LOCKUPInside American jails And prisons

Steven Severt

LOCKUP: Inside American Jails and Prisons

Here, we will take a look inside American jails and prisons.

And, discuss the roles and explain the differences between the two.

Jails in the United States

Arrest & Booking

After a suspect or criminal is arrested they are brought to a local jail, which is where they will spend their time before trial.

The first step in this process is “booking”.

Booking

When an inmate goes through booking they are fingerprinted and photographed before they are placed in a cell.

In 2005 local jails in the U.S. Had booked over 800,000 inmates. (Jail, n.d.)

JAILS in the U.S.

Jails in the U.S. Are operated by city or county governments.

They generally house prisoners who are awaiting trial or serving a sentence shorter than one year.

Percentage of detainees being held before trial and conviction

people in jail who have not been convicted and are awaiting trial

other

A 2005 report from the Bureau of Justice

Statistics shows that 62% of inmatesIn U.S. Jails have not yet been

convicted.

(Jail, n.d.)

The other 38% would haveBeen convicted, but theyAre serving less than 1

year.

Alternative programs provided by jails in the United States

Rather than house all of our inmates in our jails inmates are often offered alternative programs.

This saves space in our overcrowded facilities and helps to integrate the inmates into society.

Alternative programs provided by jails in the United States

These programs include:

Community service Work release Weekend reporting Electronic

monitoring And other

programs.Burke County jail inmatesKeeping their streets clean

Can I get a room?

Not all local jails are overcrowded, however, and many lease space when it is available to house inmates from federal prisons, state prisons, and from other counties for a profit.

Prisons in theUnited States

Prisons: a brief history

Imprisonment has been mentioned as far back as the Old Testament, but their use was more like our current jails: a holding facility to house the condemned until punishment was administered.

Prisons: a brief history

Imprisonment didn't become an actual punishment until the 19th century in Britain.

These prisons, using the incarceration as the punishment, became the model for the U.S. Prison system. (Prison, n.d.)

Prisons in the United States

Incarceration in a prison, or “penitentiary” is the most common form of punishment for criminals that commit felonies in the United States.

Prisons in the United States

Unlike jails, where most misdemeanor offenders are housed for sentences of one year or less, prison inmates have usually committed serious offenses and are serving sentences longer than one year.

Prisons in the United States

U.S. Prisons are operated by the federal government as well as by state governments.

The U.S. Has the highest incarceration rate in the world. “More than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008.” (Incarceration, n.d.)

Prisons in the United States

Prison facilities have varying levels of security that range from:

Minimum-security Medium-security Maximum-security And lastly “super max”

facilities that house our most dangerous criminals. (Incarceration, n.d.)

Zacarias Moussaoui is one of theConspirators of the September 11Attacks, he is being held at the FederalADX Supermax prison in Colorado.

Duration of Incarceration

An inmate serves a sentence that is handed down by a judge after the felon has been tried and convicted, or has agreed to a plea bargain set up between the court and the prosecuting attorney.

Duration of Incarceration

Once convicted, based on the charges, the offender can serve:

A set number of years behind bars

Life behind bars with parole

Life behind bars without parole

And, some states allow the death penalty in capital cases where the offender would serve his time until his execution on death row, which is in a maximum-security prison.

Privatized Prisons

Privatized Prisons

In the last three decades, prisons owned by corporations, rather than the government, have sprung up across the United States.

Privatized Prisons

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is one of the largest privatized prison corporations in the United States.

Privatized Prisons

Privatized prisons have been in constant debate since their inception, but supporters say it is much cheaper to house inmates in privatized prisons than it is in public ones. (Incarceration, n.d.)

Privatized Prisons

Advocates against privatized prisons usually argue that you can not guarantee the quality of the services in a privately owned facility

They also bring the corporation's motives into question as making profit off of housing inmates might make for some to lobby to keep inmates in their cells as to keep profits high. (Incarceration, n.d.)

New Mercer CountyJail project

New Mercer County jail project

Our current Mercer County jail was built in 1939 and houses fifteen inmates.

It is located on West Livingston street in my hometown of Celina, Ohio.

New Mercer County jail project

Due to overcrowding in our current facility, our sheriff has considered building a new jail for many years.

In 2003, after someone broke out of our current jail, the decision was made to begin planning the new facility (Jail Facts and Figures, n.d.). Groundbreaking for the new

Mercer County jail

New Mercer County jail project

The new facility would house 100 inmates.

It would help in offering programs such as work release, drug rehabilitation, and other community oriented programs, which our current jail has trouble offering because it's basement had been converted into work release cells, and the basement frequently floods (Jail facts and figures, n.d.)

New Mercer County jail project

The project was estimated to cost tax payers 12 million dollars to build.

In 2007, Mercer County voters voted for a .5% tax increase to pay for the new facility (Cox, 2007) Sheriff Jeff Grey goes over the

Outcome of the 2007 voteThat allowed him to build our new

jail.

New Mercer County jail project

The new jail is currently under construction and is slated to open late 2009 or early 2010.

References

References

Cox, T. (2007). Mercer County jail tax barely passes. Retrieved from http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/story_single.php?rec_id=4504 On 12/14/08.

Incarceration in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States On 12/14/08.

Jails. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jail On 12/13/08.

Jail Facts and Figures. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://userpages.bright.net/~wkki/outlook/jail.htm On 12/13/08.

Prison. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison On 12/14/08.