My last and final source was the interview. His name was Seth Mugleston badge number 67231 who works for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Folsom Prison. I ask Correctional Officer Seth a number of difficult questions. One of the questions I ask Seth is “why do convicted criminals continually use drugs in prison if drugs are the main reason they are being institutionalized?” He said, “most addicted offenders have a sever case with drugs and alcohol use before they come into the institution. So it is hard for them to be rehabilitated, but we have many substance abuse programs to help the repeated offenders. Drug addiction is a mental escape for most of the criminals. Many of the violence that we have in prison are drug related. Drugs can be used for money almost exchanging goods like prostitution, cigarettes or even money and those three things go hand and hand with each other. It is almost the code the inmates live by, it is sad but true. Money of the drug related problems come from debt that builds up with the prisoner. There is a so called game called hide and seek the inmates and correctional officers play. It is not a fun game every time we crack down and find out how and where the drugs are coming from. The inmates already have another way of smuggling the drugs into the facility. It gets very frustrating when your think that you job has some sort of significance that day and then you find out the next week or two that so and so got popped and put in the ADSUG.” He explained to that ADSUG is a administrative segregation to allow the individual to think about what crime he has committed. He goes on with “there are a number of ways that drugs are smuggled in to prison.
One way is called “Kestering” it is when a female or male put drugs or other criminal objects in their anus of vaginal area.” Then I asked “why do prisoners use violence toward each other?” He said they form their own society. You have youngsters. Grandpas and shot-callers” I was very confused when he said shot-caller so I asked him to define, he said it is someone in charge, leader like almost like a judge. They have similar ranking system like the American military. He stares up again, “prisoners have their own set of rules it is like a code. The prisoners have to follow the law of the code that has been passed down to generation to generation. But they also have to follow the institution codes and regulations.” He continued on about that topic for a bit but then he says something that really got my attention. He said, “it is a very unnatural way of living after a number of years in prison and their mind changes almost like they don’t even know who they are any more when that process happens they become institutionalized” After the interview I had a much better knowledge of problems and procedures that correctional officers deal with day to day. When he talked about how the inmates forget about who they are, it was mind blowing.
I would have never thought that peoples personalities actually change and they became a different person. Another situation that Officer Mugleston talked about that really took my interest was when he said that the inmates have their own code that they go by. I knew that the prisoners had regulation for themselves but I would have never thought that these codes of inmates go back from generation to generation. It makes me think about the number of fathers and sons who are in prison together. It is a very sad thought that son and father are institutionalized together.
Work Cited
Interview -Mugleston, Seth. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Folsom Prison. Badge # 67231. Correction Officer
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
High Cost of Prisons in America
The cost of the American prison system is at an all-time high. The reason for this is because the prison systems are too overcrowded. The social problem with the prison system is that when criminals are in prison, they network into career criminals. When they get released into society, the only tool the criminals have is crime. This situation is very sad. The prison systems of America need to concentrate on creating more job opportunities for these incarcerated individuals rather than have the inmates go into prison as convicts and get released into society as career criminals. Inmates are coming out of prisons worse than when they go in. If nothing changes, inmates will just keep returning to prisons in an endless cycle of capture and release. More and more inmates will make prisons their home.
For the states which employ the death penalty, this luxury comes at a high price. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an “average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. In Florida, each execution is costing the state $3.2 million” (Warren, Jenifer). In financially strapped California, one report estimated that the state could save, “$90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. The New York Department of Correctional Services estimated that implementing the death penalty would cost the state about $118 million annually” (Warren, Jenifer).
If inmates keep going back to prison, the cost will destroy the American economy. “Prison operations consumed about 77% of State correctional costs in 2001” (Myser, Michael). The remaining 23% was spent on juvenile justice, probation and parole, community-based corrections, and central office administration. State prison systems spend more than “$30 billion annually, and the Bureau of Prisons budgeted $5 billion for just 182,000 federal inmates this year” (Myser, Michael). That translates into plenty of work for companies looking to crack the prison market. “During the last 25 years prison and jail populations have grown 274 percent to 2.3 million in 2008, according to the Pew research, while those under supervision grew 226 percent over the same span to 5.1 million” (Warren, Jenifer). It estimated that states spent a record “$51.7 billion on corrections in fiscal year 2008 and incarcerating one inmate cost them, on average, $29,000 a year” (Warren, Jenifer).
