When thinking of prisons, we just see inmates, people that did a crime and are in there because they put themselves in that position. What people seem to not know or ignore is the violence that occurs in prison. With overcrowding prisons and violent prisoners, it is a constant battle to keep a safe environment. There is violence between inmates and violence between inmates and guards. Data on physical violence in prison is scarce and more needs to be done to protect all parties. There are many inmates that have been wrongfully convicted or are still awaiting trial and these individuals forced in a position of danger.
Prisons have a set of codes such as the street codes from low income communities. (Wolff, N., Blitz, C. L., Shi, J., Siegel, J., & Bachman, R. 2007) Prisons have become a place that people try to survive. 19% of male inmates have stated that they have been physically assaulted by other inmates. (Gilson, D., Mother Jones, Lee, J., Baptiste, N., & Oatman, M. 2017, June 23) The number of inmates being physically assisted by prison staff members is at 22%, these numbers show that the individuals put in place to keep the peace are doing the opposite. (Gilson, D., Mother Jones, Lee, J., Baptiste, N., & Oatman, M. 2017, June 23)
The prison system needs to be updated and training needs to be a constant item on their agenda. There is very little research being done to accurately test how prison facilities are being operated and that needs to change. In 2001 the department of justice released data showing inmate vs inmate assaults were 38% higher in private prisons compared to public prisons. (Gilson, D., Mother Jones, Lee, J., Baptiste, N., & Oatman, M. 2017, June 23) There needs to be accountability for inmate safety.
Gilson, D., Mother Jones, Lee, J., Baptiste, N., & Oatman, M. (2017, June 23). 10 stats about assault and sexual violence in America’s prisons. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/attacks-and-assaults-behind-bars-cca-private-prisons/
Wolff, N., Blitz, C. L., Shi, J., Siegel, J., & Bachman, R. (2007). Physical Violence Inside Prisons. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34(5), 588-599. doi:10.1177/0093854806296830
Tags: criminal justice system, law, prison dangers
You bring up a great point about simply seeing individuals in prisons as inmates. Because we have such a large prison population in the United States with almost 3% of Americans in some sort of correctional system (Glaze, Kaeble, 2014), there is a tendency to simply blame them for their position and to not look at the human side of things. Of course a lot of people who commit crimes deserve some level of punishment, however that does not mean that they should be treated as subhuman once they enter the American justice system. I’ve had personal dealings with this, having my father incarcerated for a crime that he certainly deserves to be incarcerated for. However other people don’t seem to look at the human side of him. They see him as a minority in jail for a violent crime, not as a man who has a PhD in Buddhist studies, a lifelong advocate for refugees from his home country, and a loving father. No, once he went to prison, he became the sum of one action. It is unfortunate the injustices that prisoners face today. There is a lot of violence, a lot of fear, mistreatment from guards, even small things like restitution which means that the prison can take up to half of the money that your family sends you in jail is all aimed at punishing prisoners even more than they already are, even though our justice system is supposed to be about reform and rehabilitation.
Correctional Populations in the United States, 2013 (NCJ 248479). Published December 2014 by U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). By Lauren E. Glaze and Danielle Kaeble, BJS statisticians
Hi!
I’m glad that you are discussing this issue because it is definitely not talked about enough. Is there a difference when it comes to men’s prison versus women’s prisons? I think that the issue in women’s prison’s is just as bad, if not worse. Not many seem to care enough to either do more research on something like this or to actually do something about it. Just because someone is in prison does not mean that they deserve the things that happen in there. This applies to people who haven’t committed extreme crimes, for example. The ones who have committed extreme crimes should be in isolation. It is especially upsetting to know that many innocent people have to deal with constant abuse in prison that no one seems to care about. Education, research and actual plans is what can fix this. More is done in today’s world, but it never seems like enough. The reality is that many don’t even see prisoners, guilty or not guilty, as humans anymore so they don’t care what happens to them.
-Maya