UNIT 1. Who Are the Prisoners?1. American Criminal Justice Philosophy: What's Old--What's New?, Curtis R. Blakely and Vic W. Bumphus, Federal Probation, June 1999.
Curtis Blakely and Vic Bumphus show how public interest and social change affect the operations of the various agencies of the criminal justice system. The authors provide a comparison among the current police philosophies and examine how they could be applied to the corrections system.
2. Prisoners in 1998, Allen J. Beck and Christopher J. Mumola, Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, U.S. Department of Justice, August 1999.
The Department of Justice releases a report approximately every 2 years that chronicles the changes in the nation's prison population. In this report, Allen Beck and Christopher Mumola highlight the changes in inmate demographics and incarceration rates nationwide.
3. Prior Abuse Reported by Inmates and Probationers, Caroline Wolf Harlow, Bureau of Justice Statistics: Selected Findings, April 1999.
Anecdotal data have long argued a relationship between childhood abuse and later criminal behavior. This federal report compares inmates' personal histories of abuse with their placement at different levels of control within the correctional system. The links between prior abuse and later alcohol/drug use are also examined.
4. Drug Use History and Criminal Behavior among 133 Incarcerated Men, Elena M. Kouri, Harrison G. Pope Jr., Kenneth F. Powell, Paul S. Oliva, and Corbett Campbell, American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, August 1997.
This article further examines the relationship between substance abuse and crime in a sample of 133 incarcerated males. While the sample is narrow, it still provides compelling evidence of the relationship between crime, incarceration, and clinical substance dependence.
5. Drugs, Crime, Prison, and Treatment, Charles Blanchard, Spectrum, Winter 1999.
Charles Blanchard states that there is a close connection between crime and substance abuse. He examines this linkage to support the idea of treatment programs in prison and the use of specialized areas of the justice system to support the substance-abusing criminal.
6. The Forgotten Offender, Meda Chesney-Lind, Corrections Today, December 1998.
Female offenders have been, for most of the past decade, the fastest-growing segment of the correctional population. In this article, Meda Chesney-Lind examines the reasons for this change. Issues discussed include how the drive for equality helped to create this situation and how we could help to correct some of these new problems by changing our imprisonment philosophy and recognizing the differences between male and female inmates.
UNIT 2. Prison Life7. Coping with Incarceration--From the Other Side of the Bars, Mary Dallao, Corrections Today, October 1997.
Often forgotten in the debate on imprisonment and sentencing are the families of the inmates. This article provides a feel for what others experience when a loved one is sentenced to prison. It offers corrections professionals some suggestions to help mitigate the impact on families.
8. Behind Bars: We've Built the Largest Prison System in the World. Here's a Look Inside, Wray Herbert, U.S. News & World Report, March 23, 1998.
With the rapid and seemingly uncontrollable increases in prison populations, it is helpful to take a look inside and see what the day-to-day experience of imprisonment looks like. This is a photographic essay on life inside various incarcerative institutions.
9. Behind Bars: Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population, Spectrum, Winter 1999.
Substance abuse and addiction have fundamentally changed the nature of America's prison population. Crime and substance abuse are joined at the hip.
10. Inside the New Alcatraz, Peter Annin, Newsweek, July 13, 1998.
As prisons continue to grow in size and to house more serious and dangerous inmates, places need to be constructed to keep those inmates who are too dangerous for the general population. This is a brief description of the operation and design of the newest Administrative Maximum Federal Prison.
11. Life on the Inside: The Jailers, Andrew Metz, Newsday, March 21, 1999.
At the Nassau County Correctional Center, one of the largest jails in the country, correction officers battle tension, fear, and stereotypes. Many officers believe that they are seen as brutes, only a shade better than the people behind bars.
12. Prison Crime in New York State, David R. Eichenthal and Laurel Blatchford, The Prison Journal, December 1997.
As noted earlier, crime in the streets seems to be decreasing, but inmate populations seem to be increasing. What are all these inmates doing while they are in prison? This article examines the prevalence of crime in prisons, discusses some of the social, political, and practical reasons for the increase in prison crime, and offers ways for states to combat this problem.
13. Stopping Abuse in Prison, Nina Siegal, The Progressive, April 1999.
Nina Siegal makes the argument that abuse of inmates by correctional staff is widespread (a position not wholly supported by other researchers) and offers case studies to support that position. Included in the article are some perspectives of governmental and private groups, and an explanation of how suggested legislation and training may better control staff behavior.
