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Collin Teng

Professor Rogers

U of U Writing 2010

8 March 2017

Prison

Correctional facilities are scattered across every city in America. They have embedded

themselves into American through popular culture, the media, and politics. But over time, the

prison system has received a wide variety of criticisms through the media and academic sources,

each ones with different ideas about how best to rethink the correctional department of America.

One of the many pillars of the American prison system is the quality of life inside. Some of the

issues revolving around this are the psychological state of the prisoners, and how prison guards

and wardens deal with people with emotional issues. Another criticized pillar of the prison

system is the racial injustice that minorities face, this outlines how an individual's background

and ethnic decent affects their future. The final pillar questioned in the American system

revolves around the success rates surrounding capital punishment.

In general prison systems rely on punishment as their main form of reform. Many of their

techniques have come under criticism as a violation of the eighth amendment that bans the use of

cruel and unusual punishment. One such source that outlines this issue comes from Harvard Law

Review in the article THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CRUELTY: RECOGNIZING GRAVE

MENTAL HARM IN AMERICAN PRISONS. which, while outlining the problems revolving

around solitary confinement, stated that,

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Inmates confined in this manner have endured symptoms ranging from hallucinations and

perceptual distortions to self- mutilation and suicidal ideation. Walking past these inmates,

one can observe babbling, shrieking, and the banging of prisoners bodies against the

walls of their cells.3 There is no dispute that this method of confinement has a terrible

effect on prisoners well-being, and yet because it inflicts mental harm, rather than

physical harm, courts have largely turned a blind eye. (Harvard 1)

This particular article focuses on policy surrounding prisons that use solitary confinement as a

form of punishment. In addition, the article references supermax prisons which are designed to

subject all prisoners in the facility to conditions equal to that of solitary confinement. The main

problem with this technique, is that without social interaction or cognitive strain, the individuals

begin to show psychological issues, A clear violation of the eighth amendment. But because the

problems that inmates indicate are psychological and solely that, the court does not recognize

social interaction as necessary fulfillment of the eighth amendment (Harvard 1). Another side

critical of the psychological forms of punishment comes from authors Thomas Hafemeister, and

Jeff George who focus on treatment of prison inmates who have previously existing mental

disorders. In their work, they reference the Department of Justice who estimate that "over one

and a quarter million people suffering from mental health problems are in prisons or jails, a

figure that constitutes nearly sixty percent of the total incarcerated population in the United

States" (George and Hafenmeister 1). That means that the majority of prisoners in the criminal

justice system show signs of mental illness. Therefore the question is how are correctional

facilities accounting for these individuals? According to George and Hafenmeister, currently

criminal justice officials have struggled with how to respond to incarcerated offenders with a
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mental disorder. they go on to explain that society's current response is woefully inadequate, a

problem that has been exacerbated in recent years (George and Hafenmeister 1). This outlines

the inaccurate response from the department of corrections in America, despite the statistics the

department of justice released referenced earlier in the article showing a major change in attitude

in the branches of the government. However, one of the disputes between the two articles

discussed so far is the recognition between many of the psychological issues in correctional

institutes within the justice system. In the article published by Harvard Law, there was a clear

argument that psychological issues that appeared in people through solitary confinement were

not recognized as a violation of the eighth amendment. However, in the article THE NINTH

CIRCLE OF HELL, it is stated that Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have been

virtually unanimous in recent years in holding that inmates within a correctional facility are

Inmates with a mental illness

entitled to mental health treatment for a serious mental illness. n17

that is not serious may also need this treatment to prevent their illness from becoming a serious

mental illness (George and Hafenmeister 1). The other major discrepancy between these two

articles is the solutions provided to the issue at hand. In the first article, the solution proposed

revolved around the first step: recognition of the development of psychological issues that

stemmed from solitary confinement (Harvard 1). However, because George and Hafenmeister in

THE NINTH CIRCLE OF HELL had previously referenced one government source that

recognized psychological issues in the criminal justice system, their solution places healthcare

professionals like psychologists in prison facilities to ensure that the treatment provided to

inmates with a mental illness should be in accord with the generally accepted standards of
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practice of mental health providers for the treatment of individuals with a mental illness

(George and Hafenmeister 1).

Possibly the second most criticised components of the Criminal justice system in

America is how much of an impact racial profiling has in criminalization, police bias, and in the

school to prison pipeline. However, in order to understand the problem, first it is necessary to

understand the root, or the past. In the research paper titled Immigration Policy, Criminalization

and the Growth of the Immigration Industrial Complex: Restriction, Expulsion, and Eradication

of The Undocumented in the U.S, by Jesse Diaz Jr. there were two main waves of immigration.

The first between 1819 and 1882 where an approximately 300,000 African slaves were brought

to America. The second was between 1882 and 1921 where an estimated 20 million inhabitants

immigrated in hopes of a better future (Diaz 2). The significance of these events, were that they

created an ethical dilemma where Native-born white policymakers commonly accused

recent immigrants of color of bringing the criminalities of their mother countries to the U.S.

