state-level DEMOGRAPHICS FOR YOUR STATE that are similar to the following statistical categories found on the Inmate Demographics Web site from the Michigan DOC 2014 Statistical Report

Demographic Analysis and Proposed Model

 

This assignment has two parts.

Part 1

• Research, locate, and describe state-level DEMOGRAPHICS FOR YOUR STATE that are similar to the following statistical categories found on the Inmate Demographics Web site from the Michigan DOC 2014 Statistical Report. You will find a link to this site in the Studies for this unit and also in the Resources for this assignment.
  • B2b – Drug offenses.
  • B3 – Women.
  • B4a – Men and women by age.
  • B4b – Age, race, and gender.
• In addition, research, locate, and post the racial demographics of prison populations in your state.
• Summarize the rates of probation and incarceration by race, gender, and age in your state.
• Analyze whether the rates of probation and incarceration for your state reflect equity of sentencing by race, gender, and age.
  • Evaluate the ethical issues related to equity of sentencing in your state.

Part 2

• Create a brief proposal for legislators in your state that describes policy and/or programs that could be used to promote equity of sentencing.
• Cite scholarly sources to justify your proposal.

Assignment Requirements

• The overall paper for this assignment should be 5–6 pages in length.
• The legislative proposal should be 1–2 pages in length.
• Cite at least three relevant scholarly sources.
• Conform to APA style and format.

Resources

• Demographics Scoring Guide.
• Michigan Department of Corrections 2014 Statistical Report [PDF].
• How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles? .
• APA Style and Format.

 

Unit 5

 

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

• PRINT
• Institutional Corrections

INTRODUCTION

Jails

Persons convicted of a misdemeanor may be sentenced up to one year in the county or city jail. Larger, progressive communities separate their jail inmates according to the reason for their residency:

1. Awaiting trial or bail.
2. Awaiting transportation to the state Department of Corrections for imprisonment.
3. Sentenced to jail for a period not to exceed 365 days.
   1. Many are sentenced for short terms for minor offenses (10–90 days).
   2. Persons serving longer sentences are generally separated from those with shorter sentences.

TOGGLE DRAWERHIDE FULL INTRODUCTION

Those inmates sentenced to longer jail sentences are commonly in therapeutic programs, such as anger management, domestic violence, Alcoholics Anonymous, or drug rehabilitation. Some inmates are placed on “trustee” status and may be involved in community service, such as cleaning up highways, parks, and maintenance around the jail.

Prisons

Defendants convicted of felonies and sentenced to a year or more in prison are committed to the state Department of Corrections for imprisonment.

Virtually all states have a reception center where all new and returning inmates are initially housed. The Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) is received and utilized as the reception center completes a variety of vital tasks. Inmates receive a comprehensive physical examination including toxicology screens to identify communicable diseases, including HIV. There is much controversy regarding the privacy rights of prisoners and the best interests of the prison staff and other inmates.

Inmates also receive an additional battery of psychological examinations, educational assessments, risk assessments, and clinical interviews. These findings, coupled with the criminal violation, length of sentence, and the PSI, assist the Department of Corrections in determining the security and supervision levels of the inmates. Inmates are then assigned to a specific prison that accurately reflects the security and supervision level required for them. The prison’s other services—educational, vocational, medical, and counseling—are also taken into consideration.

Prison security levels are generally considered minimum, medium, maximum, and super maximum. States that have capital punishment will assign a death row to their highest security facility and the death row inmates are given no general population privileges. Death row and other super maximum security facilities usually are locked down for 23 ½ hours each day. An inmate is allowed one half hour per day of individual exercise every other day, and the half hour on the second day is for showering. The inmate to corrections officer ratio is very close, often two officers to every inmate.

Minimum security prisons have a variety of designs, from farm work units to open occupancy, quonset hut dormitories. Inmate freedom of movement is relatively relaxed with the exception of “counts,” meals, and lights out. The officer to inmate ratio is often high, 50–75 inmates per officer. While most of the minimum security prisons are not locked down, the prison will have a maximum security segregation wing for inmate punishment for violation of prison rules. Minimum security prisons generally have two 10–12 foot cyclone fences topped with razor wire that are 10 feet apart surrounding the entire perimeter. They also have a laser electronic field 15–30 feet from the first fence that sets off a screamingly loud alarm if the laser field is broken. The exterior of the facility is under the surveillance of roaming officers patrolling the perimeter in vehicles. The perimeter is dangerous because outside parties will throw drugs, weapons, and other contraband over the fence.

