purpose of imprisonment essay

Doha Declaration

Education for justice.

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• Criminal Justice & Crime Prevention
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• What is Governance?
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• Teaching Guide
• Brief History of Terrorism
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• International Approaches to PVE &CVE
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• Defining Rule of Law
• UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
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• Regional & National Approaches
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• African Region
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• Extra-territorial Application of Right to Life
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• Principle of Non-Discrimination
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• Definition of 'Victim'
• Effects of Terrorism
• Access to Justice
• Recognition of the Victim
• Human Rights Instruments
• Criminal Justice Mechanisms
• Instruments for Victims of Terrorism
• National Approaches
• Key Challenges in Securing Reparation
• Topic 1. Contemporary issues relating to conditions conducive both to the spread of terrorism and the rule of law
• Topic 2. Contemporary issues relating to the right to life
• Topic 3. Contemporary issues relating to foreign terrorist fighters
• Topic 4. Contemporary issues relating to non-discrimination and fundamental freedoms
• Module 16: Linkages between Organized Crime and Terrorism
• Thematic Areas
• Content Breakdown
• Module Adaptation & Design Guidelines
• Teaching Methods
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introducing United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ vis-à-vis International Law
• 2. Scope of United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ
• 3. United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ in Operation
• 1. Definition of Crime Prevention
• 2. Key Crime Prevention Typologies
• 2. (cont.) Tonry & Farrington’s Typology
• 3. Crime Problem-Solving Approaches
• 4. What Works
• United Nations Entities
• Regional Crime Prevention Councils/Institutions
• Key Clearinghouses
• Systematic Reviews
• 1. Introduction to International Standards & Norms
• 2. Identifying the Need for Legal Aid
• 3. Key Components of the Right of Access to Legal Aid
• 4. Access to Legal Aid for Those with Specific Needs
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• 1. Context for Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officials
• 2. Legal Framework
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• 4. Use of Firearms
• 5. Use of “Less-Lethal” Weapons
• 6. Protection of Especially Vulnerable Groups
• 7. Use of Force during Assemblies
• 1. Policing in democracies & need for accountability, integrity, oversight
• 2. Key mechanisms & actors in police accountability, oversight
• 3. Crosscutting & contemporary issues in police accountability
• 1. Introducing Aims of Punishment, Imprisonment & Prison Reform
• 2. Current Trends, Challenges & Human Rights
• 3. Towards Humane Prisons & Alternative Sanctions
• 1. Aims and Significance of Alternatives to Imprisonment
• 2. Justifying Punishment in the Community
• 3. Pretrial Alternatives
• 4. Post Trial Alternatives
• 5. Evaluating Alternatives
• 1. Concept, Values and Origin of Restorative Justice
• 2. Overview of Restorative Justice Processes
• 3. How Cost Effective is Restorative Justice?
• 4. Issues in Implementing Restorative Justice
• 1. Gender-Based Discrimination & Women in Conflict with the Law
• 2. Vulnerabilities of Girls in Conflict with the Law
• 3. Discrimination and Violence against LGBTI Individuals
• 4. Gender Diversity in Criminal Justice Workforce
• 1. Ending Violence against Women
• 2. Human Rights Approaches to Violence against Women
• 3. Who Has Rights in this Situation?
• 4. What about the Men?
• 5. Local, Regional & Global Solutions to Violence against Women & Girls
• 1. Understanding the Concept of Victims of Crime
• 2. Impact of Crime, including Trauma
• 3. Right of Victims to Adequate Response to their Needs
• 4. Collecting Victim Data
• 5. Victims and their Participation in Criminal Justice Process
• 6. Victim Services: Institutional and Non-Governmental Organizations
• 7. Outlook on Current Developments Regarding Victims
• 8. Victims of Crime and International Law
• 1. The Many Forms of Violence against Children
• 2. The Impact of Violence on Children
• 3. States' Obligations to Prevent VAC and Protect Child Victims
• 4. Improving the Prevention of Violence against Children
• 5. Improving the Criminal Justice Response to VAC
• 6. Addressing Violence against Children within the Justice System
• 1. The Role of the Justice System
• 2. Convention on the Rights of the Child & International Legal Framework on Children's Rights
• 3. Justice for Children
• 4. Justice for Children in Conflict with the Law
• 5. Realizing Justice for Children
• 1a. Judicial Independence as Fundamental Value of Rule of Law & of Constitutionalism
• 1b. Main Factors Aimed at Securing Judicial Independence
• 2a. Public Prosecutors as ‘Gate Keepers’ of Criminal Justice
• 2b. Institutional and Functional Role of Prosecutors
• 2c. Other Factors Affecting the Role of Prosecutors
• Basics of Computing
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• Cybercrime in Brief
• Cybercrime Trends
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• Content-related offences
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• Harmonization of Laws
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• Framing the Issue of Firearms
• Direct Impact of Firearms
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• International and National Responses
• Typology and Classification of Firearms
• Common Firearms Types
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• Parts and Components
• History of the Legitimate Arms Market
• Need for a Legitimate Market
• Key Actors in the Legitimate Market
• Authorized & Unauthorized Arms Transfers
• Illegal Firearms in Social, Cultural & Political Context
• Supply, Demand & Criminal Motivations
• Larger Scale Firearms Trafficking Activities
• Smaller Scale Trafficking Activities
• Sources of Illicit Firearms
• Consequences of Illicit Markets
• International Public Law & Transnational Law
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• Scope of National Firearms Regulations
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• Firearms Trafficking as a Cross-Cutting Element
• Organized Crime and Organized Criminal Groups
• Criminal Gangs
• Terrorist Groups
• Interconnections between Organized Criminal Groups & Terrorist Groups
• Gangs - Organized Crime & Terrorism: An Evolving Continuum
• International Response
• International and National Legal Framework
• Firearms Related Offences
• Role of Law Enforcement
• Firearms as Evidence
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• Teaching Methods & Principles
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• Overview of Modules
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• Additional Exercises
• Defining Organized Crime
• Definition in Convention
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• Liability of Legal Persons