14. A Day in the Life, Gabrielle de Groot, Corrections Today, December 1998.
This article looks at both the emotional and physical experience of being an inmate in a female prison. In the course of this article, four female inmates discuss the life on the inside, the situations on the outside that preceeded their crimes, and the mechanisms that they employ to attempt to create an improved quality of life in prison.
15. The Gangs behind Bars, Tiffany Danitz, Insight, September 28/October 5, 1998.
Male inmates, as a rule, differ from female inmates in the ways that they cope with incarceration. This brief article shows how prevalent gangs are in prison, and the many reasons why inmates join or create prison gangs.
16. The Effects of the Duran Consent Decree, Curtis R. Blakely, Corrections Today, February 1997.
During the New Mexico State Prison Riot, prison officials made promises to the inmates who helped to quell the riot and who eventually allowed the prison to be retaken with minimal resistance. For over a decade the promises of the prison officials and the suggestions of other governmental agencies have been ignored. In this article Curtis Blakely examines the decree, and assesses the impact of the decree on the prison system of New Mexico.
17. The Constitution and the Federal District Judge, Frank M. Johnson, Texas Law Review, Volume 903, 1976.
Based on the number of suits filed by inmates, it can be easily suggested that prisons violate the constitutional rights of inmates on a regular basis. Why then the lack of federal case law to control prison behavior? In this classic article the self-defined role of a federal court judge is discussed by an active federal judge.
UNIT 3. Unusual Problems and Unusual Populations18. Like Mother, Like Daughter: Why More Young Women Follow Their Moms into Lives of Crime, Toni Locy, U.S. News & World Report, October 4, 1999.
In this brief but important view of the relationship between mothers and daughters when the mother is a criminal and an inmate, Toni Locy provides insight into the mother's desire for her daughter to lead a different life, and the daughter's perspective of the mother as a role model.
19. Percentage of Women on Probation and Parole Rising, Jet, September 8, 1997.
In this short report, Justice Department data are used to support the idea that some types of female crime are increasing sharply, and that these increases are resulting in more females coming under the control of the corrections system.
20. Addressing the Needs of Elderly Offenders, Connie L. Neeley, Laura Addison, and Delores Craig-Moreland, Corrections Today, August 1997.
As sentences increase and parole becomes more difficult to obtain, the predicted outcome will be more inmates living in prison as senior citizens. This article outlines some of the changes that will need to be made to both prison structure and operations to accommodate these aging inmates.
21. Elder Care: Louisiana Initiates Program to Meet Needs of Aging Inmate Population, Jean Wall, Corrections Today, April 1998.
Jean Wall describes a pilot program that was initiated to better and more effectively deal with aging and aged inmates in Louisiana. Included are programs designed to keep aging inmates healthy, with the idea of both improving their quality of life and decreasing medical costs for the facility.
22. Chaser: A Medication Addict, Victor Hassine, from Life without Parole, Roxbury Publishers, Los Angeles, CA, 1999.
In this chapter excerpt from Victor Hassine's book, the life and crimes of an inmate called Chaser are discussed. An image emerges of a prison system that seeks to control needy inmates with medication rather than with more substantial and effective long-term therapy.
23. Mental Health and Treatment of Inmates and Probationers, Paula M. Ditton, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, July 1999.
In this Bureau of Justice Statistics report, causes of criminal behavior are examined and the mental health of the inmate population is assessed. Linkages are examined between physical/substance abuse and criminality. In addition, treatment programs are evaluated in terms of their availability to mentally ill inmates.
24. Juveniles in Federal Prison, Jack Kresnak, The Education Digest, February 1999.
As the federal government takes a greater interest in crime and, predictably, creates more federal legislation to control crime, the outcome will be an increased need for federal prison beds to house these criminals. When this situation is applied to the juvenile population, the expected outcome will be increases in the federal juvenile population. This article outlines what happens in a federal juvenile facility with a burgeoning population of Native American juvenile offenders.
25. Re-Forming Juvenile Justice: The New Zealand Experiment, Allison Morris and Gabrielle Maxwell, The Prison Journal, June 1997.
The United States is not the only place experiencing increases in juvenile correctional populations. This article examines the impact of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act of 1989 in New Zealand. Included in this act are some of the same strategies that are being used in some U.S. cities.