Medium security prisons commonly have very similar architecture to that of minimum security prisons with more rigidity in inmate travel between buildings and a much higher level of supervision and more corrections officers per inmate.

Maximum security prisons are security facilities with cell block configurations around a central general population area, often large enough to house baseball diamonds, weight lifting pods, many basketball courts, and so on. Cell blocks are designated from close to heavy supervision. General population inmates are usually not allowed egress to their cells. They are required to work in prison shops, the kitchen, building maintenance, and laundry facilities. Some inmates will be attending academic and vocational classes. Counts are frequent and cells are locked at lights out for final daily count.

Maximum security cell blocks are separated to permit locking down one without locking down others. This is particularly important because of prison gangs. The gangs are racist and insatiably violent.

Super or Ultra Maximum Security prisons are for those inmates who cannot stay in maximum security prisons. Prisoners in these facilities are either incredibly violent or the most likely to be murdered. Generally, they are locked down to the maximum allowed with no contact with other inmates. Despite being sentenced to a Super Max facility in Wisconsin, Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered there. All prisons are a hotbed of crime, from stealing to murder.

State departments of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons utilize the services of for-profit corrections services and facilities. In the late 1960s, the U. S. began to expand the powers of law enforcement agencies around the country, generating by the 1970s an unprecedented reliance on incarceration to treat its social, political, economic, and mental health problems.

By calling new acts crimes, and by increasing the severity of sentencing for other acts, the federal prison population witnessed a “prison boom.” Soon, prison overcrowding surpassed prison construction budgets, and politicians who had promised to build new prisons could no longer build them.

So in 1984, a number of Tennessee investors with close friends in the legislature recognized a business opportunity and formed Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Their plan was to use venture capital to build a new prison and, like a hotel, lease their beds to the state in a profit-making endeavor ( Corrections, 2001).

However, the privatization of community and penal corrections appears to be on the slippery slope to exclusion in the U. S. systems of corrections. Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General of the U. S. Department of Justice sent a memorandum to the Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons on August 18, 2016 titled “Reducing our Use of Private Prisons.”

“Between 1980 and 2013, the federal prison population increased by almost 800% often at a far faster rate than the Federal Bureau of Prisons could accommodate. In an effort to manage the rising prison population, about a decade ago, the bureau began contracting with privately operated correctional institutions to confine some federal inmates. By 2013, as both the federal prison population and the proportion of federal prisoners in private facilities reached their peak, the Bureau was hosting approximately 15% of its population, or nearly 30,000 inmates, in privately-operated prisons.

“Private prisons served an important role during a difficult period, but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own prison facilities. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security. The rehabilitative services that the Bureau provides, such as educational programs and job training, have proved difficult to replicate and outsource – and their services are essential to reducing recidivism and improving public safety.”

The goal, Yates wrote, is “reducing—and ultimately ending—our use of privately operated prisons” (USDOJ, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, 08/18/2016).

President Trump, in his first 100 days in office, reversed the above decision to stop the utilization of private prisons by the Bureau of Prisions. He indicated that he may choose to use these private prisons for the detention of illegal immigrants awaiting deportation.

It is likely that the states’ utilization of private correctional services and facilities will also be reduced, if not eliminated.

The assignment for Unit 5 is of significance to this course. Learners should carefully evaluate inequity in sentencing pursuant to race. Does a higher percentage of a particular race in the prison population in comparison to their percentage in the general population suggest discrimination in the equity of the criminal code, assignment to community corrections, and sentencing to prison?

References

Hunt, A. (Producer, Director). (2001). Corrections [Motion picture]. United States: The Corrections Documentary Project. Retrieved from http://www.correctionsproject.com/corrections

Yates, S. Q. (2016, August 18). Reducing our use of private prisons [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/886311/download