• How much Organized Crime is there?
• Alternative Ways for Measuring
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• Risk Assessment
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• Risk Assessment in Practice
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• Models and Structure
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• Role of Prosecutors
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• Mitigating Punishment
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• Backgrounds of Convicted Offenders
• Confiscation
• Confiscation in Practice
• Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA)
• Extradition
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• Module 12: Prevention of Organized Crime
• Adoption of Organized Crime Convention
• Historical Context
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• Related international instruments
• Conference of the Parties
• Roles of Participants
• Structure and Flow
• Recommended Topics
• Background Materials
• What is Sex / Gender / Intersectionality?
• Knowledge about Gender in Organized Crime
• Gender and Organized Crime
• Gender and Different Types of Organized Crime
• Definitions and Terminology
• Organized crime and Terrorism - International Legal Framework
• International Terrorism-related Conventions
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• Typologies of Criminal Behaviour Associated with Terrorism
• Terrorism and Drug Trafficking
• Terrorism and Trafficking in Weapons
• Terrorism, Crime and Trafficking in Cultural Property
• Trafficking in Persons and Terrorism
• Intellectual Property Crime and Terrorism
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• Review and Assessment Questions
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• Criminalization of Smuggling of Migrants
• UNTOC & the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants
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• Criminal Liability
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• Scope of the Protocol
• Humanitarian Exemption
• Migrant Smuggling v. Irregular Migration
• Migrant Smuggling vis-a-vis Other Crime Types
• Other Resources
• Assistance and Protection in the Protocol
• International Human Rights and Refugee Law
• Vulnerable groups
• Positive and Negative Obligations of the State
• Identification of Smuggled Migrants
• Participation in Legal Proceedings
• Role of Non-Governmental Organizations
• Smuggled Migrants & Other Categories of Migrants
• Short-, Mid- and Long-Term Measures
• Criminal Justice Reponse: Scope
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• Different Relevant Actors & Their Roles
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• Admissibility of Evidence
• International Cooperation
• Exchange of Information
• Non-Criminal Law Relevant to Smuggling of Migrants
• Administrative Approach
• Complementary Activities & Role of Non-criminal Justice Actors
• Macro-Perspective in Addressing Smuggling of Migrants
• Human Security
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• Migration & Migrant Smuggling
• Mixed Migration Flows
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• Vulnerability
• Profile of Smugglers
• Role of Organized Criminal Groups
• Humanitarianism, Security and Migrant Smuggling
• Crime of Trafficking in Persons
• The Issue of Consent
• The Purpose of Exploitation
• The abuse of a position of vulnerability
• Indicators of Trafficking in Persons
• Distinction between Trafficking in Persons and Other Crimes
• Misconceptions Regarding Trafficking in Persons
• Root Causes
• Supply Side Prevention Strategies
• Demand Side Prevention Strategies
• Role of the Media
• Safe Migration Channels
• Crime Prevention Strategies
• Monitoring, Evaluating & Reporting on Effectiveness of Prevention
• Trafficked Persons as Victims
• Protection under the Protocol against Trafficking in Persons
• Broader International Framework
• State Responsibility for Trafficking in Persons
• Identification of Victims
• Principle of Non-Criminalization of Victims
• Criminal Justice Duties Imposed on States
• Role of the Criminal Justice System
• Current Low Levels of Prosecutions and Convictions
• Challenges to an Effective Criminal Justice Response
• Rights of Victims to Justice and Protection
• Potential Strategies to “Turn the Tide”
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• The Private Sector
• Comparing SOM and TIP
• Differences and Commonalities
• Vulnerability and Continuum between SOM & TIP
• Labour Exploitation
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• Protection in Practice
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• Basic Terms - Gender and Gender Stereotypes
• International Legal Frameworks and Definitions of TIP and SOM
• Global Overview on TIP and SOM
• Gender and Migration
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• Gender and TIP and SOM Offenders
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• Use of Technology to Facilitate TIP and SOM
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• Technology in Smuggling of Migrants
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• Implications of Wildlife Trafficking
• Legal and Illegal Markets
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• Locations and Activities relating to Wildlife Trafficking
• Environmental Protection & Conservation
• CITES & the International Trade in Endangered Species
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• Animal Welfare
• Criminal Justice Actors and Agencies
• Criminalization of Wildlife Trafficking
• Challenges for Law Enforcement
• Investigation Measures and Detection Methods
• Prosecution and Judiciary
• Wild Flora as the Target of Illegal Trafficking
• Purposes for which Wild Flora is Illegally Targeted
• How is it Done and Who is Involved?
• Consequences of Harms to Wild Flora
• Terminology
• Background: Communities and conservation: A history of disenfranchisement
• Incentives for communities to get involved in illegal wildlife trafficking: the cost of conservation
• Incentives to participate in illegal wildlife, logging and fishing economies
• International and regional responses that fight wildlife trafficking while supporting IPLCs
• Mechanisms for incentivizing community conservation and reducing wildlife trafficking
• Critiques of community engagement
• Other challenges posed by wildlife trafficking that affect local populations
• Global Podcast Series
• Apr. 2021: Call for Expressions of Interest: Online training for academics from francophone Africa
• Feb. 2021: Series of Seminars for Universities of Central Asia
• Dec. 2020: UNODC and TISS Conference on Access to Justice to End Violence
• Nov. 2020: Expert Workshop for University Lecturers and Trainers from the Commonwealth of Independent States
• Oct. 2020: E4J Webinar Series: Youth Empowerment through Education for Justice
• Interview: How to use E4J's tool in teaching on TIP and SOM
• E4J-Open University Online Training-of-Trainers Course
• Teaching Integrity and Ethics Modules: Survey Results
• Grants Programmes
• E4J MUN Resource Guide
• Library of Resources

Module 6: Prison Reform

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E4J University Module Series: Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

Introduction and learning outcomes.

