prison
prison, an institution for the confinement of persons who have been remanded (held) in custody by a judicial authority or who have been deprived of their liberty following conviction for a crime. A person found guilty of a felony or a misdemeanour may be required to serve a prison sentence. The holding of accused persons awaiting trial remains an important function of contemporary prisons, and in some countries such persons constitute the majority of the prison population. In the United Kingdom, for example, generally about one-fifth of the prison population is unconvicted or unsentenced, while more than two-thirds of those in custody in India are pretrial detainees.
Until the late 18th century, prisons were used primarily for the confinement of debtors, persons accused of crimes and awaiting trial, and convicts awaiting the imposition of their sentences—usually death or transportation (deportation) overseas. A sentence of imprisonment was rarely imposed—and then only for minor crimes.
As the use of capital punishment began to decline in the late 18th century, the prison was increasingly used by courts as a place of punishment, eventually becoming the chief means of punishing serious offenders. The use of imprisonment subsequently spread worldwide, often by means of colonial empires that brought the practice to countries with no indigenous concept of prisons. By the early 21st century a majority of countries had abolished the death penalty (in law or in practice), and imprisonment was consequently the most severe form of punishment their courts could impose.
Development of the prison system
During the 16th century a number of houses of correction were established in Europe for the rehabilitation of minor offenders and vagrants; they emphasized strict discipline and hard labour. Over time, imprisonment came to be accepted as an appropriate method of punishing convicted criminals. Poor sanitation in these institutions caused widespread disease among prisoners, who were generally held unsegregated, without any consideration for gender or legal status. Outbreaks of epidemic typhus, known as “jail fever,” occasionally killed not only prisoners but also jailers and (more rarely) judges and lawyers involved in trials. The modern prison developed in the late 18th century in part as a reaction to the conditions of the local jails of the time.
Emergence of the penitentiary
The concept of the prison as a penitentiary (that is, as a place of punishment and personal reform) was advocated in this period by the English jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham, among others. The appalling conditions and official corruption in many local prisons of late 18th-century England and Wales were exposed by the English prison reformer John Howard, whose works The State of the Prisons in England and Wales (1777) and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe (1789) were based on extensive travels. The public outrage that Bentham and Howard helped generate led to a national system of inspection and the construction of “convict prisons” for those serving longer sentences. Consequently, in the early 19th century, penitentiaries were established in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New York.
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As use of the new type of prison expanded, administrators began to experiment with new methods of prisoner rehabilitation. Solitary confinement of criminals came to be viewed as an ideal, because it was thought that solitude would help the offender to become penitent and that penitence would result in rehabilitation. In the United States the idea was first implemented at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia in 1829. Each prisoner remained in his cell or its adjoining yard, worked alone at trades such as weaving, carpentry, or shoemaking, and saw no one except the officers of the institution and an occasional visitor from outside. This method of prison management, known as the “separate system” or the “Pennsylvania system,” became a model for penal institutions constructed in several other U.S. states and throughout much of Europe.
A competing philosophy of prison management, known as the “silent system” or the “Auburn system,” arose at roughly the same time. Although constant silence was strictly enforced, the distinguishing feature of this system was that prisoners were permitted to work together in the daytime (at night they were confined to individual cells). Both systems held to the basic premise that contact between convicts should be prohibited in order to minimize the bad influence inmates might have on one another. Vigorous competition between supporters of the two systems followed until about 1850, by which time most U.S. states had adopted the silent system.
The concept of personal reform became increasingly important in penology, resulting in experimentation with various methods. One example was the mark system, which was developed about 1840 by Capt. Alexander Maconochie at Norfolk Island, an English penal colony east of Australia. Instead of serving fixed sentences, prisoners were required to earn credits, or “marks,” in amounts proportional to the seriousness of their offenses. Credits were accumulated through good conduct, hard work, and study, and they could be withheld or subtracted for indolence or misbehaviour. Prisoners who obtained the required number of credits became eligible for release. The mark system presaged the use of indeterminate sentences, individualized treatment, and parole. Above all it emphasized training and performance, rather than solitude, as the chief mechanisms of reform.
Further refinements in the mark system were developed in the mid-19th century by Sir Walter Crofton, the director of Irish prisons. In his program, known as the Irish system, prisoners progressed through three stages of confinement before they were returned to civilian life. The first portion of the sentence was served in isolation. After that, prisoners were assigned to group work projects. Finally, for six months or more before release, the prisoners were transferred to “intermediate prisons,” where they were supervised by unarmed guards and given sufficient freedom and responsibility to demonstrate their fitness for release. Release nonetheless depended upon the continued good conduct of the offender, who could be returned to prison if necessary.
Many features of the Irish system were adopted by reformatories constructed in the United States in the late 19th century for the treatment of youthful and first offenders. The leaders of the reformatory movement advocated the classification and segregation of various types of prisoners, individualized treatment emphasizing vocational education and industrial employment, indeterminate sentences and rewards for good behaviour, and parole or conditional release. The reformatory philosophy gradually permeated the entire U.S. prison system, and the American innovations, in combination with the Irish system, had great impact upon European prison practices, leading to innovations such as the Borstal system of rehabilitation for youthful offenders in the 20th century.