UNIT 4. Dying on the Inside: The Death Penalty26. A House without a Blueprint, Ted Gest, U.S. News & World Report, July 8, 1996.
Ted Gest examines the case of Gary Burris and uses it as an example of some of the enduring problems with the process of the death penalty. The article ends with an examination of the data that shows the impact that race and geography can have on the potential for execution.
27. Facts and Figures: A Costly Matter of Life or Death, Bevolyn Williams-Harold, Black Enterprise, September 1998.
The death penalty requires extraordinary levels of due process to ensure the guilt and the level of guilt of the accused. This brief article outlines the costs of this "super" due process.
28. Stolen Lives: Men and Women Wrongfully Sentenced to Death Row, Jenny Allen and Lori Grinker, Life, October 1994.
One of the most compelling arguments against execution is its irreversibility. This article shows how often innocent people end up on death row, and the devastating consequences for them and their families.
29. Death Row Justice Derailed, Ken Armstrong and Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune, November 14, 1999.
While the court process is often less than perfect, the authors of this article show us how particularly imperfect the system was in Illinois. This article, through the use of court records and offender interviews, shows how this system, which lacked the checks and balances that we all take for granted, could convict innocent individuals and place them on death row.
30. The Death Penalty Brings Justice, and Death at Midnight . . . Hope at Sunrise, Gov. George E. Pataki, Steven Hawkins, Corrections Today, August 1996.
Two perspectives on the death penalty are advanced in these two articles. For Governor George Pataki, execution is seen as the ultimate justice for society and the family of the victim. Steven Hawkins considers the legal process, which is more affected by the economic condition of the offender and the race of the offender and the victim, rather than by the guilt or innocence of the offender.
UNIT 5. Living on the Outside: Intermediate Sanctions31. Correctional Treatment: Some Recommendations for Effective Intervention, Paul Gendreau and Robert R. Ross, Juvenile and Family Court Journal, Winter 1983-1984.
In this article, Paul Gendreau and Robert Ross show the potential value of treatment programs and discuss the reasons why many have failed, and why society seems to want to punish rather than to treat the offender, even though effective treatment is possible.
32. Habilitation, Not Rehabilitation, Dyan Machan, Forbes, November 2, 1998.
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. In this article the judge who was immortalized in the book and movie The Bonfire of the Vanities is interviewed regarding his beliefs about the function of the criminal justice system. He offers some insights and suggestions for making the legal and correctional processes more effective.
33. A Decade of Experimenting with Intermediate Sanctions: What Have We Learned?, Joan Petersilia, Federal Probation, December 1998.
Intermediate sanctions, those sentencing options that exist between full incarceration and complete release, have been in use for over a century. More modern, intermediate sanctions have been in use for a little over a decade. In this article, Joan Petersilia discusses the practical and political problems that have afflicted the system of intermediate sanctions, and she shows some locations where some new ideas seem to be working.
34. Eliminating Parole Boards Isn't a Cure-All, Experts Say, Fox Butterfield, New York Times, January 10, 1999.
Parole has been abolished or severely restricted in nearly 20 states, yet the reasons for abolishing parole and the impacts of this action are unclear. In this brief article, Fox Butterfield discusses the views of practitioners and predicts some of the dire consequences of this action.
35. Job Placement for Offenders: A Promising Approach to Reducing Recidivism and Correctional Costs, Peter Finn, National Institute of Justice Journal, July 1999.
One method of controlling prison populations is to reduce the high rate of recidivism among ex-offenders. Programs described here aim to help large numbers of ex-offenders to remain employed in order to avoid reincarceration.
36. Young Probation/Parole Officer Toughens with Experience, Susan Clayton, Corrections Today, June 1996.
Similar to improving athletic skills, the process of becoming a "seasoned" probation/parole officer is not without pain. In this article, the day-to-day actions and challenges of Baltimore Home Detention Agent Rachelle White are detailed. The process of electronic home detention is presented, along with the problems encountered in running such a unit.
UNIT 6. Future Issues in Corrections37. New Bedlam: Jails--Not Psychiatric Hospitals--Now Care for the Indigent Mentally Ill, Spencer P. M. Harrington, The Humanist, May 1999.
Jails, which have always been at the center of the criminal justice system, and have always been negatively impacted by changes in law enforcement, courts, or prisons, now have a new problem. The lack of sufficient space in mental hospitals for the indigent mentally ill has forced the criminal justice system into holding and processing this population. The author shows how jails are ill-equipped to do so and points out that inmate suicides may be the result of this unfortunate mix of person and place.
