Roth, Mitchel P. Prisons and Prison Systems: A Global Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press, 2006. 6-13

This journal offers a complete coverage of the past and present prisons and prison systems with a focus on the issues that have affected the management of the institutions in history. The way prisoners are treated is direct reflection of how the culture of the society is.

There is adequate coverage of the structures of the prison systems and how the present systems realte to the past systems. The information provides relate well the major topic of this study.

The journal looks into the way a society determined the reintegration of prisoners after being released. This offers a good understanding how the prisons, prisoners and prison systems are perceived by the society

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Psychological Impact of Incarceration: Implications for Post-Prison Adjustment.2001.1.Available at: https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/psychological-impact-incarceration-implications-post-prison-adjustment

This paper explores various psychological impacts that inmates undergo so as to survive prison experience. The trends in prison systems include harsh conditions, policies that may alter the rehabilitation goal.

The paper is organized around the psychological changes themes in prison and outlines dialed account of experiences inmates undergo. It is an excellent source for exploring prisons beyond physical sense.

The information provided offers a deep depth of the various expected changes the inmates have to undergo. It further looks into the life of inmates after being integrated into the society.

United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. Why promote prison reform? 2016.1 Available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/prison-reform-and-alternatives-to-imprisonment.html

The paper explores the argument of prison reforms, the reasons for such reforms and why they are necessary. In looks into various cases of human rights, living conditions inside and outside prisons for prisoners and their families in terms of living conditions and access to basic needs.

The paper has a thorough coverage on the prison conditions, the reforms need for improving the conditions and how prison systems should implement them. It clearly outlines the central themes of the prison systems and offers presentable information.

The paper instills a sense of urgency in implementation of various reforms in the prison systems and is able to offer information that can relate to the topic of prison systems.

PRISON SYSTEM

Prison systems forms a very significant and integral part of the criminal judicial system in all countries since it assist upholding the rule of law.  At best prisons are supposed to provide a humane experience in addition to opportunities for inmates to be assisted and rehabilitated. There much variation on how different prison systems are operated and the experience inmates undergo in these facilities and at worst they have been known as sites of horrendous suffering. These issues have informed my decision to carry out a study on the prison systems, the role they play and various problems associated with them. Having paid a visit to some of facilities, it struck me that prisons can serve the purpose of correcting social paths or can be just mere warehouse full of suffering which return inmates to the society having not imparted the value of abiding by law.  There is a need for reform in these systems so as they can serve the intended purpose.

In principle, prisons play the correction role in the judicial systems and involve the creation of a safe environment where prisoners can be trained on the need and value of being a law abiding member of the public. The institutions ensures that alleged law offenders are brought to justice or providing a sanction for such wrongdoers.  The services provided by prisoners should offer various vital skills to the prisoners which will in turn offer opportunities for them to be integrated and accepted back into the society. Prisons require inmates to relinquish the autonomy and freedom to make personal choices or decisions so that they can adjust to the learning objectives of the facilities (Gary,3). Later in requires them to adjust to the values of independence and self-initiative in order to become mere dependent on the institutional contingencies they had resisted. The management of prisons in relation to how the inmates are treated and supervised is supposed to ensure that there is humane handling of these individuals so that the correctional goal is attained. Through implementation of appropriate legislation and policies, the prison systems are able to instill the appropriate values and skills to inmates while observing the accepted local and international standards (United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, 1). Practices such as recruitment and training of prison staffs incorporate proper methods of handling of inmates , with a ripple effect of building a positive attitude among them so that are more accepting of the programs aimed at correcting and training them. In addition, the systems ensure that social reintegration purpose is initiated as early as possible through programs and non-custodial sanctions. Further efforts in which prisons systems are involved in is the helping prisoners to control their emotional reactions internally, due to events surrounding them and in so doing they can assist in identifying cases of exploitation , harassment or violation of their human rights. This creates a positive learning environment in the institutions that ensure correctional objective of the institution achieved.