• Topic 1: Introducing the aims of punishment, imprisonment and the concept of prison reform
• Topic 2: Current trends, key challenges and human rights
• Topic 3: Towards humane prisons and an appropriate resort to alternative sanctions

Case studies

Possible class structure   , core reading, advanced reading, student assessment, additional teaching tools, guidelines to develop a stand-alone course.

• First published in July 2019

  This module is a resource for lecturers  

Topic one - introducing the aims of punishment, imprisonment and the concept of prison reform.

This part of the Module first explores briefly the theoretical justifications that underpin the aims of punishment, and then examines the main purposes of imprisonment. The focus then shifts to introduce students to the importance and development of prison reform.

What justifies punishment?

If an individual commits a crime, it is often assumed that the State is justified in imposing punishment. Some forms of punishment cause harm. It is important therefore to establish what justifies and underpins the imposition of particular forms of punishment.

There are five main underlying theoretical justifications of criminal punishment which form the basis of sentencing decisions across jurisdictions: retribution; incapacitation; deterrence; rehabilitation; and, reparation. These are defined above in the Key Terms section of this Module. Students should note that the differing rationales underlying the imposition of punishment are considered more fully in Module 7 on Alternatives to Imprisonment of the E4J University Module Series on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

What justifies imprisonment?

Imprisonment is used as a form of punishment in every country in the world (for statistics on the prison populations of 223 independent countries and dependent territories see the World Prison Brief ). In most countries, it is the most severe form of punishment that courts can impose. Levels of imprisonment around the world have risen dramatically since the Second World War, though more rapidly in some regions than others (Coyle et al., 2016). Proponents of imprisonment often argue that the sanction of incarceration can be justified by incorporating many of the differing aims of punishment highlighted above, namely through its incapacitative and deterrent effect, as well as through its ability to change and rehabilitate, and the notion that a prison sentence is a justly deserved and proportionate response to crime (Scott, 2007). While there is often disagreement regarding the relative weight that should be given to these differing aims and the way in which prisons should operate, international law strongly emphasizes the importance of rehabilitation and reintegration in order to meet the primary purpose of imprisonment.

Article 10.3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (GA Resolution 2200A (XXI)) states that: "The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation". Of significance, the ICCPR is a legally binding multilateral treaty that represents an international consensus that prisoners be treated humanely, consistent with their inherent human dignity, and that prisons be focused on rehabilitation and reformation rather than punishment. Similarly, Rule 4 of the Nelson Mandela Rules (2015) also emphasize the significance of preparing offenders for their social reintegration in justifying imprisonment:

1. The purposes of a sentence of imprisonment or similar measures deprivative of a person's liberty are primarily to protect society against crime and to reduce recidivism. Those purposes can be achieved only if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure, so far as possible, the reintegration of such persons into society upon release so that they can lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life.

2. To this end, prison administrations and other competent authorities should offer education, vocational training and work, as well as other forms of assistance that are appropriate and available, including those of a remedial, moral, spiritual, social and health- and sports-based nature. All such programmes, activities and services should be delivered in line with the individual treatment needs of prisoners.

Yet there is little evidence to suggest that the use of imprisonment as a punishment worldwide has been effective in achieving this aim (Coyle et al., 2016). Conversely, the overuse and overreliance on imprisonment worldwide has led to a growing recognition that overcrowding and poor regimes in penal institutions around the world have led to significant human rights violations, with prisoners enduring inhuman and degrading prison conditions without adequate access to basic services or rehabilitation programmes  delivered in line with their individual needs (UNODC, 2013a). Many prisoners are subject to appalling treatment and conditions that inherently undermine their human dignity and value as human beings (see for example: Coyle et al, 2016; Penal Reform International, 2018; see also Module 1 in this University Module Series). The aim of this Module is to assess key prison reform and public safety strategies that can challenge the inhumane treatment of prisoners and provide a strong basis for improving prison conditions around the world in order to ensure that prisoners' fundamental rights and basic human needs are met, as well as to challenge the overuse of detention.

The significance of prison reform

Since imprisonment has been imposed as a punishment, significant attempts have been made to improve the conditions of prisons. Across different jurisdictions, concern over the treatment of prisoners is at the core of the development of prison reform. As Vivien Stern noted, prison reform is "a cause that has touched the imaginations of many through the centuries, and continues to do so" (Stern, 1998, p. 248). Key questions to be addressed in this section include: What is the history of prison reform? Which actors have shaped prison reform? Why are prisoners' rights important?

A brief history of prison reform

Most prison historians of the Western world date "the birth of the prison", to use Foucault's phrase, to the late eighteenth century, the era of Enlightenment and European/American revolutions (see Foucault, 1977; Ignatieff, 1978; Radzinowicz and Hood, 1986; Morris and Rothman, 1995; Gibson, 2011). Prior to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the use of imprisonment was limited, and prisons were mainly used to hold debtors, the accused awaiting trial and convicted persons awaiting their sentence - usually whipping, the stocks or hanging (see Barnes, 1921; Blomberg and Lucken, 2010). As severe criminal codes and barbarous public rituals of corporal punishment were abolished, imprisonment was increasingly used by the courts as a method of punishment, eventually becoming the most dominant means of punishing offenders. The use of imprisonment subsequently spread around the world, often introduced by colonial governments to countries with no indigenous concept of prisons, or by indigenous rulers under pressure from Western imperialistic powers (see Coyle, 2002; Zinoman, 2001; Bernault, 2003; Dikötter, 2002; Botsman, 2005; Gibson, 2011).

As long ago as the 1600s, during the colonial period of American history, Quaker groups and others campaigned against capital or corporal punishment, and urged for the use of imprisonment as a more humane alternative. William Penn (1644-1718), for example, founder and governor of the Pennsylvania colony, abolished capital punishment for all crimes except murder and treason. Penn declared that "all prisons shall be workhouses" and that "all prisoners shall have liberty to provide themselves, bedding, food, and other necessaries" (Barnes, 1922, p. 70). Prisoners would learn a trade as part of their reformation, and to help prepare them for life after release. While Penn's proposals were not systematically implemented, his belief that prison could serve as an instrument of reformation continued to influence prison reformers.

