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Prison Life
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
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OUTLINE
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Introduction The Male Inmate’s World The Female Inmate’s World The Staff World Prison Riots Prisoners’ Rights Issues Facing Prisons Today
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Describe the realities of prison life and prison subculture from the inmate’s point of view. Illustrate the significant differences between men’s prisons and women’s prisons. Describe the realities of prison life from the corrections officer’s point of view. Describe the causes of prison riots, and list the stages through which most riots progress. Discuss the legal aspects of prisoners’ rights, and explain the consequences of precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court cases in the area of prisoners’ rights. Describe the major problems and issues that prisons face today.
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PA R T 4
Corrections
Mass incarceration seems to have made the streets safer. The vast increase in the prison and jail population from about 380,000 in 1975 to 2.2 million today overlaps with equally stunning declines in crime. . . . Many critics of incarceration argue (a bit too quickly) that crime would have fallen without the prison boom. Perhaps. Still the value of safer neighborhoods is immediate, while the costs of excessive imprisonment are theoretical and vague.
—Jason DeParle1
Jurisdictions should develop, with the assistance of prosecutors and others, community supervision programs that allow all but the most serious [offenders] to avoid incarceration and a conviction record.
—American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section2
INTRODUCTION
On the FOX TV show Prison Break, Wentworth Miller plays the role of an engineer
References: Source: Mimi Hall, “Feds Target Terrorist Recruiting in Prisons,” USA Today, November 7, 2006. Reprinted with permission.