closed, semi-open and open prisons. Closed prisons are separated into different kinds according to its structure and the number of prisoners held. Examples are A type, B type, E type and F type. F types are high security prisons, known in the United States as Supermax.

;United Kingdom ;;England and Wales

;;Northern Ireland

;;Scotland

North America

;United States Houston, Texas, serves as a jail and the headquarters of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.]]

In the United States penal system, a jail is a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the state, including accused persons awaiting trial and those who have been convicted of a crime and are serving a sentence of less than one year. Jails are generally small penitentiaries run by individual counties and cities, Unlike most state prisons, a jail usually houses both men and women in separate portions of the same facility. Some jails lease space to house inmates from the federal government, state prisons or other counties as a revenue-raising method. In 2005, a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 62 percent of people in jails have not been convicted, and are awaiting trial. , local jails held or supervised 819,434 individuals. Nine percent of these individuals were in programs such as community service, work release, weekend reporting, electronic monitoring, and other alternative programs. and 23.4% of the world's prison population. 2,304,115 were incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails in 2008. In 2002, 93.2% of prisoners were male. About 10.4% of all black males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 29 were sentenced and in prison, compared to 2.4% of Hispanic males and 1.3% of white males.

In the United States, as compared to regular 'mainline' state and federal prisons, in which prisoners have already been investigated and classified by corrections personnel before being assigned to a level of security, in which many of the prisoners are committed for longer periods of time, and in which the population is on average older, jails usually house prisoners who are on average younger and have varying or unknown histories and propensities for violence or disciplinary problems. As a result, many jails operate their booking and receiving units at a relatively high level of correctional security, and also witness a disproportionately large amount of violence and disciplinary problems as compared to mainline facilities.

There are three main management styles common in most U. S. jails. The first and oldest style is Intermittent Surveillance. Intermittent Surveillance involves rows of cells along security corridors. These corridors are patrolled by staff providing periodic observation. Most problems occur between these intermittent patrols. The second supervisory style is Remote Surveillance. Remote Surveillance involves cells and their corresponding dayrooms divided into "pods" which are under constant supervision by jail staff from a central control room. Staff in the central control room commonly observe three to four "pods" at one time. The third and most recently conceived supervisory style is Direct Supervision. Direct Supervision involves a dayroom with numerous cells under constant and direct supervision by staff who are stationed inside the housing unit. Staff are constantly interacting with inmates and controlling inmate behavior. The success of Direct Supervision relies on the staff's ability to control this behavior and for facility management to create detention environments that facilitate the staff's effectiveness. This style is also the most cost effective of the three.

;Peru

See also

Prisoner

Prison rape

Anton Praetorius (early prison reformer)

Community service

Department of Corrections

Howard League for Penal Reform (oldest prison reform organisation in the world)

Inmate telephone system

Jailhouse lawyer

John Howard (prison reformer)

Juvenile delinquency

Kishka (prison cell)

Incarceration of women

List of countries by incarceration rate

Penal labour

Penology

Prison abolition movement

Prison education

Prison escape

Prison food

Prison gang

Prison officer

Prison reform

Prison religion

Prison sexuality (homosexuality and abuse in prisons)

Prison uniform

Prisoner's dilemma

Prisoners' rights

Punishment

Rehabilitation

Stanford prison experiment

Types of imprisonment

*False imprisonment

*House arrest

*Life imprisonment

*Protective custody

*Remand

*Separate system

*Solitary confinement

Types of prisons

*Boot camp

*Borstal

*Death Row

*Federal prison

*Immigration detention

*Mental hospital

*Military prison

*Panopticon

*Penal colony

*Political prison

*Private prisons

*Roundhouse

*Supermax

*Village lock-up

*Youth detention center

Specific prisons

*Camp 22, North Korea

*Drakenstein Correctional Centre, South Africa

*List of prisons

*List of correctional facilities in Ontario

*List of prisons in Qinghai, People's Republic of China

*Xi'ning Prison, Qinghai, People's Republic of China

Prison-related crime

*Gassing

Game

*Prison Tycoon

*

Song

*Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos Public Enemy song

*Folsom Prison Blues Johhny Cash song

*Jailbreak AC/DC song

*Jailbreak Thin Lizzy song

*Jailhouse Rock (song) Elvis Presley song

References

Further reading

Carlson, Peter M.; Garrett, Judith Simon, Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theory, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1999.

Diiulio, John J., Governing Prisons: A Comparative Study of Correctional Management, Simon and Schuster, 1990. ISBN 0029078830.

James (Jim) Bruton, Big House: Life Inside a Supermax Security Prison, Voyageur Press (July 2004), hardcover, 192 pages, ISBN 0-89658-039-3.

Michel Foucault, , New York: Random House 1975.

Ted Conover. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing. Knopf, 2001. Trade paperback, 352 pages, ISBN 0-375-72662-4.

External links

Interactive world map showing number of prisoners per 100,000 citizens

Australian Prisons

Historic Prisons

Victorian Prisoners' Photograph Albums from Wandsworth prison on The National Archives' website.

World Prison Population List (fourth edition) UK Home Office, 2003. .

User Views of Punishment: The comparative experience of short term prison sentences and community-based punishments Research Report by The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research

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