Prison Life

Week 13: Wrap-up

kemyers — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:01:04 +0000

While researching this topic I learned many things that I had no idea about before. It is something that I have always found interesting, I grew up watching cop shows, especially law and order, and not looking behind the scenes and seeing how prisoners themselves are treated has been a very interesting topic that I am glad I did.

When I started this project I was going to just focus on how women are treated in the prison system but after doing alot of research from different outlets I learned about people from other races and backgrounds and how they experience prison life, along with many other aspects such as diseases, medical care and marriage and relationships. Through these areas I learned that although it seems a though it should be that all are treated the same in prison this is not the case and actually it can be quite an unfair system.

People need to get involved and work together to bring equal rights and rights to those who are in prison, because they are still humans and they still deserve to be treated with respect that anyone else would deserve. Writing you legislature is a great way to get involved and get your voice heard, along with the changing of laws and regulations.

Week 12: Private vs. Federal Prisons

kemyers — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:40:34 +0000

For this blog I decided to do some research on the difference between federal and private prisons and the difference breakdowns of races, genders, and social backgrounds within those prison systems. Also any information I could find pertaining to the treatment of prisoners in the different types.

Information of federal prisons was easy to find, through the U.S Department of Justice, I was able to find a breakdown of different statistics based on federal prisons around the United States. Federal prisons are broken down into different levels of security, thus also breaking down what kind of criminals are in those prisons. For example there is low security which has a lower staff to inmate ratio then a high security prison would have. The Bureau of Federal Prisons is responsible for over 200,000 inmates, and of those inmates 85% of them are confined to correctional facilities or detention centers.

Private prisons are a little bit harder to find information on. If you did not known, private prisons are prisons that are owned by a third party, that the government, whether it is state or federal uses to house criminals and pays that private prison an amount of money to hold that inmate. One of the largest companies that does this is the CCA or the Corrections Corporation of America, who just celebrated their 20th university. Unfortunatly the CCA has experienced many lawsuits over the past few years, put out by prisoners, and the government.

These include:

-failure to provide adequate medical care for prisoners

-failure to control violence

-poor conditions

-high level of escapes

In conclusion, while these are just an example of two different types of prisons, there is a lot to be said as to why federal prisons are better then that of private funding. When prisoners are sent to private prisons they are basically being sold to another location that is not always better then that of a federal prison.

http://www.alternet.org/story/17392/

Week 10: Prison Labor

kemyers — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:26:47 +0000

While doing research on the prison system in the United States I came across a website with an article posted recently in March of 2008. The Center for Research on Globalization has an article published on their website about the debate on whether or not the prison industry in the United States is considered “big business or a new form of slavery”.

The prison system is made up of millions of prisoners, and out of that the majority or African Americans or Hispanics. From what we learned in class, most prisoners in jail are there for non-violent crimes, and out of those, many are first time offenders. With the amount of prisoners being put into jail every year increasing and jails getting more and more overcrowded. These prisoners in some jails are being forced to work for larger companies for way less then minimum wage. Because of these rates, being forced to work as a prisoner could be considered a form of slavery to many people, and because they are being paid so little. Jails cost so much to keep operating, things that people buy that the prisoners make, help bring an income into the prison system. Prisons themselves take billions of dollars each year to run and maintain, and with the high number or prisoners being sentenced for all kinds of crimes this rate just keeps on going up.

In order to help this situation new laws need to be passed that helps to bring the rate of prisoners down, helping to reduce the amount of money that is spent by our tax dollars each year. A way of changing that, is to change minimum sentences for crimes that are nonviolent. This will help bring down the amount of prisoners, and also bring down cost, which will make it not mandatory to make them work for less then a dollar a day.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289

Week 9: Prison Populations Depending on Backgrounds

kemyers — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:52:53 +0000

The prison system in the United States is unlike many other countries around the world. In the United States each state has different rules and laws set up from prisoners and the prison system in that state as a whole. While in one state a crime that is committed might be a misdemeanor, and in another it could be a felony, because of this different states have different prison rates, and different types of prisoners. In the United States most of the prisoners in jail are those who are booked for misdemeanors, and no violent crimes. With this being the case those who are incarcerated are there for not necessarily a long time, but are taking up space in jail, causing the United States to have an increasingly high prison rate and be over crowded.