In 1787, a group of reform minded Quakers and other prominent citizens, including Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), established the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons (now known as the ' Pennsylvania Prison Society '). Reformers were shocked by the sordid conditions, lack of discipline, and treatment of prisoners. All types of prisoners (men, women and children) were living together, and were expected to pay fees to the jailors for basic provisions such as food, clothing and heat. Liquor was sold to prisoners at a profit by jailors, and prison buildings were not fit for purpose, with no clean water or sewage disposal. As part of their reform strategy, the Society proposed the creation of larger penitentiaries, and recommended that prisoners should be separately incarcerated in a system of solitary confinement. Living conditions were improved, but prisoners were confined perpetually to their cells. Isolation and silence were expected to encourage individual reflection, reform and rehabilitation - a system that became known as 'the Pennsylvania System' or 'Separate System' which influenced significant change in many prison systems across around the world (see Teeters, 1927; Sellin, 1970; Roberts, 1985; see also Pennsylvania Prison Society).

A competing approach that became known as the 'congregate system' or 'Auburn system' (named after Auburn State Prison in New York State) emerged around the same time. The model was championed by social reformers and clergymen such as Louis Dwight (1793-1854) who founded the 'Boston Prison Discipline Society' in 1824 (Barnes, 1921). It called for prisoner isolation at night and congregate working in the day, but with no verbal communication allowed between prisoners - a rule that was enforced with "military-like discipline and liberal use of a whip" (Quen, 1975, p. 132). While the two systems differed, they both strove to maintain discipline by enforcing stringent rules and by upholding the premise that contact between prisoners should be prohibited in order to minimize the negative influence prisoners might have on one another. Competition between supporters of the two systems continued until the late nineteenth century, by which time most states had adopted the congregate system, with the in-built advantage of producing income via industry (see Roberts, 1985; Rotman, 1990).

Some commentators maintain that early prison reformers in America were influenced by the writings and activities of philosophers and social reformers in Europe (for an alternative perspective, see Rothman, 1995), including the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and social reformer John Howard (1726-1790), among others (see, for example, Barnes, 1921). Cesare Beccaria, for example, in his most famous work, Dei delitti e delle pene - On Crimes and Punishments , first published in 1764, argued powerfully for the abolition of capital or corporal punishment, a larger use of imprisonment as punishment, and improvement in the administration of prisons. One of Jeremy Bentham's most famous ideas was his design of the 'panopticon' prison in 1791. The panopticon facilitated for the total separation of prisoners while allowing guards in a central location to observe all prisoners but to remain invisible themselves. The separation, isolation and overall design of the panopticon were considered integral for the purposes of reflection and rehabilitation. Although the panopticon was never built, a number of early prisons in Britain and the United States reflected Bentham's ideas of segregation and isolation (for critical reflection, see Foucault, 1977; Semple, 1993; Steadman, 2007). Prison reformer John Howard published The State of the Prisons in England and Wales in 1777 and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe in 1789, based on an extensive tour and study of prisons across many European jurisdictions. Howard was appalled by the inhumane conditions and poor treatment of prisoners, and with jailers living off fees paid by prisoners. His reform efforts led to substantial change, including the abolition of jailers' fees, and improving hygiene and health care in prisons (Howard, 1777; 1789; Morris and Rothman, 1995; Wilson, 2014; see also The Howard League of Penal Reform ).

Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845), who in 1816 began to visit female prisoners in a London prison, petitioned for better prison conditions to improve their circumstances and to raise awareness about women in prison, and their imprisoned children. In 1827, she published an influential book, Observations of the Visiting, Superintendence and Government of Female Prisoners , addressing the unpopular topic of female imprisonment and providing details for improving penal institutions (Fry, 1827). She wanted prisoners to be educated and for them to live in sanitary conditions. Her work inspired many organizations, including the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (see also Zedner, 1995). Another prominent reformer was Dorothea Dix from the United States who criticized neglectful practices towards the mentally ill in prisons, challenged the idea that people with mental illness could not be helped, and played a key role in creating new institutions for the treatment of the mentally ill across the United States and Europe (see Muckenhoupt, 2004).

Many great and influential writers have also highlighted inhumane treatment of prisoners, and the importance and necessity of prison reform. In 1842, Charles Dickens visited the Philadelphia model of solitary confinement (the separate system), and was horrified by the inhumanity of this treatment. After visiting several prisoners, whom he called men "buried alive" and cut off from "the living world", he concluded:

I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers; and in guessing at it myself, and in reasoning from what I have seen written upon their faces, and what to my certain knowledge they feel within, I am only the more convinced that there is a depth of terrible endurance which none but the sufferers themselves can fathom, and which no man has a right to inflict upon his fellow creature (Dickens, 2000, p. 111, originally published in 1842).

Another example is the author Fyodor Dostoevsky who devoted his semi-autobiographical novel, The House of the Dead , to describing life of prisoners in Siberian prison camps. His main character, Aleksandr Petrovich, who is sentenced to ten years in prison for murder, says of the effects of "the belauded system of solitary confinement" that it:

Attains only false, deceptive, external results. It drains the man's vital sap, enervates his soul, cows and enfeebles it, and then holds up the morally withered mummy, half imbecile, as a model of penitence and reformation (Dostoevsky, 1979, p. 13-14, originally published in 1861).

While brutal and public forms of corporal punishment had been replaced by private and apparently more humane systems of carceral discipline, they were "no less repressive than the corporal punishment of the old regime, and even more insidious in its aim to use the body as an instrument to regiment the soul and reshape the mind" (Foucault, 1977, cited by Gibson, 2011, p. 1042; for further critical reflection of the development of the modern prison, see also Rothman, 1971; Ignatieff, 1978).