The cost of an inmate is about $20,000 to $50,000 a year depending on if they are on death row or not. Thirty Thousand dollars a year is unnecessary spending. Most Americans work hard for their money. These inmates cause crime which goes against society’s economic health. So much money is being spent just toward keeping people incarcerated. People have to realize that we, as citizens, don’t need to pay $30,000 a year to keep criminals behind bars. If the American people cut in half the federal inmates' cost it would save the United States $2.5 billion.
I understand that we as a society need to lock criminals up, but do we really need to make their incarceration so costly. I know there are some aspects of prison life that cannot be cut, such as security; but in California the inmates eat full course meals and get milk. Some prisons even have HD televisions so the prisoners can be entertained. In Texas they give the inmates a biscuit filled with all the nutrients the human body needs and I think that they should implement those austere measures in California as well.
Work cited
Warren, Jenifer. High Cost of Prisons Not Paying Off, Report Finds. June 8, 2006: Los Angeles Times, 12 March 2011. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0608-05.htm
Myser, Michael. The Hard Sell. March 15 2007: Business 2.0 Magazine: 12 March 20 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/12/01/8394995/indn x.htm
For the states which employ the death penalty, this luxury comes at a high price. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an “average of $2.3 million, about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. In Florida, each execution is costing the state $3.2 million” (Warren, Jenifer). In financially strapped California, one report estimated that the state could save, “$90 million each year by abolishing capital punishment. The New York Department of Correctional Services estimated that implementing the death penalty would cost the state about $118 million annually” (Warren, Jenifer).
If inmates keep going back to prison, the cost will destroy the American economy. “Prison operations consumed about 77% of State correctional costs in 2001” (Myser, Michael). The remaining 23% was spent on juvenile justice, probation and parole, community-based corrections, and central office administration. State prison systems spend more than “$30 billion annually, and the Bureau of Prisons budgeted $5 billion for just 182,000 federal inmates this year” (Myser, Michael). That translates into plenty of work for companies looking to crack the prison market. “During the last 25 years prison and jail populations have grown 274 percent to 2.3 million in 2008, according to the Pew research, while those under supervision grew 226 percent over the same span to 5.1 million” (Warren, Jenifer). It estimated that states spent a record “$51.7 billion on corrections in fiscal year 2008 and incarcerating one inmate cost them, on average, $29,000 a year” (Warren, Jenifer).
The cost of an inmate is about $20,000 to $50,000 a year depending on if they are on death row or not. Thirty Thousand dollars a year is unnecessary spending. Most Americans work hard for their money. These inmates cause crime which goes against society’s economic health. So much money is being spent just toward keeping people incarcerated. People have to realize that we, as citizens, don’t need to pay $30,000 a year to keep criminals behind bars. If the American people cut in half the federal inmates' cost it would save the United States $2.5 billion.
I understand that we as a society need to lock criminals up, but do we really need to make their incarceration so costly. I know there are some aspects of prison life that cannot be cut, such as security; but in California the inmates eat full course meals and get milk. Some prisons even have HD televisions so the prisoners can be entertained. In Texas they give the inmates a biscuit filled with all the nutrients the human body needs and I think that they should implement those austere measures in California as well.
