It is true that corrections has vastly grown over the centuries, taking bits and pieces from each era to become what it is today. Because of this, it is important to look back at the history of corrections and understand why certain changes were made or why punishments or laws didn’t work before. Starting during The Middle Ages, which begins during the sixth century continuing into the beginning of the sixteenth century, the most popular type of punishment were public sanctions or fines. Imprisonment, corporal punishment and fines were all being used during the middle ages and imprisonment gained popularity towards the end of the Middle Ages.
During the later Middle Ages the preferred punishment was fines or execution. The punishment was chosen by what the King would benefit more from, because the belongings of the executed became the Kings property after execution. According to Stojkovic and Lovell, the theme of work and discipline dates to the 16th century when the first “house of corrections” came to be. It was here that imprisonment was looked at to not only punish prisoners, but to give them tools to help them be successful in the society both in prison and once released. Moving toward the 17th century, imprisonment became the favored form of punishment because the benefits of having the prisoners contribute to the community were in abundance and obvious.
In the 18th century, everything had turned in the opposite direction. Criminal law was described as “repressive, uncertain, disorganized, arbitrary, and barbaric.” (Stojkovic & Lovell,2013). This was because so many laws had been made previously, the punishments and laws began to mix together which caused excessive punishments for small crimes and officials began to act waywardly with their authority. The 18th century, punishments were cruel and public. Imprisonment was rarely used and was never used as a sole form of punishment. The behaviors of the 18th century did not move forward into the 19th century. The Enlightenment doctrines gave Americans a chance to bring order to society. In the 20th century, every state had a penitentiary and took on the criminal law system that has matured into what we know today. Although the 20th century didn’t begin as positive. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, forms of torture were being used in most of the prisons. It wasn’t until the Progressive Era that a reform movement began and order was being put into place in the prisons.
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The participants of the corrections system are what makes the corrections system continue to work and succeed. All participants have their roles but are never limited to one task. Corrections Officers have many roles they fill within jail and prison settings and within social roles of inmates. The first role is in the Societal Level. The societal level mainly deals with political, economic and cultural considerations. Political considerations deal with the distribution of power. Whoever has power, is looked at as in charge.
Economic considerations deal with the economy and its impact in corrections. Cultural considerations dealt with on the societal level have to do with a person’s beliefs and views. It is important that every person can have their own thoughts, beliefs, and views. This makes sure that all beliefs, orientations and viewpoints are respected and can coexist within corrections. The second level is the Division of Corrections level (DOC). The DOC is a complicated organization that must address opposing concerns from internal and external groups. The third level is the Service Delivery Level, which are single institutions that contribute to the daily operations of a prison. (correctional institutions, probation field offices, and other correctional programs.) No matter the job, correctional officers often find themselves in situations with many pros and cons to each step they take. Setting up systems and bureaucracies are a way to try to understand everyone’s role in an administration setting of a jail or prison.
With any managerial job there are always ways to improve or do things differently. Because prisons and inmates are such a sensitive subject matter, prison management are constantly faced with scrutiny over their job decisions. Management is also faced with the backlash of the previous centuries and the way inmates were treated then. Prison managements concerns are usually split into two categories, formal and informal. Formal concerns address rules, procedures and status/authority. Informal concerns address more unpredictable subjects like behavior and interactions between individuals.
“We can usefully identify general human rights that are lost or modified by detention, and then rights that are ascribed to people held in detention. Liberty and freedom of movement are indeed curtailed when a person is incarcerated. Incarceration will compromise (but should not remove) rights to life, to security of the person, to privacy, and to family. Rights to life and security of the person will be challenged by incarceration and therefore must be robustly protected. However, specific rights to humane treatment and to protection from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment also come into play.” (Naylor 2014) Although every human is promised rights, when incarcerated certain rights must be modified to guarantee safety throughout the prison. Constitutional law refers to the guarantees and protections given to each person under the U.S. Constitution. Sometimes however, guarantees and protections granted to people can’t be fully met because they are incarcerated. (Cassel 2012)
One of the first fundamental concerns for prisoners is Due Process. Due process also makes sure the prisoner will receive a fair trial regardless of their status. This addresses things like having the right to an attorney or having one appointed to you. An example of this that many of us have seen is during a trial, we will see the defendant in normal clothes and without handcuffs. This is because they are innocent until proven guilty and seeing a person in a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs may skew your judgement. More rights given to prisoners is equal protection of the laws, which means no matter your background, race or criminal history you will be treated correctly. This was a problem in prisons because the inmates were being segregated by race and were victims of discrimination.
An example of balancing a prisoner’s rights with maintaining the safety and rules of the prison would be regarding the first amendment. The first amendment of the constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. One problem with the first amendment and prisoners’ rights is receiving mail. Having the right to free speech opens the door for prisoners about what they can correspond through the mail. Prisoners may be writing about a current trial, they could be planning criminal activity or smuggling things through the mail. This is a safety issue for the prison and a privacy issue for the inmate. This is where we will see the balance between the two.
Prisons still do allow their inmates to receive letters and send letter in the mail. But they must be checked and read ingoing and outgoing to make sure there is nothing illegal being discussed or planned. “Each area regarding prisoners’ rights is complex. Court decisions and the general rules that follow do not cover all particular situations, and an area such as the First Amendment right to mail may involve issues concerning reasonable correctional interests in maintaining institutional safety and security, while also involving an array of issues such as: (1) religion (2) correspondence with courts and attorneys, (3) inmate publications, (4) mail by and to inmates in isolation, (5) packages, (6) limiting the number of correspondents, (7) mail between inmates, and (8) the issue of negligent (versus intentional) delays in delivering legal mail to inmates.” (Stojkovic & Lovell, 2013). The point of making sure there is a balance is to guarantee the prisoners’ rights and the legitimate interests of the correctional institution are both being met.
Along with incarceration, there are multiple forms of corrections including rehabilitation and reintroduction into society. Beginning with probation, which is the release of the offender into society, but they must comply with rules like curfew and they will have to be drug tested. They have a probation officer that will keep in contact with them if they need any assistance. House Arrest is when the offender always must be monitored by a bracelet. They can go to work, and home and this option saves the corrections system a lot of money because they don’t have to keep the offender incarcerated. Restitution is when the offender must work off or pay back the community which is like community service where the offender has to work off their crime.
Work release and study release programs are where the offender still resides at the prison but can leave to attend work or school. These programs are great because they allow the offenders to get small doses of the real world, it teaches them responsibility, and this will make it that much easier for them to transition back into the real world after their incarceration. Halfway houses are places where released offenders can stay as part of their parole or early release. These homes follow strict rules like curfew and mandatory drug tests.
It is true that our corrections system has never been perfect but understanding the inner functions of a prison, authority duties and everything else involved in corrections, you are able to get a better understanding of the difficulties involved in keeping a functioning system going. Our corrections system has improved in strides since it first came to be. Prisoners are now given rights they would never have before and this is what makes the corrections system now so great. Before they focused on just the punishment of an offender, but over the centuries we have been able to see that our communities benefit more by having the offenders rehabilitated. Making sure they can learn from their mistakes and continue to grow and make correct decisions in prison and once they are released.