The history of prison reform in Africa, Asia and Latin America has come to the fore among scholars in recent years (see for example: Dikötter and Brown, 2007; Sherman, 2009; Gibson, 2011). In these regions, many countries faced significant challenges implementing prison reforms that symbolized colonial domination. The difficulties involved in reformulating existing punishment systems meant that many countries struggled to implement humane forms of punishment (see Coyle, 2002). In Africa, for example, colonial prisons differed from European prisons in that they "sought to reinforce white authority" and "constituted not a replacement for but an addition to corporal punishment" (Gibson, 2011, p. 1053; for insight on the treatment of female prisoners in colonial Senegal, see Konaté, 2003 and 2013). Colonial prison reform in countries in Asia has been described as a story of a "largely alien institution" that was seen to be "not only a site of colonial oppression but also of systematic attempts to break caste and impose Christianity" (Arnold, 2007, p. 147-149; see also Yang, 1987; Anderson, 2003; 2007). In Latin America, prison reform became "part of a process of state and nation formation in which a rhetoric about modernization and innovation was generally contradicted by the continual - and usually violent - exclusion of the majorities from the exercise of democratic rights and citizenship" (Salvatore and Aguirre, 1996, p. 12; see also Salvatore et al., 2001). Importantly, many colonial governments were faced with strong opposition from anticolonial and political prisoners who, through their memoirs, contact with newspapers, riots and resistance, ensured that "the abysmal conditions in colonial prisons became a global issue that could not be ignored" (Gibson, 2011, p. 1062). Colonial legacy, however, continues to shape prison populations and prison administration around the world (Scott and Flynn, 2014).

During the twentieth century, prison reform groups focused on prisoners' rights as a means of improving prison conditions and alleviating the deprivations of imprisonment. Organizations such as the 'Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners', formed by prisoners and ex-prisoners in the United Kingdom, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the United States petitioned for formal due process rights and humane conditions (Easton, 2011). The ACLU National Prison Project , set up in 1972, works "to ensure that conditions of confinement are consistent with health, safety, and human dignity, and that prisoners retain all rights of free persons that are not inconsistent with incarceration." Since the 1970s, the project has instigated a large number of class actions, petitioning the United States government on a wide range of issues including better medical provision for prisoners with HIV, TB and cancer, the protection of prisoners from sexual assaults, challenging prison overcrowding and inhumane prison conditions (Easton, 2011, p. 39-40).

Prisoners' human rights have also been addressed across different jurisdictions through judicial intervention and independent oversight. In India, for example, a number of cases since the mid-1970s have developed human rights jurisprudence on the administration of prisons and the human rights of prisoners (see for example: Charles Sobraj v. Superintendent Central Jail , Tihar, AIR 1978 SC 1514; Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration , AIR 1980 SC 1579). In an important judgment in 1996, the Supreme Court of India identified key problems in the prison system. It called for action to be taken to address the following issues: "overcrowding, delay in trial, torture and ill-treatment, neglect of health and hygiene, insubstantial food and inadequate clothing, prison vices, deficiency in communication, streamlining of jail visits and management of open-air prisons" (Harigovind, 2013, p. 27; Ramamurthy v. State of Karnataka , 1996, SCC (Cri) 386). In terms of independent oversight in India, prison reformer Kiran Bedi earned recognition for the work she carried out as Inspector General of Prisons in 1994 for addressing corruption and human rights abuses, and reforming the Tihar prison of Dehli (one of the largest prisons in the world) along therapeutic and community lines (see Bedi, 2007), though many of her reforms have since been abolished (Codd, 2013).

Over recent decades, various national and international organizations have campaigned and worked to promote the importance of prisoners' rights in different regions of the world, often collaborating closely with relevant government departments and local prison officials to reform the conditions in prisons, and implement international standards (see UNODC, 2013a). Across Africa, for example, the African Prisons Project (APP) work to reform prison conditions by "promoting the health and physical wellbeing of prison communities through increased access to essential health services" and by introducing "basic skills, creative and vocational training to encourage prisoners to use their time to prepare for release". The APP's initiative ' Justice Changemaker Training' also works to build senior prison and criminal justice personnel's professional and leadership skills by equipping them with "formal education, legal training and exposure to global best practice to ensure that prisoners' rights are upheld" (see also 'Capacity Development Projects' and 'Human Rights Advocacy Projects' of the Faraja Foundation ). In Asia, the International Committee of the Red Cross has worked to support prisoners' rights and improve prison conditions for many decades. For example, the project Call for Action in the Philippines, launched in 2007, aims to address "the legal and procedural issues leading to overcrowding in prisons, deficient living conditions for detainees, and poor detainee health conditions, notably the spread of tuberculosis". Similarly, in the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia, the European Union and UNODC launched the project, ' Support to Prison Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic ' in 2009, which aims to contribute to strengthening the rule of law through reform of the prison system.

In most societies in the world, at least one national or international non-governmental organization can be found, working towards improving prisoners' conditions and bringing prisoners' rights to the attention of the public (see for example: Amnesty International , the International Committee of the Red Cross and Penal Reform International ). The central premise that unifies the work of prison reformers is a human rights one, that prisoners are human beings and should be treated at all times with "humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person" (Article 10.1 of the ICCPR (GA Resolution 2200A (XXI)), despite any crime that they may have committed. In other words, there are certain rights and freedoms which are fundamental to human existence, and which cannot be denied or forfeited, including the basic right to safety or to adequate standard of living, such as adequate food, water, accommodation, sanitation, ventilation, clothing, bedding, and opportunities for exercise (see Coyle, 2002; United Nations, 2005; Coyle et al., 2016).

