Jail_and_Prison

Jail and Prison Unknown CJA 204 November 23, 2010 Mr. Roy McCalister Jr. Jail and Prison The incarceration epidemic is not a big city or inner city problem, nor is it a problem of a particular race or culture. Incarceration occurs in all ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, gender, and geographic boundaries. However, there are many different local procedures and practices that contribute to the problem of the rapid jail percentage. In fact, Capps Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending(2007) states that Michigan spends $1.9 billion on corrections; as the state faces deficits totaling more than $3 billion. In contrast, Hughes (2008) phrased “about 20 cents of every dollar in the state’s $9.8 billion general fund budget is spent on the Department of Corrections”. Wow! Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. Despite are state insufficiency, matters are only getting worse. In these difficult economic times, Michigan cannot afford to bear social or financial costs associated with the growing rate of the prison population. With this being said, something needs to be done to reduce jail costs, population, and the incarceration turnover rate. In addition, to these obstacles, (Steadman, McCarty, & Morrissey,1989) concludes that; Nearly half of the jails in the United States are over 30 years old . Such an endeavor would be impossible to improve; the correction facilities will continue to remain out of date in county and state level prisons. I personally, think that in order to change the law you must first follow the law! Clearly, we must take a bite out of crime! Everyone has heard the saying that “the only things we can count on are death and taxes”. But a third ingredient could be added to this list, which is crime. Crime has plagued society at an alarming rate; it goes far back in history, and occurs at any given moment. The America that we know today will not be the same country where our children and grandchildren will live. In fact, the national arrest rate for age 15-16 years old is projected to increase by 30% in 2010( J.C.McEleney & B.L. Mceleney, 2005). Meanwhile, funding of the state continues to drop daily! We need to rethink the whole idea of our state budget system, numbers are unenthusiastic not encouraging. According to Hughes (2008) Michigan is one of only four states in the nation to spend more on prisons than on its colleges and universities. After years of cuts of state spending on universities and rising prison costs, Michigan now spends $1.19 on corrections for every $1 spent on higher education; the Pew Center on the States reported in February. If you are looking for a bang for bucks, it sure isn’t the Michigan prison system. In turn, the majority of incarcerated individuals will be released back into society. Something’s are inevitable, and the justice system is one of them. Incarcerated in a confinement of space with your freedom taken from you, a prisoner of injustice, and no peace a victim of the state. To no longer have the rights of an American; the penitentiary is not a vacation a human being plans for. Yet, people are subject to commit crimes that can land them a life time of discomfort. Nevertheless, both jails and prisons serve to protect the public, but the temporary nature of the jail population creates a different set of challenges for jails than those faced by prisons. Jail’s focus on short-term, while prisons handle long-term or even life sentences. With this in mind, Hughes(2007) reveal’s that former Governor Granholm came out with proposals in 2007 to release 5,000 old and sick state prisoners and to reform sentencing guidelines and the state parole system, lawmakers recoiled in horror. I estimate that lawmaker’s are trying to keep our neighborhoods crime free. Would releasing inmates from jail really make a difference in the prison system' Percentage of Inmates Convicted in the State Court: Determination Source: CRS presentation of DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletins, Prisoners in 1994 and Prisoners in 2005. The American legal system has been continuing struggle toward a one way street if you ask me. There are many things wrong with our prison system. The impact of the legal system will continue to touch the lives of American’s one way or another. Moreover, although we have made progress, we have not yet reached our goal. The need for justice is craving in America, yet it is being ignored. The American people are still hungry with not a bite of justice available on the menu. It is hard to imagine that with congress, legislation, and over thousands of resources available to our state prison’s, and county jails that policy-makers have not found the correct piece to the puzzle. In fact, Herman (2001) mentions politician’s and policymaker’s now seem to worship the very kind of institutional power whose adverse effects were so critically educated over the past 25 years. This means that our current justice system is really not current its history in the making. According to my knowledge, Justice should be based on serving those committed not policymaker’s. Policymaker’s are only trying to get the job done; they aren’t really concern with what policies the incarcerated pollution has to follow. Herman(2001) found that the United States has entered what another commentator called the “mean season” of corrections, one in which penal philosophy amounts to little more than devising “creative strategies to make offenders suffer” (p. There has never been a time like now, to start correcting the correction’s system. Day by day, hour by hour, there has to be a change prepared. Public –private partnerships in the operation of prisons have existed from the colonial period to contemporary times (Herman, 2001, p.85). Incarceration guidelines vary from additional guiding principles. Just because prisoners are behind bar’s doesn’t mean that they have to be treated like animals! However, like the saying goes “if u commit the crime you must do the time”. Time waits for no one. In contrast, does the opinions of the people even matter in the world we live in' I would have to say no policies maker’ s, may listen to what society has to say but at the end of the day they are the one’s whom make the final decisions. Our Freedom as we know it goes right out the window. However, some polices in place could mean a better tomorrow. Neighborhoods are still unsafe, no matter what policies are enforced. So why continue to punish the captive' American is supposed to be the land of the free, not the imprisoned. On a positive note, change is good. This just might be a light at the end of the tunnel. With that being said, we must open our hearts and pray for a better tomorrow. Fact is neither side can win. Can you consider yourself an outcast' Because with, private- policies imposed you are not only victimized, and single out your options of being a citizen of abundance is apathetic. In today’s economy it’s hard for the well-informed. What about those isolated for life-terms' Are we all prisoners of solitary confinement' I would have to say yes, even though we aren’t behind a jail cell, we are still given polices to follow. Red light, green light, we are puzzled and confused about what we are trying to achieve. Inmates in the 21st century will serve sentences, often life sentences if convicted under habitual offender legislation, of virtual solitary confinement (J.C.McEleney & B.L. McEleney, 2005, p. 27). Opportunity! For whom, one day we will arrive at a controlled civilization, but until then we are kept apart, and placed into separated isle numbers. The Jail system happens to be composed of over thousands of stakeholder’s, however I will elaborate about one stakeholder in particular; Public Private Parternerships which focuses not on the inmate but the business of corrections. Their roles is to set laws for the isolated, basically they keep things in order on the inside. They make sure the prisoner known’s they are state property. The wait is over; I am really passionate about the justice system. I gained a lot of information that will last me a life-time. Jail is a place where the uninformed become informed. 

REFERENCES * Herman, P. G. (2001). The American Prison System (Vols. 73 - 5, pp. 23-85). Ipswich, MA: The H.W. Wilson Company * Hughes, C. (2008, June 12). Michigan's prison system bankrupts state budget. In Mlive.com. Retrieved October 28, 2011, from http://blog.mlive.com/bcopinion//print.html * McEleney, J. C., & Mceleney, B. L. (2005). Penology, Justice, And Liberty (pp. 20-27). Lanham, MD: University Press of America. * Right-Sizing Michigan's Prison Population [Letter to the editor]. (2006, December 16). Capps Citizens alliance on Prisons & Public Spending. * Steadman, H. J., Mccarty, D. W., & Morrissey, J. P. (1989). The Mentally ILL In Jail (p. 3). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.