The Penal System In Robert A. Ferguson's Broken System
David Lee Vazquez
Dr. Micah K. Donohue
ENG 104
3/6/18
The Broken System The penal system is the method in which people are punished for violating the legal system. In Robert A. Ferguson’s book Inferno, he sates and question are very view over how are system is functioning “is it ignorance or a more knowing disregard that explains the deplorable conditions in our penal system?” (Ferguson 17) In American society there is this believe in justice as to where a person paying the price for their mistakes has been judged and punished fairly to the offence they have done toward society, but as lately the American penal system has taken a rash tern. Harsh punishments have been brought down on nonviolent crimes. The Eighth Amendment of the United …show more content…
States Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. ” (U.S. Const.am 8) Society agrees that rapists and killers should be punished to the full extent of the law but many of our prisons are filled with minor offences towards drugs and petty theft. When someone breaks society’s law, one must suffer the consequences of their actions but in balance to the offence they have done. To improve the American penal system, we must first acknowledge the problem that a system that’s main intention was to rehabilitate and reintroduce these people back into a society that has out cast them branded them is failing in a society that enjoys punishment. In American society, there is an effort that continues in search of happiness, but at what cost to reduce the other percentage of American to the extreme of poverty and misery that leads to what, a higher crime rate. The main intent of a good law system is to diminish this effect, by creating, a state of equality although society is generally quick to abandons this thought. Prisons are an institution designed to house people who have been convicted of crimes. These offenders are known as prisoners or inmates and are kept in an ongoing custody for a certain amount of time. The type of crime decides the length of the sentence most of the time for others they may be sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment. For an individual to be incarcerated, they must be accused of violating criminal law and then tried and found convicted in a jury of their peers. The prison system is a crucial part of the penial system although over time it has not been an effective form of punishment or deterrence and hers is why. According to (bop.gov) there is a total of 183,355 Federal Inmates in the U.S as to by March 8, 2018. This clearly displays the problems society has with the prisons and punishment. There is this social belief that a prison's main purpose is to punish offenders rather than rehabilitate them. Rehabilitation has been a key component in the construction of the U.S. prison policy fore year it has been the base believe. Prisoners were highly encouraged to develop and acquire occupational life skills and to resolve social and economic problems. Compared to the prisons in the current day we have strayed away from this ideology and the proof is in how the word "prison" is thought of. It all begins with our community. The best way to fix crime is to fix society itself. If society prison work together, crime can be reduced by accepting offenders back into society. We have failed to realize that the offender is still being punished after serving their sentence. When is it truly enough? Nationwide, more than 600,000 people return from prison each year and try to rebuild their lives. (Turner) You see there are so many reasons society fears prison and prisoners. One of the main reasons is the violence, violence occurs in every prison in the U.S. Violence can be attributed to prison culture which ranges to rape, overcrowding, gangs all due to a prison system that simply doesn’t function. Although much of the prison crisis has been blamed on delays in the country’s legal system. This is because of how inmates receive extended sentences and poor prison management you treat someone as an animal how long is enough they eventually believe it. This creates a fear between both sides of society. Although we do try to create solutions for these problems the involvement of the private prisons in the penal system, could be a rapid and low-cost solution but they only hold 6 to 10 % of the prison population(bop.org) Although they do give relive to some of the most serious penal system problems such as lack of prisons spaces, poor condition within the prisons, and the state responsibilities of running prisons services. Prisons have been filled to the breaking point with new prisoners being transferred in daily and hardly any of them being released back into the world, it is no wonder why the most important issue with today's prison system is the mass overcrowding problem taking root in our prisons. Prisons in America are overcrowded with small time criminals which lead to larger problems expose a small-time offender to an actual criminal you create this criminal culture that society fears that lead to a reoffender of even worst crimes which simply increase the number of prisoners in America. Most of long term offenders is due to violent crimes. However, another large group of those imprisoned are the miner drug offenders that were convicted for either possession or use of drugs another prominent group is theft and the major cause of the offences is poverty due to the lack of money in a society that punishes those who fall back in the society standard. Ferguson states that the “separation in the function of punishment means that no single official ever has to look directly into the abyss.” How can we understand a prisoner’s sentence, culture form of thought if we have never been in their place?