Work cited
Warren, Jenifer. High Cost of Prisons Not Paying Off, Report Finds. June 8, 2006: Los Angeles Times, 12 March 2011. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0608-05.htm
Myser, Michael. The Hard Sell. March 15 2007: Business 2.0 Magazine: 12 March 20 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/12/01/8394995/indn x.htm
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Drug Trafficking In Prison Systems of America
In the prison system of America, drug trafficking is a huge problem. Different gangs try to control the drugs' position to make their gang more powerful. In the prison system, gangs use drugs almost like money; drugs are another way to control people. It is surprising to me that more than half of the inmates that are institutionalized have been convicted of drug related crimes. It does not make sense that the inmates continue to use drugs while being incarcerated. “The Department of Corrections estimates that at least 70 percent of the state prison system's 160,000 inmates have a substance abuse problem of one kind or another, but it is unclear how many inmates use drugs in prison daily” (Doyle, Jim). This shows that drugs are a huge problem in the correction system. If inmates are supposed to be getting sober and rehabilitated why is 70 percent of the population still using illegal substances? It is almost like the incarcerated individuals with a drug problem are getting worse while they are in prison. In California, the prison system is called California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Prisoners are suppose to be getting help for their drug problems and should be going to classes to teach them the harmful side effects on drugs.
However, the larger issue is how the prisoners receive their drugs. Some get them through visiting family members. The majority of illegal drugs moved in from the outside are from the correctional staff. “Some guards are coerced by inmates into smuggling drugs. Inmates may first ask a friendly guard to procure insignificant personal items for them, then later blackmail the guard who has broken the law by bringing contraband into the prison into supplying drugs”(Doyle,Jim). This shows that the guards are under a lot of pressure to keep their job so they decide to follow the orders of the inmate and continue to bring contraband in the prison. "Correctional Officer April C. Reynolds, 36, of San Francisco, was charged with two felony counts of heroin trafficking”(Weiner, Janelle). Contraband goes for twice as much in prison than on the streets so the correctional staff can make a lot of money by selling illegal drugs. “In May 2010, agents arrested Correctional Officer Michael Laurin, 54, at the California State Prison, Sacramento – also known as New Folsom. Laurin allegedly bought a pound of marijuana from inmates' relatives who were working undercover for agents”(Weiner, Janelle). We as a society need to severely punish correctional staff that bring contraband in the prison system – it is unacceptable! There should be enforced laws and more protocol about searching the correctional staff. In a positive light, a couple agencies are taking matters into their own hands such as California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville and the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla. Guard dogs and high tech equipment such as ion detectors that can detect small traces of narcotics are being used to screen visitors and inmates. Inmates and new prison employees are being subjected to random searches and random drug testing.
The problem of drug trafficking is a significant problem but if more institutions like Solano and Chowchilla can crack down on this problem, then why can’t all American prison systems? Inmates are not suppose to go prison and become a drug-addicted career criminal, they are supposed to be rehabilitated and become a productive member of society.
Work Cited
Doyle Jim. (16, Feb. 1999) Crackdown on Drug Trafficking in State Prisons, 2010.http://articles.sfgate.com/1999-02-16/news/17678910_1_state-prisons-prison-workers-drug-trade/3
Weiner, Janelle. Catch and Release. April 2, 2009. Sacramento News & Review Print.
However, the larger issue is how the prisoners receive their drugs. Some get them through visiting family members. The majority of illegal drugs moved in from the outside are from the correctional staff. “Some guards are coerced by inmates into smuggling drugs. Inmates may first ask a friendly guard to procure insignificant personal items for them, then later blackmail the guard who has broken the law by bringing contraband into the prison into supplying drugs”(Doyle,Jim). This shows that the guards are under a lot of pressure to keep their job so they decide to follow the orders of the inmate and continue to bring contraband in the prison. "Correctional Officer April C. Reynolds, 36, of San Francisco, was charged with two felony counts of heroin trafficking”(Weiner, Janelle). Contraband goes for twice as much in prison than on the streets so the correctional staff can make a lot of money by selling illegal drugs. “In May 2010, agents arrested Correctional Officer Michael Laurin, 54, at the California State Prison, Sacramento – also known as New Folsom. Laurin allegedly bought a pound of marijuana from inmates' relatives who were working undercover for agents”(Weiner, Janelle). We as a society need to severely punish correctional staff that bring contraband in the prison system – it is unacceptable! There should be enforced laws and more protocol about searching the correctional staff. In a positive light, a couple agencies are taking matters into their own hands such as California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville and the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla. Guard dogs and high tech equipment such as ion detectors that can detect small traces of narcotics are being used to screen visitors and inmates. Inmates and new prison employees are being subjected to random searches and random drug testing.