Imprisonment is therefore increasingly recognized as a serious and severe punishment that should constitute only a loss of the right to liberty, not the restriction of other human rights or the imposition of additional punishment. As Coyle (2002, p. 42) noted, imprisonment cannot include, "risk of physical or emotional abuse by staff or by other prisoners" or "risk of serious illness or even death because of the physical conditions or the lack of proper care" (Coyle, 2002, p. 42). Similarly, Alexander Paterson, who was appointed as a Commissioner of Prisons in Britain in 1922 famously stated, individuals "are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment" (cited in Ruck, 1951, p. 13, emphasis added; see also Robinson and Crow, 2009). As stated earlier, the primary purpose of imprisonment should be "reformation and social rehabilitation" so that prisoners can be released from prison as law-abiding and self-supporting citizens, crucial to the reduction of reoffending and protection of the public (Article 10.3 of the ICCPR (GA Resolution 2200A (XXI)). The international community has affirmed this purpose of imprisonment, more recently, in the the Nelson Mandela Rules , 2015, Rule 4; and the Doha Declaration , 2014).

While many prison reformers have demonstrably improved conditions for prisoners over the years (see especially Morris and Rothman, 1995), they continue to face significant challenges in the twenty first century. In many countries, outdated legislation, "tough on crime" policies, a lack of political will and social pressures, as well as limited resources and weak monitoring systems, threaten the impact of prison reform work, and challenge the human rights argument underpinning the importance of prison reform. In all regions of the world, the use of imprisonment continues to raise questions about the extent to which it is an effective, fair and humane punishment. The next part of this Module examines contemporary prison trends and challenges, as well as the development of international human rights standards. 

Next: Topic two - Current trends, key challenges and human rights

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Why Do We Have Prisons in the United States?

The Enlightenment brought the idea that punishments should be certain and mild, rather than harsh with lots of pardons and exceptions.

What is prison for? That’s a question a growing movement is asking as it looks beyond reforming prisons and sentencing laws, and imagines abolishing incarceration altogether. To think about what that might look like, it’s worth considering  how the U.S. prison system began , as historian Jim Rice did in his analysis of an early Maryland penitentiary.

Maryland based its criminal law on English precedent, which meant terrifying punishments like hanging for minor theft, but also selective enforcement of the penalties with frequent pardons that demonstrated the mercy of officials. But where English lawmakers feared poor migrants wandering the country, Maryland’s upper classes needed more laborers than they could find. So, in place of the death penalty, thieves in the state were typically lashed and fined, keeping them alive while plunging them into debt. Those who couldn’t pay might be sold into servitude.

Then, in 1789, as Baltimore grew from a village to a city desperately in need of public works crews, the state passed the “Wheelbarrow Act.” This made most serious offenses punishable with hard labor on roads and the Baltimore harbor—up to seven years for free men or 14 for enslaved men.

But the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was an era of criminal justice reform on both sides of the Atlantic. The Enlightenment brought the idea that punishments should be certain and mild, rather than harsh with lots of pardons and exceptions, and that they should relate only to the crime, not the status of the person being punished. This also offered a more formal way to address crime in growing urban areas where officials could no longer respond to lawbreaking based on personal familiarity with the participants in a dispute.

In 1809, Maryland joined the growing ranks of U.S. states and European countries punishing crimes at penitentiaries. As the word suggested, the theory behind the institutions was that inmates could be induced to repent and reform. Not surprisingly, Maryland determined that a key tool in this project was “labour of the hardest and most servile kind,” including textile work, nail-making, and housekeeping. And while reformers expected penitentiaries to provide religious education and tailor work assignments to the goal of character improvement, in practice they were geared toward the fiscal needs of the institution, which the state expected to be self-supporting.

Another key divergence between theory and practice involved black convicts. Lawmakers assumed that African-Americans—free or enslaved—were inherently unreformable and that “prison life too closely resembled everyday black life to hold any real terror,” Rice writes. Nonetheless, black people flooded into the penitentiary.

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From the start, the penitentiary system didn’t fulfill reformers’ dreams. But the system made sense to officials who needed to keep order in bustling cities and supply labor to growing industries. The question today is what role prisons fill for the people who support them, and what alternatives might work better for the communities that bear the brunt of punishment.

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The learning network | what should be the purpose of prison.

What Should Be the Purpose of Prison?

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

• See all Student Opinion »

More people are spending time in jail (PDF) because they don’t have enough money to pay fines or post bail, or because they are too ill with mental health or drug problems to adequately care for themselves, according to a new report. And the United States prison population is near a record high (PDF) even though violent crime nationally has fallen by nearly 50 percent and property crime has dropped by more than 40 percent from its peak. All this raises an important question:

What should be the purpose of prison?

In a Feb 11 article, “Jails Have Become Warehouses for the Poor, Ill and Addicted, a Report Says,” Timothy Williams writes:

Jails across the country have become vast warehouses made up primarily of people too poor to post bail or too ill with mental health or drug problems to adequately care for themselves, according to a report issued Wednesday. The study, “Incarceration’s Front Door: The Misuse of Jails in America,” found that the majority of those incarcerated in local and county jails are there for minor violations, including driving with suspended licenses, shoplifting or evading subway fares, and have been jailed for longer periods of time over the past 30 years because they are unable to pay court-imposed costs. The report, by the Vera Institute of Justice, comes at a time of increased attention to mass incarceration policies that have swelled prison and jail populations around the country. This week in Missouri, where the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer stirred months of racial tension last year in the town of Ferguson, 15 people sued that city and another suburb, Jennings, alleging that the cities created an unconstitutional modern-day debtors’ prison, putting impoverished people behind bars in overcrowded, unlawful and unsanitary conditions. While most reform efforts, including early releases and the elimination of some minimum mandatory sentences, have been focused on state and federal prisons, the report found that the disparate rules that apply to jails is also in need of reform. “It’s an important moment to take a look at our use of jails,” said Nancy Fishman, the project director of the Vera Institute’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections and an author of the report. “It’s a huge burden on taxpayers, on our communities, and we need to decide if this is how we want to spend our resources.” The number of people housed in jails on any given day in the country has increased from 224,000 in 1983 to 731,000 in 2013 — nearly equal to the population of Charlotte, N.C. — even as violent crime nationally has fallen by nearly 50 percent and property crime has dropped by more than 40 percent from its peak.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

— What should be the purpose of prison?