You see there is multiple effects prison can have on a person. While the goal of incarceration is to rehabilitate the person to follow laws, the result is often isolation and loss of valuable time and moment they lose of work and resources that a person needs to maintain a positive role outside the prison system which after words is almost financially impossible to keep. Many people are affected by the incarceration of a person, from the family, to the community and employers, to society in general. Children are the worst effects by incarceration. You see Politician's role in the prison system is to sell the idea to the public that prison makes society safer a better place. Prison is an appropriate punishment for those that are truly a danger to society making them thinks that they should never be released. Prisons don't work because they don't focus on the person's growth in prison. Most people don't even know how it is to survive in prison completely knocking down inside that the importance of the institution in not to help you but punish you for making an offense towards a society that is considered your peer. Change is uncommon in prison because rehabilitation and educated people rarely occurs in this survival game we call prison. Prisoners become accustom to surviving. What is the true aim of our prison system rehabilitated or punish the offender? Many would state that its main goal is to punish those who have committed wrongs. Yet many have never experienced prison and its after effects yet should this be the secondary function of the penal system. The most important function must be to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders into society so prisons can have a positive effect on inmates and their society. The roots
of crime are often a result of a person's reflection form society, which steals the worth of attempting to thrive. This causes feelings of detachment to society which creates helplessness in society and destroys any feeling of personal responsibility to that community. In other words, the ex-offender will have no personal interest in, nor the power to affect his community and therefore the community itself will not care about his or her fate. Because of this society has little objection to putting its personal welfare above that of an individual that has broken the law. As a society we must help alienated people by reviving their dignity and giving them the skills and knowledge to help themselves. Through education and job training, these offenders can have the power to take control of their own life and contribute to the community. Once able to contribute to the community, a person will feel a sense of ownership in that society. The offender then will want to protect the community, because there actually a healthy active member in the community and uphold its laws. In short, a criminal with the right rehabilitation can be turned from an outcast to a valuable member of society but in all reality, that’s not what happens their branded and cast away due to their actions before which completely defeats the purpose of a prison and penal system that want to restore offenders back into society but society itself rejects them. A prisoner who is not given the chance to get an education, receive job training, and have healthy interactions with people is likely to walk out of prison in worse shape than what they went in. Treat someone like a cage animal they will begin to act like one. After undergoing effective reform programs that help offender become part of the system, so they can make a positive impact on the community when he re-enters it. So, what is the true aim of our prison system, to reform and rehabilitate criminals or to simply punish them.?
Dr. Micah K. Donohue
ENG 104
3/6/18
The Broken System The penal system is the method in which people are punished for violating the legal system. In Robert A. Ferguson’s book Inferno, he sates and question are very view over how are system is functioning “is it ignorance or a more knowing disregard that explains the deplorable conditions in our penal system?” (Ferguson 17) In American society there is this believe in justice as to where a person paying the price for their mistakes has been judged and punished fairly to the offence they have done toward society, but as lately the American penal system has taken a rash tern. Harsh punishments have been brought down on nonviolent crimes. The Eighth Amendment of the United …show more content…
States Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. ” (U.S. Const.am 8) Society agrees that rapists and killers should be punished to the full extent of the law but many of our prisons are filled with minor offences towards drugs and petty theft. When someone breaks society’s law, one must suffer the consequences of their actions but in balance to the offence they have done. To improve the American penal system, we must first acknowledge the problem that a system that’s main intention was to rehabilitate and reintroduce these people back into a society that has out cast them branded them is failing in a society that enjoys punishment. In American society, there is an effort that continues in search of happiness, but at what cost to reduce the other percentage of American to the extreme of poverty and misery that leads to what, a higher crime rate. The main intent of a good law system is to diminish this effect, by creating, a state of equality although society is generally quick to abandons this thought. Prisons are an institution designed to house people who have been convicted of crimes. These offenders are known as prisoners or inmates and are kept in an ongoing custody for a certain amount of time. The type of crime decides the length of the sentence most of the time for others they may be sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment. For an individual to be incarcerated, they must be accused of violating criminal law and then tried and found convicted in a jury of their peers. The prison system is a crucial part of the penial system although over time it has not been an effective form of punishment or deterrence and hers is why. According to (bop.gov) there is a total of 183,355 Federal Inmates in the U.S as to by March 8, 2018. This clearly displays the problems society has with the prisons and punishment. There is this social belief that a prison's main purpose is to punish offenders rather than rehabilitate them. Rehabilitation has been a key component in the construction of the U.S. prison policy fore year it has been the base believe. Prisoners were highly