The problem of drug trafficking is a significant problem but if more institutions like Solano and Chowchilla can crack down on this problem, then why can’t all American prison systems? Inmates are not suppose to go prison and become a drug-addicted career criminal, they are supposed to be rehabilitated and become a productive member of society.
Work Cited
Doyle Jim. (16, Feb. 1999) Crackdown on Drug Trafficking in State Prisons, 2010.http://articles.sfgate.com/1999-02-16/news/17678910_1_state-prisons-prison-workers-drug-trade/3
Weiner, Janelle. Catch and Release. April 2, 2009. Sacramento News & Review Print.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Prison Gangs of America
Prison gang members perpetuate many violent and drug-related crimes. Prison gang is a term used to denote any type of gang’s activity in prisons and correctional facilities. Prison officials and others in law enforcement use the term Security Threat Group, or STG. Most prison gangs do more than offer simple protection for their members.Prison gangs are responsible for any drug, tobacco, or alcohol handling inside correctional facilities.Prison gangs involve themselves in prostitution, assaults, kidnappings and murders. Prison gangs often seek to intimidate the other inmates, pressuring them to relinquish their food and other resources.
Some common gangs that use violence on a daily basis are the Aryan Brotherhood, “a white prison gang that originated in California's San Quentin Prison, amongst Irish-American prisoners, in 1964 their emblem, ‘the brand’, consists of a Shamrock, a swastika and the number 666” (Hagedorn, John M.). Another group is the Nazi Low Riders, “a newer white prison gang that emerged after many Aryan Brotherhood members were sent to the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay” (Hagedorn, John M.). La Eme, or the Mexican Mafia, is composed mostly of Hispanics, although some Caucasian members exist. The Mexican Mafia and the Aryan Brotherhood are allies and work together to control prostitution, drug running, weapons and “hits” or murders. Another corrupt gang is the Nuestra Familia, “which means ‘our family’ in Spanish: The ‘N’ is the 14th letter in the alphabet which is used as their symbol along with the Roman numeral ‘XIV’ to represent their gang”( Hagedorn, John M.). Another mostly Hispanic prison gang that is constantly at war with “La Eme and was originally formed from Northern-California or rural-based Hispanic prisoners opposing the domination by La Eme” (Hagedorn, John M.). La Eme was started by and associated with Los Angeles gang members. Most African-American prison gangs retain their street gang names and associations. That can identify with either Blood or Crip affiliations. The Black Guerilla Family “represents an exception, as an originally politically-based group that has a significant presence in prisons and prison politics” (Hagedorn, John M.). The Black Guerilla Family is the most militaristic and has significant role in the American Prison system. The reason they have so much success is because they team up with other gang organizations to achieve a common goal. If the Mexican prison gangs did not always fight with each other, they would overrun the prison systems because of the sheer amount of people they would have in their gang.
Hagedorn, John M. (2008), A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangster Culture. Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States: University of Minnesota Press.
Decker, S.H. Chapman (2008). Drugs Smugglers on Drug Smuggling: Lessons from the Inside. M.T. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 209
Most prison gangs follow the policy of “blood in - blood out.” “Blood in generally means that to get into a prison gang, one has to spill someone else's blood. Most often this requires a murder, although occasionally it can be an aggravated assault” (Decker, S.H. Chapman). The idea is that law enforcement officials will refuse to carry out murder or aggravated assaults, therefore allowing the prison gangs to remain without infiltration. As most prison gangs are for life, even if released from prison they are expected to remain loyal to the gang by providing support to them, by whatever means. “Blood out” refers to trying to get out of a prison gang. Most often, this means the member will be killed.