Certain regions of the United States have a higher percentage of prisoners of a certain race or ethnic background then another area. The type of prisoner that a jail has has many factors that depend on it. In the southern part of the United States in some areas there is a problem of a never ending cycle or parents and then their children going to jail. In some of the rural areas in the south, there is a problem with illiteracy. When children who either had parent that was incarcerated or is currently in jail, suffer from only one parent or no parental figure they themselves have a higher chance of heading down the same path as those before them. Unfortunately in that area Africa Americans are the ones that are mostly targeted and end up in jail based on illiteracy, education opportunities and location.

So as you can see, in America, the typical prisoner is not always so typical, and different stereotypes that have to do with race, gender, or class have a strong effect on the different prisons throughout the country.

Week 8: Hostage Controversy

kemyers — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:00:36 +0000

In the prison system there are always controversies that take place, that many times the media does not even know about. One specific incident that happened, was in the Maine State Prison located in Warren, Maine. It was a hostage situation where inmate Michael Chasse made a makeshift knife, taking a prison employee and another inmate hostage. Chasse then stabbed and bound both of the hostages. Prison guards handled the situation, and were able to control it and stabilize it. Prison officals said it was am isolated incident. One of the prison officals had this to say about the incident and how it was handled, “I don’t think there’s any facility in the country where you can have an episode like this that you do it 100% right. There’s always room for improvement. We’re looking at what we did right and enhancing that on what we can improve on”. One of the reasons that his incident took national attention was because there was a lawsuit filed, and is currently going through the court system.

However incidents like this are not unusual in most cases. While most of the cases are not as serious and do not get media attention such as this case, there are many times where prison guards and other inmates are in danger from violent situations. It is important that the safety of prison employees is secure at their workplace. Even though they work at a prison they deserve to have the personal safety secured. While employees need to be protected, other prison inmates need to be safe as well. They may be in there for many different things, but they deserve to not be attacked or taken advantage of, because they also need to have their rights protected.

These are all things, that with this article open up a world of questions involving prison safety for all those in the prison system.

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=90336

Week 7: Prison Rape

kemyers — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:55:56 +0000

Life in prison is very difficult, but for some prisoners, it can be incredibly scary and life-threatening. Rape is unfortunately a very common problem in the prison system. It also seems to be a more common problem amongst male prisoners versus female prisoners. The video clip that I have attached is a clip from the documentary No Escape: Prison Rape which is a documentary by Gabriel Films, and is helping to bring funding to the Human Rights Watch. This organization is working hard to help prevent prison rape, along with the training of police officers and those who work in prisons to help with preventing rape.

This clip is about a young seventeen year old boy Rodney Hullin, who committed suicide in prison after being a victim of multiple cases of sexual abuse, along with mental and emotional distress. Along with being raped several times, he tried to get assistance from the prison itself, by applying for grievances to help give him protected custody, but unfortunately those were turned down twice. After suffering for so long, and not getting any help he eventually ended his life. This is the case of many inmates who are not given any assistance from prison guards or officials, because the prisoners feel as though they is no other hope and they will be killed anyway by their fellow inmates.

At the end of the clip there are some interesting statistics provided by the Human Rights Watch. Over 150,000 males inmates each year are raped in United States prisons, whether it be by other inmates or by guards or officials. Not only are these victims raped once, but on average they are raped at least nine more times. Like the video says in most prisons, there is a “pecking” order for the inmates, and unfortunately those who are lowest in the order can become easy victims for those that are higher up. That was the case in this video, where Rodney was too low, and was taken advantage of.

Week 6: Abuse of Prisoners

kemyers — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:03:21 +0000

Abuse in prisons is not a new idea, or something that has not been heard of before. In the news and media we hear about situations all the time that cause everyone to think and try and reevaluate what is actually going on in the prison systems. Unfortunately after that attention is paid to the abusive event, it often goes unnoticed or is not thing that is addressed. It is not only men though that are suffering from random abuses, but also women who are victims, and are taken advantage of.

A website I found that I thought related to my topic well was from the Human Rights Watch website, focusing on ending the abusive treatment of prisoners in prison. This website had many different features that would be considered helpful to those who are in prisons families, along with just overall knowledge of what some of the situations are that prison abuse becomes prevalent. This website shows prison abuse in different countries along with different abusive situations. One of the main things that this website does that is different then other ones that I looked at was that there were other countries shown and other prison systems that experience the same kinds of abuse that prisons all over the world.

This relates to my topic because how women and men are treated in prison may be different however they both can suffer and become a victim to abusive treatment in prison or by the prison system in general and be taken advantage of, but what the system brings to that individual.