encouraged to develop and acquire occupational life skills and to resolve social and economic problems. Compared to the prisons in the current day we have strayed away from this ideology and the proof is in how the word "prison" is thought of. It all begins with our community. The best way to fix crime is to fix society itself. If society prison work together, crime can be reduced by accepting offenders back into society. We have failed to realize that the offender is still being punished after serving their sentence. When is it truly enough? Nationwide, more than 600,000 people return from prison each year and try to rebuild their lives. (Turner) You see there are so many reasons society fears prison and prisoners. One of the main reasons is the violence, violence occurs in every prison in the U.S. Violence can be attributed to prison culture which ranges to rape, overcrowding, gangs all due to a prison system that simply doesn’t function. Although much of the prison crisis has been blamed on delays in the country’s legal system. This is because of how inmates receive extended sentences and poor prison management you treat someone as an animal how long is enough they eventually believe it. This creates a fear between both sides of society. Although we do try to create solutions for these problems the involvement of the private prisons in the penal system, could be a rapid and low-cost solution but they only hold 6 to 10 % of the prison population(bop.org) Although they do give relive to some of the most serious penal system problems such as lack of prisons spaces, poor condition within the prisons, and the state responsibilities of running prisons services. Prisons have been filled to the breaking point with new prisoners being transferred in daily and hardly any of them being released back into the world, it is no wonder why the most important issue with today's prison system is the mass overcrowding problem taking root in our prisons. Prisons in America are overcrowded with small time criminals which lead to larger problems expose a small-time offender to an actual criminal you create this criminal culture that society fears that lead to a reoffender of even worst crimes which simply increase the number of prisoners in America. Most of long term offenders is due to violent crimes. However, another large group of those imprisoned are the miner drug offenders that were convicted for either possession or use of drugs another prominent group is theft and the major cause of the offences is poverty due to the lack of money in a society that punishes those who fall back in the society standard. Ferguson states that the “separation in the function of punishment means that no single official ever has to look directly into the abyss.” How can we understand a prisoner’s sentence, culture form of thought if we have never been in their place?
You see there is multiple effects prison can have on a person. While the goal of incarceration is to rehabilitate the person to follow laws, the result is often isolation and loss of valuable time and moment they lose of work and resources that a person needs to maintain a positive role outside the prison system which after words is almost financially impossible to keep. Many people are affected by the incarceration of a person, from the family, to the community and employers, to society in general. Children are the worst effects by incarceration. You see Politician's role in the prison system is to sell the idea to the public that prison makes society safer a better place. Prison is an appropriate punishment for those that are truly a danger to society making them thinks that they should never be released. Prisons don't work because they don't focus on the person's growth in prison. Most people don't even know how it is to survive in prison completely knocking down inside that the importance of the institution in not to help you but punish you for making an offense towards a society that is considered your peer. Change is uncommon in prison because rehabilitation and educated people rarely occurs in this survival game we call prison. Prisoners become accustom to surviving. What is the true aim of our prison system rehabilitated or punish the offender? Many would state that its main goal is to punish those who have committed wrongs. Yet many have never experienced prison and its after effects yet should this be the secondary function of the penal system. The most important function must be to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders into society so prisons can have a positive effect on inmates and their society. The roots
of crime are often a result of a person's reflection form society, which steals the worth of attempting to thrive. This causes feelings of detachment to society which creates helplessness in society and destroys any feeling of personal responsibility to that community. In other words, the ex-offender will have no personal interest in, nor the power to affect his community and therefore the community itself will not care about his or her fate. Because of this society has little objection to putting its personal welfare above that of an individual that has broken the law. As a society we must help alienated people by reviving their dignity and giving them the skills and knowledge to help themselves. Through education and job training, these offenders can have the power to take control of their own life and contribute to the community. Once able to contribute to the community, a person will feel a sense of ownership in that society. The offender then will want to protect the community, because there actually a healthy active member in the community and uphold its laws. In short, a criminal with the right rehabilitation can be turned from an outcast to a valuable member of society but in all reality, that’s not what happens their branded and cast away due to their actions before which completely defeats the purpose of a prison and penal system that want to restore offenders back into society but society itself rejects them. A prisoner who is not given the chance to get an education, receive job training, and have healthy interactions with people is likely to walk out of prison in worse shape than what they went in. Treat someone like a cage animal they will begin to act like one. After undergoing effective reform programs that help offender become part of the system, so they can make a positive impact on the community when he re-enters it. So, what is the true aim of our prison system, to reform and rehabilitate criminals or to simply punish them.?