Custodial Model Of Incarceration

10
Incarceration

CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Links to the Past
A. Most correctional facilities are still in rural areas in line with Quaker beliefs that offenders could be redeemed only if removed from city distractions.
B. The 1940s and 50s image of the ‘big house’ is still imprinted on most American minds: a walled prison with large, tiered cell blocks, a yard, shops, and industries.
1. The South did not conform to this model.
2. Racial segregation was maintained.
3. Prisoners were used as farm labor.
C. The rehabilitative model of the 1960s and 1970s
1. Treatment programs administered
D. During the past 30 years the prison population has changed.
1. There has been a major increase in the number of African American and Hispanic American
Former street gangs regroup inside prisons and have raised levels of violence in many institutions.
5. The rise of public employee unions have improved working conditions, safety procedures, and training.
E. Current focus of corrections has shifted to crime control, which emphasizes the importance of incarceration.

II. The Goals of Incarceration
A. Three models of incarceration have been prominent since the early 1940s:
1. The custodial model – based on the assumption that prisoners have been incarcerated for the protection of society and emphasizes security, discipline, and order subordinating the prisoner to the authority of the warden.. This model was prevalent in corrections before World War II and dominates most maximum-security institutions today.
2. The rehabilitation model – developed in the 1950s, it emphasizes treatment programs to reform the offender.
3. The reintegration model – linked to the structures and goals of community corrections, it emphasizes maintaining offender ties to family and community.
B. Correctional institutions that conform to each of these models can be found, but most prisons are mainly custodial.

III. Organization for Incarceration
A. Statistics
1. Prisons are operated by all 50 states and the federal
The elderly are more likely to develop chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
3. Prison work assignments must be tailored to fit their physical and mental abilities.
4. Preparation for release to community supervision or to hospice services require time and special efforts.
5. As people get older they become less dangerous.
C. Prisoners with HIV/AIDS: In the coming years, AIDS in expected to be the leading cause of death among males aged 35 and younger; with 57% of the inmates population under 35, correctional officials must cope with the problem of HIV.
1. In 2001, there were more than 24,000 HIV-positive inmates (3.2 percent of the prison population).
2. The high rate of infection among inmates can be explained by the prisoners’ “high risk” behaviors.
3. Only 18 states test all new inmates for HIV.
D. Mentally Ill Prisoners: Mass closings of public hospitals for the mentally ill began in the 1960s; new antipsychotic drugs made treating patients in the community seem more humane and less expensive than long-term hospitalization.
1. Community treatment only works if the drugs are taken and clinics and halfway houses exist to assist the mentally ill.
2. Homelessness is the most public sign of the lack of programs for the mentally