— Should jails and prisons punish people? Should they serve as a deterrent to crime? Or should they try to rehabilitate people — and help them get back on their feet?

— Should we incarcerate people for minor offenses, such as driving with suspended licenses, shoplifting or evading subway fares? Or should local officials come up with other alternatives? What should those alternatives be?

— The Vera Institute of Justice study said that while 68 percent of jail inmates had a history of abusing drugs, alcohol or both, jail-based drug treatment programs had been underfunded. Should prisons and jails provide more mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services? Who should pay for those programs?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

i think prison is a good thing to keep at the bad people away from doing bad thing an important moment to take a look at our use of jails,” said Nancy Fish man, the project director of the Vera Institute’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections and an author of the report. “It’s a huge burden on taxpayers, on our communities, and we need to decide if this is how we want to spend our resources.”i agree with this statement because it is showing how prison should stay and show the right from wrong

I believe the purpose of prison should be to help people who have addictions and problems not putting them in a wrong environment. Even though i know some people can be violent and uncooperative. I feel that it is also in some places people that are poor and don’t have correct care and can’t post bail. I don’t believe Jail should punish people it should instead help them with their problems. Also help them get back on their feet. I also believe that they should provide more health care and medical treatment

I think prisons should should be used for punishment. If we used prison for rehab, then the ones that need rehab would be abused. I also think mental health and drug therapy should be more of a necessity. i think we should find other ways of dealing with minor offenses.

to hold people who don’t follow the law. If the inmates deserve it or refuse authority then yes. they should help them and deterrent them. no, they should get a ticket that is reasonable. yes, the states because they are the ones arresting the people and sending them to jail.

I think the purpose of prisons are to punish people who go against the law ,and to give them time to think on what they have done. I think prisons should both punish and help. Maybe instead of putting people who do minor crimes in prison they should work, if not they should be in a prison for some time. Yes, I think people in prison should have more help with drugs and such. The government should pay.

I think that jail should be for punishing people for the crime or crimes they have committed. They should not punish them since being in jail is already enough. Once they get close to the time when they are going to be released, I would have them start helping them get back on their feet. Local officials should come up with alternative punishments for people who committed minor crimes. I think the government should pay for mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services.

The purpose of prison should be to keep the bad people that do not so good thing away from the the people who do good and to punish them Yes according to what did to put them in there. yes they should also do that if they seem that there doing good . The people who do that should go in prison for a little to learn their lesson . They should the treat meant for they won’t do it in the future

1. i think the purpose of prison is to send a message to the person that is in it, to be punished, and it is also purposed to protect the public. 2.i honestly think that it would be the best to help them and rehabilitate them to get them back on their feet. 3. i think that if we do keep this system than yes i would think it is appropriate. 4. i think that it is important to help those people who have messed up badly in life and get them back on the track, so i think that the government should pay or the persons family members.

The purpose of jail is to punish criminals who have done bad things and broken the law. It should punish people because the person’s actions that caused them to go to jail maybe hurt or punished someone innocent so yes prison should be used to punish people. Yes prison should be a deterrent to crime. Rehab is used to rehabilitate people not prison so no. Maybe put people in prison for a week for minor crimes but not years. Prison should provide more medical help and the local government should pay for the programs.

i believe that prision is to help criminals realize that what they have done is not acceptable and they need to notice that what they didnt isnt allowed in whatever state or city that they live in. Jails and prisions should not punish people. Their time that they are doing should be enough they shouldnt be abused.

Prison is a good thing and a bad thing, the good thing about prison is its disciplines people, but sometimes some people are being disciplined for no good reason. If people get caught with drugs,then they should do a urinary analysis and if the UA comes up dirty for substances then they should do a rule 25. Personally I think it would be better to go to treatment instead of prison, because once they get out of prison they are going to be using again. When people are in prison they think about what they are going to do when they get out. People in treatment are thinking about how they are going to change their ways.. I think people should take a look at a person before just sending them to prison.

I believe that prisons are correctional facilities. They are not rehabilitation centers for drug or alcohol abusers, nor are they places for the needy to get an easy meal or shelter for a few weeks. I recently went on a prison tour in South Africa where I had the opportunity to speak to inmates that were currently serving time. Here are some interesting points I took from that visit. — Prison life is NOT better than living below the breadline every day where your only choice is to commit crime. Many inmates remarked that to stay alive they needed to steal as jobs are difficult to find and stealing is the only way to survive. That being said, there was unanimous agreement that the inmates would do anything to get out of prison if they could.

— Although many people are “corrected” and are fit to return to society many still reoffend. Unfortunately this is the nature of society. Even the fear of prison and the gloom that comes with it cannot overrule the need for food and shelter. It is virtually impossible to get a job with a criminal record and thus many people return to their old ways where being a criminal is a way of life, a necessity to survive.

–South African correctional facilities offer no substance rehabilitation whatsoever. This means that inmates must go cold turkey upon being convicted. Unfortunately when prisoners are released they often begin using drugs again and are caught for the second or third time, even after being clean whilst serving time. This seems to be inevitable and it doesn’t seem that specific programs to rehabilitate substance abusers will change this pattern. I make this point on similar grounds as the above – old habits are hard to break and societal as well as contextual pressures force drug users to reoffend.

Of course, there is much more to say on the matter and I think it is important to mention that many inmates seemed genuinely sorry for their actions and were doing their best to make ammends. Unfortunately as good-intentioned as these people may be, once they are released they have nowhere to go, nothing to eat and no work. This forces the cycle to repeat itself. Does making prison more scary prevent reoffenders? I doubt it. Do rehabilitation programs lead to less people turning to drugs on release? I also doubt it. What is desperately needed are programs for released inmates to get jobs and be reintegrated back into society in order to prevent recidivism. How this can be achieved I don’t know but it’s the missing link in the fight against crime.