Gangs are continue to grow in the prison system. If it was not for the corrupt prison standards gangs would never originated. The reason I say this is because the prison guards and other prisoners started abusing the inmates. The inmates combined forces of own race and found out they were not getting as mistreated. Gangs are a huge problem in the prison system. Some theories say that gangs are uncontrollable and can be stopped because of the philosophy of blood in and blood out. I believe the criminal justice system should have more informed classes of gang violence and drug use to youth offenders. Youth offenders still have a chance to get on the right track on life. Education all starts with the youth. Gangs typically get young teens to join their gangs but if we as a society help teach the youth the horrible effects gangs have on a individuals life then we can stop it before it even starts.
Gangs are continue to grow in the prison system. If it was not for the corrupt prison standards gangs would never originated. The reason I say this is because the prison guards and other prisoners started abusing the inmates. The inmates combined forces of own race and found out they were not getting as mistreated. Gangs are a huge problem in the prison system. Some theories say that gangs are uncontrollable and can be stopped because of the philosophy of blood in and blood out. I believe the criminal justice system should have more informed classes of gang violence and drug use to youth offenders. Youth offenders still have a chance to get on the right track on life. Education all starts with the youth. Gangs typically get young teens to join their gangs but if we as a society help teach the youth the horrible effects gangs have on a individuals life then we can stop it before it even starts.
References
Hagedorn, John M. (2008), A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangster Culture. Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States: University of Minnesota Press.
Decker, S.H. Chapman (2008). Drugs Smugglers on Drug Smuggling: Lessons from the Inside. M.T. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 209
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Recidivism In The United States
Prison systems of America are corrupt, overcrowded, and very dangerous. It is important that the incarcerated individuals be able to return to society as productive members. As of right now the department of corrections in the United States has the rehabilitation approach for most convicted felons. This means that the department is concerned with healing the individual in whatever he or she needs in order to be a productive member of society. This includes therapy, drug and alcohol control classes, group meetings that help cope with addiction problems and halfway homes to help the individual ease their way back in society. The problem in the United States is: with all this “rehabilitation” why are more than half of criminals going back to prison? “The recidivism rate for prisoners released from prison within one year is 44.1%; this number rises to 67.5% within three years of being released from prison” (Lauren Glaze, 2010). Why is this happening? Strain theory, popularized by Glenn D. Walters, can be paraphrased in the following quote: “every man or women is optimistic but it is society [that] tears down the person and finally he or she will turn to crime to reward themselves” (Glen D. Walters. 1990-06-30 pp. 26). This explains why some criminals continually commit crimes when they get reinstituted into society. “Sixty-seven percent of the people who were rearrested were charged with 750,000 new crimes, which include property offenses, drug offenses, public-order offenses, and other offences, unknown” (Lauren Glaze, 2010). This explains why recidivism is so high in the United States.
The social problem is when the criminals are in prison they network into career criminals and when they get released into society the only tool the criminals have is crime. This situation is very sad. Prison systems of America need to concentrate on creating more job opportunities for these incarcerated individuals rather than have the inmate go into prison as a convict and then get released into society as a career criminal. Inmates are coming out of prisons worse than when they went in. If nothing changes, inmates will just keep returning to prisons. More and more inmates will make prisons their home. When they are out in the real world they have no idea how to get a job or even interact with regular citizens. So they have no choice but to commit new crimes so they get sent back prisons, where they feel at home. Inmates have been incarcerated so long that being incarcerated is all they know how to do. When sent into the real world, former inmates experience too much freedom too quickly. Inmates need structure and positive reinforcement. If nothing drastically happens soon inmates will continue to go back to prisons. This will only add to the national deficit because keeping an incarcerated individual locked up ranges from “$40,000 to $50,000 per year; with 1,613,740 prisoners recorded in 2009” (Lauren Glaze, 2010) the cost to maintain our current system is too great a strain on society. This tax money could have been spent on education but we as a nation keep spending it on criminals.
References
Glaze, Lauren. (2010, Dec. 10). Correctional Populations in the United States, 2009. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2316
Glenn D. Walters. (1990, June. 30).The Criminal Lifestyle: Patterns of Serious Criminal Conduct. CA:Sage Publishing.
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