Jail And Prison Comparison Paper

Jail and Prisons Comparison Paper
MiSha Bagley
Introduction to Corrections/CJS 255
June 15, 2015
Sherri Webster
Jail and Prisons Comparison Paper
It is not uncommon that most people believe that jail and prison are one in the same. Jail is usually the first place a suspect is taking after being arrested and before they have been found guilty of a crime. Prison is the place where criminals are sent to carry out the sentence that was handed down to them by the jury and or judge. The purpose of this paper is to describe the differences and similarities of security levels in jails, state and federal prisons. Also a summary of the history of prisons, the factors that influenced growth in jails and prison and the role that jails play in corrections
throughout history.
In colonial times of 1166 in England the first jail was built. During this time jails were originally used to hold offenders as they awaited trial but then were used to the poor, the mentally ill and displaced persons. Jails during this time were not in the best of conditions. In 1779 The Penitentiary Act was drafted and contained four requirements for jails and prisons. According to Seiter (2014), the English jails and prisons must maintain secure and sanitary structures, systematic inspections must be completed, an abolition to fees charged to inmates, and a reformatory system in which inmates are confined to their cells but worked in common areas during the day (“Jails/Current Jail Operations”). The reform also included diet, hygiene and uniforms for inmates. Today those requirements for reform are still used in the United States and Canada.
Schmalleger (2008) stated, “Jail is defined as a locally operated, short term confinement facility that was originally built to hold suspects following arrest and pending trial” (p. 393). The early jails used fines as a means of punishment. In eightieth century confinement as a means of punishment and rehabilitation of offenders were used for convicted criminals. In 1790 the first prison to establish this concept was in Philadelphia at the Walnut Street jail. Over the next several years penitentiaries adopted the model of confining of sentenced criminals (Seiter, 2014, “Jails/Current Jail Operations”).
In society today, jails serve other purposes as well. Today jails receive individuals pending arraignment and hold them awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing, readmit probation, parole, bail violators and absconders, temporarily detain juveniles, the mentally ill, and others pending transfer to appropriate facilities, hold individuals for the military, protective custody, for contempt, for the courts as witness and holds inmates sentenced to short terms (generally under one year) (Schmalleger 2008). According to Schmalleger (2008), jail boot camps are becoming popular to give offenders who are sentenced to probationary terms a taste of confinement and the rigors of life behind doors.
State and Federal Prisons
The history of State and federal prison have some similarities but also differ in several ways.
They both hold criminal offenders who have convicted a crime under state and federal laws. The state prisons usually house criminals who have committed “street crimes” such as murder, robbery, theft, assault and burglary. Previously federal prisons housed criminals who committed white collar crimes such as movement of criminal activity across state or national boundaries and crimes specific to the federal government (Seiter, 2014, “Adult Prison Systems in the United States”). According to Seiter (2014) crimes such as bank robbery, kidnaping, murder of public officials, drug distribution and certain crimes using a weapon are federal crimes. As a result there is now a less distinction between federal and state prison inmates than what was in the
past.
In the 1800s criminals who were convicted of federal crimes were housed in state prisons if their sentence was more than a year and in a local jail if less than a year was to be served. In 1870 the U.S. Department of Justice established that one department would be responsible for the care and custody of all federal prisoners that was until the state prison became more overly crowded. In 1891 Three Penitentiary Act was passed through Congress that authorized three penitentiaries to house federal offenders be constructed (Seiter, 2014, “The Federal Prison System”). Today there are one-hundred and seventeen prisons in the BOP.
The state prison system was founded in the nineteenth century but operated off the legal reform of the eightieth century reform. In colonial times methods used for punishment of criminals included humiliation, hanging, and corporal punishment. During this time offenders would be hung, whipped, their tongues cut out, branded and their back cracked. Today criminals are detained in state prisons. If an adult prisoner is serving more than a year they are housed in state prison facilities operated within the fifty states. According to Seitzer (2014) there are 1,250 state prisons operating in the United States holding 1.4 million inmates.
Security Levels for Jails, State and Federal Prisons
The federal and state prison systems has some of the same level of security. They both have a first level security risk which is considered minimum security. Minimum security prisons house inmates that are not considered a flight risk. According to Schmalleger (2008) minimum security prisons are essentially honor camps with barrack type housing and does not have a fence. Some state prison inmates are placed in half-way housed and work-release programs. Low security facilities are both in the state and federal prison system. Low security prison facilities are surrounded by double chain fences and a guard patrols around the prison grounds. High security prison facilities are more traditional. These facilities have guard towers where guards are armed with rifles and the tower has a spotlight, and high walls. Schmalleger (2008) stated, “High security facilities are called U.S. Penitentiaries” (p. 388). Lastly, both the federal and state prison system both use a maximum security level. If a prison is classified as a maximum security level prison that means the prison houses inmates that have been sentenced to life or who are on death row. There is also a security level called AdMax. This stands for administrative maximum. This term is used by the federal government to denote ultra-high-security prisons. These types of prisons house certain federal prisoners that may have a special interest to the U.S. ("Criminal Justice Law", 2015).
Growth in Jails, State and Federal Prisons Schmalleger (2008) stated, “Jails have been called the “shame of the criminal justice system”. Many are old, poorly funded, scantily staffed by underpaid and poorly trained employees, and given low priority in local budgets” (p. 397). One factor that has caused a growth of jails is tough on crime mentality of the public. This affects the percentage of offenders who are being released or receive bail. Overcrowding of the state and federal prisons is another factor. As of 2010 there were nineteen state prisons who were operating at 25 percent or more over their capacity and 136 percent of the federal prison. There has also been an increase in the use of split sentencing or adult felons sentence to short stays in jail or released to probation. (Seiter, 2014, "Jails/the Increase Use of Jails"). According to Schmalleger (2008), other factors that contributed to the growth in jails are the inability of jail inmates to afford to post bond, delays between arrest and final case disposition, limited access to vital information about the inmate that could be useful in court, limited ability of the criminal justice system to handle cases quickly, inappropriate attorney delays in moving cases though court and unproductive statutes requiring that specified nonviolent offenders be jailed.

Conclusion
Although jails differ from prison they both now are used to enforce punishment on offenders who have broken the law to face incarceration and imprisonment.
The basis of the imprisonment was used as a means to rehabilitate and was used as an alternative for punishment. The prison system today has changed for the better. Over the years several changes have taking place. During the 1880s through the 1950s the system operated based on the repentance model. Inmates were forced to read the bible to correct their behavior. During the 1960s through the 1980s the rehabilitation model was introduced and is still being used today. Several programs are available to inmates to help them be better citizens when they are released to keep them from becoming repeat offenders. During the 1990s through today the corrections model was introduced. It seems as if the corrections model works well for some but not so much for others. I often wonder if the criminal justice system still used the punishment models of earlier colonial times such as hanging, whipping and brandings would the repeat offender rate be as high as it is today. I believe that some offenders are no longer afraid to go to jail and or prison as they receive better treatment and have better living situations there than they do while
free.

References
Criminal Justice Law. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.criminaljusticelaw.us/ Corrections/state-and-federal-prisons-a-history-of-growth/
Schmalleger, F. (2008). Criminal Justice A Brief Introduction (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Seiter, R.P. (2014). Corrections. An Introduction (4th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.