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Penal and correctional institutions

A prison is an institution for the confinement of persons convicted of major crimes or felonies. In the 19th and the 20lh centuries, imprisonment replaced corporal punishment, execution, and banishment as the chief means of punishing serious offenders.

Historically exile, execution, and various forms of corporal punishment were the most common penalties for criminal acts.

In the 12th century England jails were widely used as places for the confinement of accused persons until their cases could be tried by the king's court.

Imprisonment gradually came to be accepted not only as a device for holding persons awaiting trial but also as a means of punishing convicted criminals.

During the 16th century a number of houses of correction were established in England and on the continent for the reform of minor of fenders.. In these institutions there was little segregation by age, sex, or other condition. The main emphasis was on strict discipline and hard labour.

Although reformation of offenders was intended in the houses of correction, the unsanitary conditions and lack of provisions for the welfare of the inmates soon produced widespread agitation for further changes in methods of handling criminals. Solitary confinement of criminals became an ideal among the rationalist reformers of the 18th century, who believed that solitude would help the offender to become penitent and that penitence would result in reformation.

Meanwhile, strenuous opposition to the prolonged isolation of prisoners developed very early, especially in the United States. A competing philosophy of prison management, known as the 'silent system' was developed The main distinguishing feature of the silent system was that prisoners were allowed to work together in the daytime. Silence was strictly enforced at all times, however, and at night the prisoners were confined in individual cells-Further refinements were developed in Irish prisons in the mid- 1800s. Irish inmates progressed through three stages of confinement before they were returned to civilian life.

The first portion of the sentence was served in isolation. Then the prisoners were allowed to associate with other inmates in various kinds of work projects. Finally, for six months or more before release, the prisoners were transferred to 'intermediate prisons', where inmates were supervised by unarmed guards and given sufficient freedom and responsibility to permit them to demonstrate their fitness for release. Release was also conditional upon the continued good conduct of the offender, who could be returned to prison if necessary.

These were the steps made to fit the severity of the punishment to the severity of the crime, in the belief that the existence of clearly articulated and just penalties would act as a deterrent to crime. Since then, deterrence, rather than retribution, has become a leading principle of European penology.

 

 

Prison population

Nowadays prisoners are kept in separate institutions according to the severity of crime committed, as well as to the age, sex and other conditions. Consequently, the inmates include non-convicted prisoners, juvenile delinquents, women prisoners, recidivists and life-sentence prisoners.



2. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights declares that “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”. However, in reality all over the world, hundreds of thousands of people are being held in prisons that are: squalid, overcrowded, dilapidated, insanitary, inhumane, unjust, very expensive and ineffective in tackling crime. In many countries, conditions are so bad that prisoners die from malnutrition, diseases, attacks from other prisoners or prison staff, or suicide. Under extremely overcrowded and insanitary conditions, diseases such as tuberculosis and dysentery spread very rapidly, and without medical treatment they may easily be fatal.

3. At the same time there are a small number of people who present such a danger to the community or to themselves that they need to be detained. However, for most offences, imprisonment is not an effective penalty. Many countries which may have very high prison populations have very high crime rates. This shows that prison is probably not deterring many people from crime. Whilst in prison, the attitudes of minor offenders may harden as they mix with those convicted of more serious crimes. This often leads to minor offenders committing more serious crime after they are released from prison.

4. Large amounts of money are spent on locking people up, even when prison staff are poorly paid, buildings are not maintained and prisoners are treated inadequately.

5. In many countries, prison populations have been increasing substantially over recent years. Most prisoners are young, poor, urban men. Locking up this section of the general population for substantial periods has a destabilizing effect on the whole of society in the longer term.

 


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 2261


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