Week 5: Marriage

kemyers — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:30:03 +0000

Getting married, is supposed to be an exciting time in both the bride and grooms life. It is a time when the newlyweds can be together, and enjoy their time together as man and wife. However for prisoners who get married while they are incarcerated, this is not the case. How do you ask prisoners meet their “soulmates”, this is where it can become a controversial topic. Many prisoners, mostly men, who are in sentenced to life in jail or on death row, are able to post personal advertisements in order to gain a pen pal, and in some cases a future spouse. There are hundreds of websites out there that contain these personal ad’s and show information on the inmate and how to get in contact with the inmate of their choice.

The reason this has caused so much controversy is the simple fact, whether or not inmates should have the freedom to have communication with the outside world because of they are in jail. This is something that has been discussed many times, and there are many different opinions on the issue. For those who do visit these websites, and respond to these personal ads feel as though it is a way to find their soul mate. Many people, mostly women do this in a variety of way, by writing to them, sending gifts, visiting, and in extreme and raw occasions taking it to the level of marriage. Those who are opposed to prisoners having these ads, feel as though it is going against the idea of what marriage is supposed to be, and giving back the rights of those whose rights were taken for a reason.

With all of the positive and negative sides of these personal ads and marriages happening within prison walls, there are many people who are very happy with what their futures hold. There are those who have found their soul mates through this untraditional way of meeting someone, but they do not get to have the marriage that they maybe pictured for themselves. It is a hard road to travel and it takes a lot, especially from the partner that is not in jail.

Week 4: Prison Disease

kemyers — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:28:11 +0000

Many diffrerent diseases are prevelant throughout the prison system, and most of the time these diseases are unknown and unidentified for the person with that disease. HIV and AIDS is a problem that has become one of those diseases that can not be controlled in jail. One of the main reasons for that is that even though sexual relations is not permitted in the system, it happens and because condoms can not be passed out, those who have HIV or AIDS and are sexually active inside the walls, can be passing from partner to partner.

In a radio show broadcast on October 1, 2008 through North Carolina Public radio, the idea of AIDS in prison is something that is addressed. AIDS has become a widespread issue in prisons especially in the south, and now they are passing new rules and regulations in order to try and combat this issue before it gets out of hand. In North Carolina in state prisons, testing is now being done to new inmates, for HIV/AIDS and syphilis, another disease that while it is widespread has very few noticeable symptoms. As the radio show states, “over 20,000 prisoners in the United States have HIV/AIDS and over half of that are in prisons in the south”.

This is never really addressed because it, is not something that people want to understand as a reality. A lot of these inmates that have these diseases are those that are coming in and out of the prison system. During this radio show, doctors that have noticed what has been going has been happening under the radar, and since sexual relations is against the rules, it is not something that is “really happening”. My topic addresses how people are treated in prison and like in the real world, those with AIDS are sometimes looked down upon, because of the nature of the disease, and how it becomes an issue. Those who have AIDS and get tested for it in prison, sometimes do not want other inmates to know, because of how they will be treated, but by not letting those people know and continuing with sexual activity is a threat both parties.

HIV AIDS in Prison

Wednesday, October 01 2008 by Rose Hoban

Recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the AIDS epidemic continues to expand, especially in the South. And one of the populations here with persistently high rates of infection are people in prison. But workers from an HIV clinic in Henderson are hoping to stem the spread of HIV behind bars and beyond. Rose Hoban reports

http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/NRH100108.mp3

Week 3: “Snapped”

kemyers — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:57:26 +0000

One of the shows that I was talking about last week is the show “Snapped” on Oxygen, is depicts true crime stories, committed by women who have snapped, and lost control with their husbands, or significant others. It is a documentary style show, that is narrated by a reporter, the style of which they do the show is based on interviews from people who were actually witnesses and attached to the crime itself and also experts who give their opinion and insight.

This show helps to give insight and informs people of how anyone can snap when people least expect it. Women of all economic and social backgrounds can lose control and attack anyone and do anything that is considered out of the ordinary.

In the video clip that I have attached is about a women names Tracey Frame and her boyfriend. When he boyfriend wrote the lease of over to her to avoid repossession, but like most “Snapped” episodes Tracey explodes without anyone knowing what is going to happen. In the clip, Tracey and her boyfriend have a bad breakup and her boyfriend wants his house lease back, to solve the problem Tracey shoots and kills her boyfriend and disposed of his body in a drain.

This is just another example of what the show “Snapped” brings. The Women in the stories do not necessarily fit the description of a murderer or someone who is going to commit a crime, but that is how you get the examples used the show.