Lockup Inside American Jails
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Transcript of Lockup Inside American Jails
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.