Crime, Law, and Society

Criminal Justice in America, lone(prenominal) travail or separate limitation is defined as a punitive clay in which each flimflam is held in isolation from new(prenominal)wise inmates, and all activities take place within the cells. In 1787, the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of e reallyday Prisons was formed by Quakers after they became inspired by John Howard, an position Sheriff who had written about the horrible conditions in prisons he had visited.This society argued that criminals could be reformed if they were placed in penitentiaries and isolated room society and from unrivaled an some other, so that they could reflect on their crimes and repent. Soon after forming, the Pennsylvania law-makers authorized the building of a penitentiary based on the system of separate confinement.It was believed that alone(p) confinement would prevent further corruption from interior prisons, it would allow offenders to reflect on their crimes, it would be an i rritating punishment because adult male are naturally social, and it would be economical because it would not take commodious for the reformation process to affect the criminal. In 1834, another Pennsylvania prison based on this system was subject to outside investigations that detailed proscribe effects of separate confinement prisoners were not reforming, physical punishments were being employ as discipline, and the extended isolation resulted in many prisoners having mental breakdowns.After honoring the frontline documentary Solitary Nation, I regain it that solitary confinement should single be used in situations where an inmate has committed a serious infraction. There are an estimated 80,000 inmates across the United States in solitary confinement. Todd Thicket, who is in prison for arson, is a good example of why it is rail at to segregate criminals for performing mild to moderate infractions. There is one model where Todd had made a suicide plan of attack and offic ers were unable to offer neighboring(a) medical aid until he would handcuff himself.Some inmates, like 21 year old Adam Brutal, claim that they cigaret handle it Adam female genitals read, write, and do pushup to pass the time. He claims surviving segregation obviously requires a strong mind. Within a few months, Adam makes an attempt on his life by severing veins in his arm. According to Lamar Kelly, an inmate at Maine State Prison, there are 20 such consequents per month. The manage of solitary confinement began in the eighteen hundreds as a continuous tense experiment to see if isolation would help criminals reform.This idea was soon toss when it was revealed that prisoners not only did not reform, but also lost their minds. The work out of solitary confinement was revived in the sass as a method to stamp out prison violence. The warden at Maine State Prison, Rodney Bradford, believes that solitary confinement should only be used for extremely violent criminals, and tha t it is very overused throughout the United States. One example of an incredibly violent and sedate criminal is prick Gibbs he has made many threats to kill the warden and other inmates.Many would argue that Peter is the type of criminal who deserves to be confined, however Peter makes a good point when he says its a fantasy to think youre going to change a man who doesnt want to change. In virtually cases, isolating criminals who do not want to change may only be contributing to their mental illnesses. Dry. Dan Banish says that consequences must be enforced among the inmates, even if such consequences do not benefit the inmates. The documentary does not end optimistically.Maine State Prison does drastically reduce the number of prisoners held in solitary confinement, but there was at least one incident where an inmate was released and shortly afterward stabbed someone 87 times, and many of the inmates feature in Solitary Nation went on to make more attempts on their lives. I think that infractions which result in solitary confinement fatality to be a great deal less strict and should result in much less time spent in isolation, although there are cases where it can be a deserved punishment. I also think that other options, such as counseling, should be used in place of the lesser infractions.