The purpose of imprisonment
There are a number of accepted reasons for the use of imprisonment. One approach aims to deter those who would otherwise commit crimes (general deterrence) and to make it less likely that those who serve a prison sentence will commit crimes after their release (individual deterrence). A second approach focuses on issuing punishment to, or obtaining retribution from, those who have committed serious crimes. A third approach encourages the personal reform of those who are sent to prison. Finally, in some cases it is necessary to protect the public from those who commit crimes—particularly from those who do so persistently. In individual cases, all or some of these justifications may apply. The increasing importance of the notion of reform has led some prison systems to be called correctional institutions.
This description of imprisonment applies mainly to the countries of Europe and North America. In China imprisonment was historically used as a means of reforming the minds of criminals, and it obliged prisoners to work in support of the state. Imprisonment in the Soviet Union similarly became a method of forcing so-called enemies of the state to labour on its behalf and, in so doing, to recognize the error of their ways. Developing countries faced a different challenge as they confronted prison systems that in many cases symbolized a legacy of colonial domination. Given the difficulty of replacing the structure and organization of an existing prison system, many countries consequently struggled to implement effective forms of punishment that were also decent and humane.
Types of prisons
Prisoners are distributed among a variety of types of institutions. Most countries operate national prison systems that are supplemented by state or provincial counterparts. In the United States, for example, criminals sentenced for federal offenses are held in institutions of varying levels of security operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The majority of prisoners are held in state institutions, some of which house several thousand inmates in high-security facilities. Prisoners who have been charged with minor offenses, or who are serving short sentences, are most commonly held in municipal jails.
In countries with a federal system of government, such as Brazil, Germany and India, prisons are administered not by the national government but by individual states.
The vast majority of prisoners worldwide are adult males. Of these, a minority have committed very serious crimes; it is the responsibility of prison systems to protect the public from such convicts at all costs. Other prisoners are career criminals who regularly commit burglaries and thefts, and who accept that from time to time they will be caught, convicted, and sentenced to a period of imprisonment. Also common among prisoners are people on the margins of society who commit minor offences; they may be drug addicts or alcoholics, they may be mentally disordered, or they may feel that they have lost their place in society through unemployment or homelessness (see alienation). Most prison systems have different sorts of prisons to contain these different groups. For the most serious criminals, there are high-security prisons, where the movement of every prisoner is closely supervised so that they have little chance of escaping. For the majority there are medium-security prisons, where prisoners are expected to work, attend educational programs, or participate in other activities that prepare them for release. Finally, there are prisons that have a very low level of security for those who present no threat to public safety.
Supervision
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, prisons were viewed as total institutions that exert control over every aspect of a prisoner’s life. In addition to scheduled routines—such as for meals, rising and retiring, exercising, and bathing—many other aspects of the prisoner’s life were subject to strict supervision. In the later 20th century, however, penologists recognized that not all prisoners required such close supervision and that excessive surveillance risked institutionalizing the prisoner to such a degree that it could undermine his preparation for release. Many countries have since encouraged prisoners to take responsibility for their actions, to use their time in prison to examine their previous behaviour, and to learn skills that will help them to lead a law-abiding life after their sentence has been served. Prison programs may involve education, industrial work, vocational training, and instruction in what are known as “life skills” or “survival skills.”
Wherever possible, prisoners are permitted to maintain (or in some cases develop) contact with their families. This is important not only for the prisoner but also for the family members, who have a right—as expressed in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)—to maintain contact with their parent, child, or sibling. In some countries, visits with families take place under close supervision, in rooms where staff are always present and where visitors and prisoners are allowed little direct contact. Prisoners in maximum-security facilities are sometimes separated from their visitors by solid glass screens. Prisons in some eastern European and Central Asian countries provide special visiting units where families and prisoners can live together for up to three days. Similar arrangements exist in Canada and some U.S. states. Several Latin American countries permit family members to enter the prisoners’ living accommodations on weekends.
Order and discipline
Although prisons are intended to be institutions where good order prevails, it is possible for order to break down in certain circumstances. It is the responsibility of prison administrators to ensure that each arriving prisoner understands what type of behaviour is expected and what acts are forbidden. In addition, there must be a clear set of disciplinary sanctions for acts of indiscipline. In all such cases the normal processes of natural justice should apply. This means that a prisoner who is accused of violating prison rules should be told what the charge is and who is leveling it. The accused prisoner should have the opportunity to attend a disciplinary hearing, to enter a defense, and to question the evidence presented.
Any resulting punishment should be proportional to the offense that was committed. Serious acts, which would usually be classified as criminal, should be dealt with in a more serious manner; in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, this involves referring the case to the civil police. In other countries, such as France and Spain, these cases are handled by a visiting judge or magistrate.
Oversight
Many countries recognize the need for third-party oversight of their prison systems. The United Kingdom and the state of Western Australia appoint independent inspectors for this purpose, while many countries in continental Europe appoint a visiting judge who oversees prison systems. There are also forms of independent regional inspection; the member countries of the Council of Europe, for example, are subject to inspection by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. On the African continent, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights appoints a Special Rapporteur on Prisons, who is charged with examining conditions in all detention facilities and upholding human rights norms as defined by national and international bodies.