38. A Get-Tough Policy That Failed, John Cloud, Time, February 1, 1999.
The punishment philosophy of deterrence depends on the criminal making a thoughtful calculation of the punishments and the gains. It requires that the potential repeat offender be aware of the level and probability of punishment and whether the severity of the punishment outweighs the pleasure of the crime. This article examines the negative consequences of the "three strikes" model of deterrence for repeat offenders.
39. The Deterrent Effect of Three Strikes Law, John R. Schafer, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, April 1999.
In this article, proponents of the three strikes laws are given the opportunity to show that the laws may be having positive social consequences, and that society may be better off because of the legislation. Also included in the article is an analysis of offender attitudes that indicates which offender types the three strikes legislation is most likely to control.
40. "Lock 'em Up and Throw Away the Key": A Policy That Won't Work, William H. Rentschler, USA Today Magazine (Society for the Advancement of Education), November 1997.
The punishment philosophy that was espoused in the 1980s did not arise from a vacuum but was rather the result of political pressures and social concerns, the roots of which were created in the 1970s. In this article William Rentschler discusses both the causes and consequences of the imprisonment binge. He includes the politics of reelection and the perception of a society that paints those who oppose prison building for fiscal reasons as being "soft on crime."
41. Education As Crime Prevention: Providing Education to Prisoners, Research Brief (The Center on Crime, Communities & Culture), September 1997.
This research brief presents recent data on the impact of education on crime and crime prevention, and examines the debate on providing higher education to inmates.
42. Probation Department in Michigan Finds Volunteers Make Fine Officers, Brian M. Smith, Corrections Today, August 1993.
As the costs of operating probation departments increases, due to both increasing wages and increased numbers of officers and offenders, society is going to have to be inventive in finding solutions. One proposed idea, which has been tried in other countries, is the use of volunteers to supervise low-level offenders in the community. This article is an analysis and evaluation of one such program in Michigan.
43. Correctional Privatization: Defining the Issues and Searching for Answers, G. Larry Mays, from Privatization and the Provision of Correctional Services: Context and Consequences, ACJS/Anderson Monograph Service, January 1996.
Another creative solution to the cost of building and operating correctional facilities involves partnerships with the private sector. These partnerships, while financially attractive, are not without risk. In this article, Larry Mays discusses the idea of privatization in corrections and defines some of the issues which must be considered when making the decision to privatize.
44. Chain Gangs Are Right for Florida, and Chain Gangs Are Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Charlie Crist, Rhonda Brownstein, Corrections Today, April 1996.
As society and politicians seek to increase punishments in order to achieve deterrence, they also increase the operating costs of the criminal justice system. One solution has been to put inmates back to work outside the prison. Here are opposing views on the use of chain gangs as a way to ensure the safety of the public.
45. Restorative Justice: The Concept, Howard Zehr, Corrections Today, December 1997.
When the criminal justice system punishes an offender for the violation of a law that has harmed another individual, often the person who is harmed is left unrestored. The current philosophy for dealing with offenders--restorative justice--promotes not just the punishment of the offender but also (and sometimes only) the restoration of the person harmed by the offender's actions.
46. Rough Justice in the Youth Courts, Kirsty Milne, New Statesmen, January 30, 1998.
Criminal justice issues are the motivation for campaign promises in other countries as well as in the United States. In this article, the perspectives and promises of the Labour party in England are contrasted with the reality, both political and economic, of the nation. What emerges is a system and a situation that is very similar to what has emerged in the United States over the past 10 years.
47. HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Programs for Adults in Prisons and Jails and Juveniles in Confinement Facilities, Journal of the American Medical Association, May 1, 1996.
As correctional populations rise and supervision becomes less absolute, it is inevitable that sexual contact will occur between inmates in both adult and juvenile facilities. This report argues that programs that seek to decrease the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in correctional settings can be successful and should be promoted more aggressively in institutions nationwide.
48. It's Time to Open the Doors of Our Prisons, Rufus King, Newsweek, April 19, 1999.
In this brief article, Rufus King makes the argument that society has responded to crime with hysteria, which has resulted in the creation of a justice system with little flexibility and even less compassion. He suggests that the low-level offender would be better served by programs outside of the prison, and he suggests that the government should immediately review all sentences and release those who have served excessive amounts of time for seemingly minimal offenses.
