A World Apart
Prison systems in the world comparing The United State prison systems to Australia.
The United States has two different types of institutions private and government. The private institutions are paid from the state governments and commonly a lower cost to the state. Private institutions can choose who comes in as far as inmates or employee. The state ran institutions are a little more expensive, they have to except inmates no matter what and are able to hire the most qualified candidates for the job. The purpose of private institutions is to have the lower cost for the states. By granting the private security companies a license to run a state owned facility, the cost can be controlled well, than if the state was to control the supervisor. Intermediate sanctions can not only benefit both the prisons and the inmates themselves. It benefits the prisons by lowering the inmates within the jails and prisons. This allows the prisons to have more controlled environment and the accurate amount of correction officers to the inmates. They provide counseling for a number of different psychological problems and also programs for drug abuse, these programs can be very beneficial to the inmates.
In the southern …show more content…
region of Australia there is a institution called Yatala Labour Prison, this is considered a correction institution because of its large capacity, another called Port Lincoln, but this one is much smaller then Yatala and is geared to smaller yet more productive reasoning’s. The Yatala prison population size can accommodate up to 468 prisoners in cell blocks all together, it has men and women. It can accommodate protectees and it is a public facility. As more of a rehabilitation facility Port Lincoln can accommodate up to 90 prisoners.
Australia is an independent country, therefore all of its territories are different; all the different territories do not have the same criminal justice system. The United States is the same in a way. Not all of the states are the same and they are independent, but in all states have the same amendments that must be followed and is enforced by the government, but the different states can elaborate on those different laws.
Some prison have what is called a warden, a warden has total control in the autocratic style which is the control over all the employees and the inmates. The prisoners have no rights within the autocratic style, along with no court authority and the warden has no authority to answer if one were to complain. The bureaucratic side the inmates were more important and with this style the inmates would have self government, known as the Mutual Welfare League.
According to the U.S. Constitution (1979), the purpose and function of Title 42 Section 1983 is that every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia (Madison, 2006).
There are five levels within the state’s prison systems; open-security facilities, minimum, medium and maximum security prisons, and high-security prisons. The open security facilities do not have any armed guards, or a fences to keep the inmates within the perimeter. They are commonly known as a half way house or any type of community based institution. If an inmate were to walk away from one of these community based facilities, they would be considered an escape convict and a risk to the community, upon being apprehended they would be returned to a maximum security prison, where they would serve out the rest of their sentence.
The security facilities in Australia range in the security level depending on what the prisons are being used for. The security level at Yatala in high, medium, and low. It covers all the areas because of its location and inmate capacity. Port Lincoln is low to medium, and it is men only and a farm based institution. Port Lincoln produces food crops for the local businesses and raises farm cattle as well. It also has a wood working shop for the medium security prisoners, they produce thing like birdhouses and benches for parks.
Yatala prison is more geared towards the inmates serving their time and releasing.
According to the Department of Corrective Services, the offenders are encouraged to partake in a wide range of vocational and educational programs that are available within the state darning there are incapacitated. These kinds of programs are run by the Education and Vocational Training Unit and are aimed at securing the employment of offenders upon their release. Under s21(1) of the Parole Act states an inmate released from prison prior to expiration of his sentence as a result of remission the term of which exceeds sixty days, shall be subject to mandatory supervision. The mandatory supervision can be revoked or suspended in the same way as
parole.
There are two benefits to the community based corrections, they provide treatments for substance abuse and they have job placement programs. There are places that provides free drug testing and rehabilitation for each individual needs. The inmates in those programs are required to find work within fifteen days of their initial move. Australia has similar programs, they place the parolees in a constant supervision, community based corrections have a variety of non-custodial programs. The inmates learn well they are in prison how to reconnect with the outside community in hopes that they are not repeated offenders.
Many countries appear to be starting to use the United States way of the criminal justice system, but unfortunately many countries do not have the space or the money to build such institutes.
Resources http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/Supreme_Court/ll_sc.nsf/pages/SCO_wood_0504 http://wa.gov.au/governmentservices/communitysafety/youandthelaw/justiceandprisonsystem/ http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/2564 http://jeffweintraub.blogspot.com/2006/10/jefferson-madison-burke-on-us.html http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Prison_System.html .