Jails or Prisons : Get It Right

Jails

Are also called community correction centers are short-term lock ups normally run by counties and staffed by county sheriffs. (Bergman & Bergman, 2008) .In fact in very small rural areas where the correctional population is very small, two adjoining counties may pool resources for a regional jail that will serve both counties (Caputo ,pp 7-8)

Virtually all counties have a jail . Jails given the variety of sentences imposed and the type of convicts are maximum security full lock up security and armed guards.. (Sellers, 1993)

Criminals are incarcerated in jails for a limited period of time, usually upto a year, they don’t have most of the facilities that are available in prisons i.e. exercise area and library. (Bergman & Berman, 2008) .

Jails are short term facilities however due to overflow in prison population, Jails are now required to house state prisoners who are called contract prisoners, and the county jail receives a fixed amount per prisoner per day from the state or federal govt. (Champion, 151)

The defendants who are kept in jails are individuals who have to serve a sentence for misdemeanor offenses, felons who have to do jail time as a condition of their probation and people  who are awaiting trial and cannot make bail .(Bergman & Berman, 2008 ).

Jails are also used to temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities. They are also used to retain mentally ill patients until they are sent to appropriate mental health institutions. .( Carlson and Garrett, 2007)

Jails sometimes run community programs as alternatives to incarceration. Jails also hold offenders who are in contempt of court, are crime witnesses and are in protective custody. They also hold convicted felons who are going to be sent to state prisons.(Carlson and Garrett, 2007).

Jails generally do not give emphasis to how inmates behave following release.  There are exceptions e.g. alcoholic treatment  programs and domestic violence programs  that seek to reduce the likelihood of repeated domestic violence. However their prime focus is on safely managing people. (Goldstein,   2006).

Prisons:

 Prisons are long term confinement facilities housing felony offenders and parole violators serving sentences greater than one year. The federal and state government run such establishments and nowadays even private companies are allowed to take up the contracts for running prisons. (Caputo,  2004).

Compared to jails, prisons are typically larger and range in custody level from minimum security to maximum security where the nation’s most dangerous criminals are confined. (Caputo, 2004). 

Prisons are self sufficient and self contained. These self contained facilities have recreational yards, workout rooms, auditoriums for viewing feature films and small stores for the purchase of toiletries and other goods. (Champion, 2007)

The functions of a prison according to Champion are to provide societal protection, punish offenders, rehabilitate offenders and reintegrate offenders by preparing them for reentry into society through vocational and educational training ,counseling and other institutional measures.(Champion , 2007)

Provisions for death penalty are in place in state and federal prisons .Federal prisons may be minimum or maximum security.

Maximum security prisons hold 52 percent of all state of all state prisoners .These are built to house dangerous criminals and to prevent them from harming security guards are one another. Minimum security prisons on  the other hand have more freedom of movement, privileges and contact with the outside world . However it is the medium security prisons that hold 37 percent of all state prisoners. (Sellers, 1993)

References:

Bergman, P and  Berman, S.( 2008). The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System. Berkeley, CA: NOLO

Carlson. M. and Garrett, J. S. (2007) Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theory . Gaithersburg, MD:  2nd ed : Aspen Publishers.

Caputo , G. (Oct 2004) Intermediate Sanctions in Corrections. USA: University Of North Texas Press .

Champion, D.J .( 2007) Sentencing : A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Incorporated

Goldstein, A. M (2006).Forensic Psychology: Emerging Topics and Expanding Rolesew York : John Wiley and sons

Sellers., M.P. (1993) The History of Politics and Private Prisons: A Comparative Analysis. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson. Univ. Press.