(Diaz 2). Besides the extreme ethical problem created by this dilemma at first glance, but it is

also the root of the criminal repercussions faced in America currently. Currently, this racial

profile forced upon immigrants and descendants there of has spiraled out of control, something

outlined by a study that found out of ten thousand white persons born in this country, a little

less than nine were incarcerated, while of those born in foreign countries, nearly twice as

many were convicts (Diaz 3). He goes on to explain that because of the criminalization of

these minorities of ethnic descent, there is a predefined view shining said ethnic groups in a

negative light not only in the eyes of those in charge of the justice system in America, but also in

the eyes of the general public, including the media. One source that backs up the ideas of Diaz
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comes from David Simson in his article Exclusion, Punishment, Racism and Our Schools: A

Critical Race Theory Perspective on School Discipline who stated that

At a macro level, stigmatization was the process through which whites assigned the

crucial, and overwhelmingly negative racial meanings of inferiority and of lack of true

belonging to African Americans These meanings, in turn, allowed for the imposition of

racial experiences such as enslavement, segregation, and massive and institutionalized

discrimination leading to a confirmation of the initial negative meanings (Simson 542).

One key difference between these two articles is the detail that Simson goes into while

describing the discrimination in schools leading to the school to prison pipeline. Simson then

goes on to explain how through implicit bias, a similar claim can be made at the micro level of

school suspension in an effort to explain current patterns of racial disproportionality (Simson

542). This shows that according to Simson, the criminalization of minorities started from a

young age which in turn creates a negative imprint on authority regarding those with ethnically

diverse backgrounds.

And finally, the third pillar surrounding prisons in the United States comes from its

strong emphasis on capital punishment. Because of ideas like zero tolerance policies, authors like

Loc Wacquant, have begun to breakdown and analyze the effectiveness of punishment in

prisons in order to achieve reform in its population. According to Wacquant, the massive

industrialization of punishment systems started with New York City[s], Rudolph Giuliani,

[who] launched a zero tolerance policing campaign aimed at street disorders and petty

offenders, Because of this, New York soon became a planetary showcase for an aggressive

approach to law-enforcement that, despite its extravagant costs and the absence of connection to
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the crime drop, came to be admired and imitated by other cities in the United States and Western

Europe (Wacquant 1). Wacquant's main concern surrounding this primary example is that these

techniques enforced like that of zero tolerance and more recent developments like the three

strikes act are considered ineffective against prevention and recurrence rates. Despite this,

however, the idea of capital punishment was replicated in numerous major cities across America

and has now developed into a systematic approach to reform. Like other articles that criticize the

American prison system, Wacquant has a strong emphasis on its background and effectiveness of

the techniques used. Similarly, in one article by Christina Sterbenz on the success rates in

Norwegian Prisons compared to that of the United States, Arne Wilson (A clinical psychologist,)

says that, In the law, being sent to prison is nothing to do with putting you in a terrible prison

to make you suffer. The punishment is that you lose your freedom. If we treat people like

animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals. Here we pay attention to

you as human beings (Sterbenz 1). The same article goes on to explain that the idea of treating

prisoners as if they were human, pays off. The revisitation rates in prisons is only 75 per 100,000

people, compared to the 707 people for every 100,000 people in the US (Sterbenz 1). This drastic

change can only be accounted to the change in mentality and punishment in that of Norwegian

prisons and American ones.

Prisons in America are complex in nature and have been criticized by a variety of people.

These criticisms surround three main subjects: the psychological state of inmates, the systemic

racism in and surrounding prisons, and the overall effectiveness of prisons. Each of these ideas

have been reworked various times, but one main idea can be agreed on: that prisons in America

are operating under a flawed ideal. Whether that ideal comes in the form of psychological
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punishment or an in depth analysis of the revisitation rates in American prisons, it can be agreed

on that there must be an alternative approach to this problem. That being said, the solution to this

problem is still debated as to what direction it should go. Many scholars have their own idea and

many of those ideas disagree with each other. Prisons are a large part of the future of the justice

system in America and it is each generation's job to ensure a better one.

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Sources

Daz, Jr. Jesse. "Immigration Policy, Criminalization and the Growth of the Immigration

Industrial Complex: Restriction, Expulsion, and Eradication of the Undocumented

in the U.S." Western Criminology Review, vol. 12, no. 2, Aug. 2011, pp. 35-54.

EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cja&AN=68638690&site=ehost

-live.

Genty, Philip M. "Taking Stock and Moving Forward to Improve Prison Visitation Practices: A

Response to Prison Visitation Policies: A Fifty-State Survey." Yale Law & Policy

Review, vol. 32, no. 1, Fall2013, p. 211. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brb&AN=95779627&site=ehost-

live.

HAFEMEISTER, THOMAS L. and JEFF GEORGE. "The Ninth Circle of Hell: An Eighth

Amendment Analysis of Imposing Prolonged Supermax Solitary Confinement on

Inmates with a Mental Illness." Denver University Law Review, vol. 90, no. 1, Dec.

2012, pp. 1-54. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=86387561&site=ehos

t-live.
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Simson, David. "Exclusion, Punishment, Racism and Our Schools: A Critical Race Theory

Perspective on School Discipline." UCLA Law Review, vol. 61, no. 2, Dec. 2013,

pp. 506-563. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=103535974&site=ehos

t-live.

"The Psychology of Cruelty: Recognizing Grave Mental Harm in American Prisons." Harvard

Law Review, vol. 128, no. 4, 10 Feb. 2015, pp. 1250-1271. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=26793817&site=e

host-live.

Wacquant, Loc. "The Global Firestorm of Law and Order: On Punishment and Neoliberalism."

Thesis Eleven, vol. 122, no. 1, June 2014, pp. 72-88. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1177/0725513614536136.