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The USA has the highest
incarceration rate in the world. The large prison population in the US is
thought to result primarily from high crime rates, long sentences, and a
rigidly fought "War on Drugs". Some observers have gone so far
as to accuse the United States of deliberately developing the legal system
and the prison industry as a means of social control beyond that normally
associated with criminal justice. A major reason for the high numbers in
prison in the U.S. is the drug laws that result in imprisonment of nonviolent
drug offenders. See, for example, Leavitt, Fred (2003).
In recent years, there has been much debate in the US
over the privatization of prisons. The argument for privatization stresses
cost reduction, whereas the arguments against it focus on standards of
care, and the question of whether a market economy for prisons might not
also lead to a market demand for prisoners (that is, a strong lobby for
ever-tougher sentencing to satisfy the need for cheap labor). While privatized
prisons have only a short history, inmates in state- and federal-run prisons
also undertake active employment in prison for low pay.
Observers generally regard prison conditions in the United
States as problematic, with prisoner violence and rape wide-spread, and
medical care for inmates inadequate. An August 2003 Harper's article by
Wil S. Hylton estimated that "somewhere between 20 and 40 percent
of American prisoners are, at this very moment, infected with hepatitis
C". Prisons may outsource medical care to private companies such
as Correctional Medical Services, which, according to Hylton's research,
try to minimize the amount of care given to prisoners in order to maximize
profits.
Shorter
Sentences in the U.S
In the U.S., the average murderer is sentenced 20 years to life. But due
to overcrowding in the America's prison system, he serves only 7 years
of real time. Other criminals also have sentences cut in half or down
to one-third the original sentence. This overcrowding problem was caused
by the War On Drugs of the 1980s. Prison Fire Department codes won't allow
more than a certain number of inmates per cell. From a humanitarian veiwpoint,
there should only be one inmate per cell, to prevent in-cell beatings,
killings and rape. Before America's War on Drugs in the 1980s, there was
often one or two inmates per cell. The murderer served his full sentence
or close to it, and there were few in-cell crimes. However, as a result
of the War On Drugs, prisons became full of drug offenders, more than
doubling the prison population. Now, whenever a new prisoner is incarcerated,
a criminal must be released to satisfy the fire code requirement. Consequently,
prisoners of all kinds are let out of prison early.
Regardless of shorter
prison sentences, there are, as of 2004 110,000 women incarcerated in
the U.S., the greatest number of women ever incarcerated.
California
The California penal system (which had 161,000 inmates as of 2003) has
been the focus of attention for growing influence upon the state's political
arena. Former Governor Gray Davis was accused of favoring the prison guard
union more than the interests of education. A number of allegations of
prisoner abuse has given rise to increased attention to the prison oversight
committees. These committees have been accused of favoring the prison
guard union.
The Twin Towers Correctional
Facility in Los Angeles County, California is now (2004) the largest insane
asylum in the United States. It houses over 2,000 mentally ill inmates
and 6,000 psychotropic drugs are given out daily. Prisoners are released,
many without job skills, so they often become homeless. 75% of released
inmates return to jail.
Gang violence has
recently become a major problem, since many gang members retain their
affiliations when incarcerated. Identified gang members are often segregated
from the general population of inmates, with different gangs being housed
in separate units with the result that these gang members are imprisoned
with their friends and criminal cohorts. In some ways, this has the effect
of turning prisons into "institutions of higher criminal learning".
Many facets of prison
society have made their way into mainstream culture, such as the practice
of secretly brewing pruno, a type of illicit beverage, the custom of dominant
prisoners retaining personal bitches, and the dangers of "dropping
the soap". These representations of prison life, however inaccurate,
are frequently referenced in popular culture.
Private companies
which provide services to prisons combine in the American Correctional
Association. Their lobbying arm, ALEC, advocates legislation favorable
to the industry, such as California's "three-strikes law" which
has the end result of incarcerating more individuals. Because inmates
are the 'raw materials' that the industry is based on, more people in
prison means more prison business.
Security
Levels
Prisoners are placed into different facilities that vary by security level,
especially in security measures, administration of inmates, and weapons
and tactics used by corrections officers. The following levels are used
in the prisons in the United States.
Maximum Security
Prisoners placed in Maximum Security are generally ones that pose a severe
risk to the safety of the public and correctional officers. All have individual
cells with sliding doors that are controlled from a secure remote control
station. Prisoners are confined in their cells 23 hours a day and when
out of their cells, are always kept in the cellblock or an exterior cage.
Movement is tightly restricted through the use of restraints and escorts
by correctional officers.
During the 1990s,
both the federal government and many state governments experimented with
a new type of prison dedicated to maximum security prisoners, known as
a "supermax." Such prisons are formally known as "Administrative
Maximum" (ADX) prisons at the federal level, and the only federal
ADX is in Florence, Colorado. On top of confining inmates to their cells
for 23 hours a day, such prisons usually feature soundproofed cells, near-total
deprivation of human contact, and a routine policy of solitary confinement.
It is widely rumored,
though unproven, that a significant percentage of the inmates in such
prisons go insane from sensory deprivation.
Close Security
Close security prisons have individual cells operated from a remote control
station. Each cell has its own toilet and sink. Inmates are allowed out
of their cells for work assignments or correctional programs. The fences
are generally double fences with watch towers, housing armed guards.
Medium Security
Prisoners that fall into the Medium Security group sleep in dormitories
on bunk beds with lockers to store their possessions. They have communal
showers, toilets and sinks. Each dormitory is locked at night with a correctional
officer supervising, however there is less supervision over the internal
movements of prisoners.
Minimum Security
Minimum Security prisoners live in non-secure dormitories which are regularly
patroled by correctional officers. As in Medium Security, they have communal
showers, toilets, and sinks. The facility generally has a single fence
that is watched, but not patrolled by armed guards. At facilities in very
remote and rural areas, there may be no fence at all. Prisoners may often
work on community projects, such as roadside litter cleanup with the state
Department of Transportation. They generally pose little physical risk
to the public, and are mainly non-violent "white collar" criminals.
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