On the other hand, prison systems have been associated with various negatives effects on the character, personality and lives of the inmates.  Prisoners in all over the world including in United States always confronted by a set of pressures and contingencies to which they must adapt  or react so as to survive this experience (Jeff,43). In the worst case scenario, prisoners have had to endure horrible suffering in the hands of prison staffs or fellow inmates, or in living in appalling conditions in the prison environment. The challenges experienced by the inmates have been associated with failings of the systems because of intrinsic flaws in the nature and structure of these systems (Marten & Rosen, 26). While more effort is placed on the finding means of averting and responding to criminal activities, priorities are not included in ensuring the efficiency of prison systems or ensuring the systems serve as a last resort. He detrimental effects of imprisonment on the inmates, families and communities have led to some arguments that imprison meant may fail to serve the common good in the society. On the basis of human rights aspects, prisons have been known to have cases of harassments and exposure to despicable and inhumane living conditions and failing to serve the sole purpose of depriving only right to liberty. It should not entail restricting other human rights. Moreover, imprisonment can disproportionately impact on the people or families from poor backgrounds since imprisoning an income generating family member, the rest of the family is forced to adjust and live with the lost income. These effects may be serious for the individuals living in developing countries where financial assistance is not provided the state in poor (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,1). Prisons also have very severe health implications, especially for the inmates having existing health conditions while entering the prisons. This likely because most prisoners mostly come from socio-economically deprived or poorly educated areas of the entire population. Of the more importance is the fact that prisons do not exist outside the society and the health of inmates is a public health matter (Sally,499). There have been many reported cases of mistreatment and mishandling of prisoners by the staff and management which serves to harden the attitudes of the prisoners towards the prison systems.

 Failure to respect the basic rights of the inmates deals a big blow to any efforts to achieve the correctional objective of the prison system but rather the prison channels out criminals who have not been transformed in their behavior and respect for the law (Coyle, 115). Such violations may result from the incorporation of a prison culture that is exploitative, which consist of norms or informal rules that form part of the unwritten institutional culture. While such culture may be necessary in the management of prison systems, they may have the opposite effect of offending the inmates and thus leading to hostilities. Where the culture is used to the advantage of staff’s personal interests, it can lead to hostile conditions in the correctional facilities. Typically, prisoners are not allowed an alternative culture to which they may ascribe or take part in. Most of the prison systems fail to meaningful employment or engagement program which leads to deprivation of the prisoners of the pro-social activities to take part in while incarcerated. In addition, few opportunities are availed for the prisoners to acquire job skills or even enough compensation. Furthermore, those who are offered the opportunity engage in menial   tasks which they take part in for only a short period of the day (Roth, 11).  Efforts to address a lot of the basic desires or needs that can be found in the daily existence of the free world for the purpose of recreation , working and love serves only to draw the inmates towards an criminal culture. For most inmates, such a culture is the only meaningful and apparent way to survive the pressures.

The situation can be changed across the prison systems if transformative reforms are implemented. These reforms would have to start with the management and correctional strategies that are applied to transform the behavior of the individual inmates. The central argument in the promotion of reforms in the prison system is to address the human rights issue. The reforms are necessary in ensuring that the principle of human rights is respected and in respect to social reintegration upon being released. Such reforms have to empower the inmates in terms of knowledge and skills so that upon being set free, they can get meaningful employment (Gary, 5). The reforms should also relate to the correctional strategy employed in the prisons. The strategy should adhere to the principal of human rights and bring meaningful behavioral change among the inmates. The strategy implementation should involve professional with ability to effectively communicate with inmates and this will in turn have effective outcomes. The offender classifications employed in the systems should also be able to determine the degree of risk posed to the public by the offender which can be useful in measuring the dynamics of risks (Gary, 5).  This can be appropriate in devising the best means of reintegrating the person in the community. In addition, improving the living conditions in the systems through provision of better services like health care will alleviate the inmates suffering.