Understanding US Correctional System: Prisons and Jails Overview

1. Chapter 11 Prisons and Jails

2. Chapter 11 Objectives • Contrast the 3 governmental levels that manage jail and prison systems. • List the factors that have caused the prison population to grow dramatically in the last several decades. • List and briefly explain the four types of prisons. • Summarize the distinction between jails and prisons, and indicate the importance of jails in the American correctional system. • Indicate some of the consequences of our high rates of incarceration.

3. Correctional Facilities • We have three distinct correctional levels in the United States • Jails • State Prisons • Federal Prisons • In early American penal systems, prisons were also called penitentiaries. • The word "penitentiary" came from the Pennsylvania Quakers and their belief in penitence and self-examination as a means to salvation.

4. Custody Statistics • The United States is not soft on crime! • The U.S. has five percent of the world’s population, it has 25% of the world’s inmates. • There are over 2.3 million persons confined in United States jails and prisons. • 1 out of every 100 persons in this country is confined in a jail or correctional facility (prison). • These numbers do not include others on probation, parole or alternate correctional programs. (As of 2006, a record 7 million people were behind bars, on probation or on parole).

5. Custody Statistics • The United States’ rate of incarceration of 750 inmates per 100,000 population is the highest reported rate in the world. • Russia’s rate of incarceration is 670 inmates per 100,000 population. • The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. More people are behind bars in the United States than any other country. • The People's Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million, though China has over four times the population of the US. • In Germany, 93 people are in prison for every 100,000 adults and children. In the U.S, the rate is roughly eight times that, or 750 per 100,000.

6. Custody Statistics

7. Custody Employment • Like any big industry, corrections is a major employer. More than 600,000 Americans work in a prison or jail - roughly the same as the number who work in the airline industry. • The majority of corrections workers are correctional officers. • California Department of Corrections personnel are State Correctional Peace Officers.

8. Jail Systems • We will begin by learning the difference between jails and state or federal prisons. • Jails • Operated by county government, usually the responsibility of the sheriff. • Some large police departments have “holding facilities” but they are not jails • Santa Clara County is the only county in California where the jail is not run by the sheriff.

9. Santa Clara County Department of Corrections • Santa Clara County jails are operated by the Department of Corrections (DOC)

10. Santa Clara County Department of Corrections • The Santa Clara County Department of Corrections is the sixth largest jail system in California. • In 2002, our county housed and cared for an average of 4,060 inmates a day. • The Santa Clara County Department of Correction books approximately 60,000 arrestees annually. • The average length of stay is about 93 days

11. Santa Clara County Department of Corrections • POPULATION FIGURES • Elmwood Correctional Complex Milpitas • 2,200 male inmates • Correctional Center for Women Milpitas • 500 female inmates • Main Jail South San Jose • 450 male inmates • Main Jail North San Jose • 700 male inmates

12. Jail Systems • Los Angeles County operates the largest jail system in the United States with over 25,000 inmates in custody. • The Los jail system consists of over 9 separate custody facilities located throughout the county. • Men Central Jail houses approximately 7,000 inmates. • Every new deputy sheriff will work at least two years in a custody facility before any other assignment within the department.

13. Purpose of Jails in America • Pre-trial detention • Detain offenders awaiting sentencing • Confine misdemeanants • Hold probation & parole violators • Relieve prison overcrowding through contracts with the state and federal government

14. What Are the Most Common Kinds of Jail Inmates? • Young, single, male • Undereducated • Minorities • Low income • Single parent family • Drug/alcohol abuse • Property crimes

15. Jail Systems • Contrary to most beliefs, convicts would rather spend time in prison than a county jail • No individualism in jail • All are considered “inmates” • No private cells to call “home” • Few educational or work programs available

16. Women in Jail • Increase of 138% since 1983 • Substance abuse common • Victims of child abuse • Largest growing group of prison and jail inmates

17. Types of Security • Jails and Prisons segregate inmates by levels of security and escape risk. • All custody facilities are rated as to their security level. • Minimum • Medium • Maximum • Super Maximum or special housing units know as “SHU’s”.

18. Minimum Security Facilities • No armed guards or walls • House most trustworthy & least violent offenders • Dormitory style housing or small rooms • Often farms or ranches • Must be a sentenced inmate • Sometimes referred to as “Honor Farms”.

19. Medium Security Facilities • Similar appearance to maximum security • Security is less intense • More privileges • More treatment effort • Double row of fencing • Armed tower guards

20. Maximum Security Facilities • Fortresses • Cells / Blocks / Wings • Standard uniform & dress codes • Everything based on security • Armed tower guards • Usually double fencing, some with electrified inner fence

21. Ultra-MaximumSecurity Facilities • House most dangerous, predatory criminals • Extra-tight security and isolated conditions are common • All potential weapons removed, e.g. mirrors, toilet seat, soap dishes, etc.

22. State Prisons • Every state maintains it’s own prison system. • California’s prison system is run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. • San Quentin prison is California’s reception and classification facility for all new prison inmates. • All California state prison inmates must pass through San Quentin before being assigned to one of the states other 32 prisons.

23. State Prisons

24. Facts About Prisons and Prisoners • Nearly one in seven (13.4%) black males aged 25-29 were in prison or jail in 2001, as were 1 in 24 (4.1%) Hispanic males and 1 in 55 (1.8%) white males in the same age group. • 93% of prison inmates are male, 7% female. • Black males have a 29% chance of serving time in prison at some point in their lives; Hispanic males have a 16% chance; white males have a 4% chance. • Average Sentence: 52.9 months; Average Time Served: 26.1 months.

25. Facts About Prisons and Prisoners

26. Facts About Prisons and Prisoners

27. Facts About Prisons and Prisoners

28. Facts About Prisons and Prisoners

29. Facts About Prisons and Prisoners

30. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation • Houses approximately 170,000 inmates at any given time. • Federal Prison System houses approximately 173,000 inmates. • Operates 33 state prison facilities ranging from minimum security to supermax. • Maintains condemned row at San Quentin Prison with over 600 inmates awaiting a sentence of death. • The number of inmates in California prisons has soared, from nearly 25,000 in 1980 to more than 170,000 in 2007. • The state has an incarceration rate of 475 per 100,000 residents, well above the national average of 445 per 100,000.

31. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations • It costs approximately $33,000 a year to house an inmate in a California state prison. • Half of that cost goes directly to security.

32. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation • The greatest expense-and the greatest need-in prison is security. • The state must make sure that the prisons are safe for both inmates and staff. • Many people ask, "Why so much when we can educate a child for less than one-fourth that amount?“ • A prison, however, is not a school. Therein lies the answer. • The state must meet all basic needs of an inmate-food, shelter, clothing and health care.

33. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation • Pelican Bay State Prison is designed to house the state's most serious criminal offenders in a secure, safe and disciplined institutional setting. • The SHU (Security Housing Unit) is a state-of-the-art design for inmates who are management cases, habitual criminals, prison gang members and violence-oriented maximum custody inmates.

34. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The “SHU” for women offenders is located at Valley State Prison. An additional 1000 bed “SHU” facility for men is located in California State Prison at Corcoran.

35. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Valley State Prison for Women • Since mandatory-sentencing laws went into effect in the mid 1980's, the California female prison population has skyrocketed. • At the end of 1986, women in California's prisons totaled 3,564. • As of September 2000, the female population now numbers 11,091 -- an increase of 311% in fourteen years

36. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Valley State Prison for Women • 3,600 inmates make it the largest women’s facility in the world. • The total population of women prisoners in all State prisons in 1998 was 84,427 • Facility is running at 180 percent capacity. • Eighty percent of the inmates at the prison, that’s about 3,000 women, have been convicted of drug or drug-related charges. • More than 85 percent of the inmates are mothers. • About 80 percent of the inmates have been physically or sexually abused on the outside

37. California Department of Corrections Valley State Prison for Women • Unlike their male counterparts, female prisoners rarely have real contact with the outside. • The men in their lives move on and their children are seldom heard from or seen. • Approximately 100 inmates are pregnant at a given time. • Approximately 360 babies are born each year within the prison system. • An infant can stay with the mother for up to 18 months at a special nursery facility at Women’s Facility Chino. • One in ten babies born behind bars in California will go to foster care.

38. California Department of Corrections – Female Inmates • The vast majority of women sentenced under California‘s two-strikes and three-strikes laws are for nonviolent crimes, particularly drug offenses. • Approximately 800 women had been sentenced under 2- or 3-strikes laws as of 3/1/1996.

39. 2003 Prison Populations Texas currently has the highest number of state prisoners.

40. Prison Overcrowding • 37 states operating under court orders • State prisons are over 100% capacity • Some responses: • Double/triple bunking • Tents & military bases • River barges • Use of local jails

41. Federal Prison System • The Federal Prison System is operated by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). • The Bureau is under the control of the US Department of Justice

42. Federal Prison System • The Federal Bureau of Prisons was established in 1930. • The first Federal Prison built was the United States Penitentiary (USP) at Leavenworth, Kansas. • Today, the Bureau consists of 111 institutions, 6 regional offices, a Central Office (headquarters), 2 staff training centers, and 29 community corrections offices.

43. Federal Prison System • The Bureau is responsible for the custody and care of approximately 200,000 Federal offenders. • About 173,000 of these inmates are confined in Bureau-operated correctional institutions and detention centers.

44. Federal Prison System • The Bureau operates institutions at four security levels. • Minimum • Low • Medium • and has one high maximum-security prison for the less than 1 percent of the inmates who require that level of security

45. Federal Prison System • What is the most famous federal penitentiary? • It was closed in 1963. • Have you been there?

46. Federal Prison System • U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility - Florence, Colorado • Known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. • Holds the Guinness World Record for the most secure prison in the world. • The United States holds the Guinness record for highest prison population.

47. Federal Prison System • Individuals appointed to a correctional officer position in a federal facility must successfully complete a basic Introduction to Correctional Techniques course at the Staff Training Academy in Glynco, Georgia.

48. Important Dates in Correctional History • 1929 Eight correctional officers are killed at a Colorado prison. • 1971 Seven correctional officers are killed at Attica State Prison in N.Y. • 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot • 36-hour siege • 33 inmates were killed by other inmates; • 12 guards were taken hostage, • 7 of whom were beaten, stabbed, or sodomized; and many other inmates were tortured and mutilated.

49. Chapter 11 Prisons and Jails