I do believe their should be prisons and the purpose be for criminals that have committed a serious crime, such as killers, rapist, attempted murder etc. Also prisons for these people should not be a time to get a school degree, work out, have rites. The only rites they should have is a to a trial , the right to appeal if they feel unjust, a cot to sleep on food and clean clothes. Rich or poor, they need to do the time. If mentally ill, then there needs to be a separate prison for them as a safety to themselves and others. But again they should not be given special treatment. Medication if they need calming, a place to sleep, clean clothes, food and evaluations to see if they can stand trial at a later time. For small violations such as non paid tickets, shoplifting, etc where they did not harm a person, then community service needs to be enforced. This world needs cleaning up, utilize the people who do not follow the law to work off their time for the crime they committed.

I do believe their should be prisons and the purpose be for criminals that have committed a serious crime, such as killers, rapist, attempted murder etc. Also prisons for these people should not be a time to get a school degree, work out, have rites. The only rites they should have is a to a trial , the right to appeal if they feel unjust, a cot to sleep on food and clean clothes. Rich or poor, they need to do the time. If mentally ill, then there needs to be a separate prison for them as a safety to themselves and others. But again they should not be given special treatment. Medication if they need calming, a place to sleep, clean clothes, food and evaluations to see if they can stand trial at a later time. For small violations such as non paid tickets, shoplifting, etc where they did not harm a person, then community service needs to be enforced. This world needs cleaning up, utilize the people who do not follow the law to work off their time for the crime they committed

I believe the prisons should be used for people who have committed serious crimes such as murder, rapes, anyone with the intent of hurting another and has tried. People in prison should not have the rite to get an education, working out with weights or anything to better themselves. They committed a crime, violated or ended another persons life, what they took away from one person they should have to experience themselves. Rich or poor, do the crime you pay the time. Therapy should be given to the point of getting them off drugs, drinking and therapy group talking. For the lesser crimes where a person is not a threat to society then community service from building, cleanups, helping the poor, soup kitchens, trash pick up etc, should be utilized. Imagine the money saved and people in society helping out. Sometimes we all can learn from other generations when we experience their point of living. So keep prisons , just use them for the intended purpose, real crimes.

I think the purpose of prisons should be to punish crimes to prevent them from happening again. The purpose of prisons should be to deterrent crimes so they won’t needlessly repeat. I do think prisons rehabilitate people and get them back on their feet although that may encourage people who need help to commit crimes to receive help instead of finding other solutions to their problems and issues. We shouldn’t incarcerate people for minor offenses because the public has to pay for the prison in taxes. Instead, local officials should come up with different ways to reprimand the misdemeanor. Some punishments could be community work or taking classes to understand what they did wrong. Prisons and jails should provide mental health and drug treatments to the prisoners if they are needed and the government, not the public should fund it. Although prisons should provide those services, I believe that there should be another way to obtain those services outside of prison for those who desperately need it instead of giving people incentives treatments for committing a crime.

Prisons and Jails are great for keeping the bad people away, but putting people there for being unable to pay fines is just raising taxes. Use the taxes for something else rather than keeping a human sustained in prison for an amount of time. They should just be put in debt if they cannot pay, not put in prison. Prisons are to punish people who are very bad, not if you’re not paying for the subway. That is what fines are for. They should provide programs to make sure that people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol are no longer addicted to make sure they won’t go to prison again, and have to be sustained for another sentence.

I believe that the purpose of prisons is a form of punishment to prevent serious crimes from repeatedly happening and giving a criminal time to mull over what they did wrong. Prison should serve a purpose to prevent crimes, not encourage crimes. Although some crimes occur because of mental illness or drug issues I believe prisons should provide treatments to ailments and attempt to rehabilitate people so they won’t have to go to prison because of money problems. There also is an issue with providing treatments in prison because that can be seen as an incentive to a person who lacks funds to buy their own medical supplies to commit a crime to get access to treatments. We should not incarcerate people for minor crimes such as driving with suspended licenses or shoplifting or other misdemeanors. Instead of imprisoning them and wasting peoples’ money for taxes, local officials should come with punishments that could make the offenders understand and learn what they did wrong. Some good punishments are community service; accounting classes to teach them about money, working at a shop teach why losing several small objects add up to a large amount, and showing them why licenses are so important. Jails and prisons should have a better system and procedure on providing the ital health and drug abuse treatments so when the people in jail are released they can avoid falling into the same mental or drug health issues again. The government should pay for it and find a cost efficient way to treat all the needy prisoners.

The purpose of a prison is to be a place of punishment for those who have committed crimes. Should prisons punish those confined in it? No, being in a prison is enough of a punishment. The moment a person enters a prison they are stripped of personal freedom, with that being said prisons should serve as a deterrent to crime. Depending on the crime and the purpose for committing the crime prisons can also serve as rehabs. You wouldn’t punish someone who stole food to feed their family the same way you would punish someone who stole money to buy drugs. In this time and society some individuals need help to be set on the right track. Prisons should not be filled with individuals who have committed minor offenses such as driving with a suspended license. The world is filled with people who execute heinous crimes such as murder and rape. Prisons should try to confine them and not others who have committed minor offenses. For those who have committed minor offenses local officials should punish them by using alternatives such as public humiliation. Nothing teaches a lesson better than the stinging pain of shame. Mental health, drug, and alcohol treatments should be provided in prisons. By having these treatment centers prisons are nursing individuals and helping them get back on their feet. The funding for these programs should come from taxes.

Prisons is a place for that criminal.The people in here are killers,murderers,rapist.Or did some horrible things.but there are also some people did something like stole a ride and so on.Whatever they did,they are one of the member in this society.They broke the rules and law.So they should introspect themselves what they had done.But some people did such things due to poor.They don’t want to do,they have to do.So we should give a place and chance to them.If better,they can also contribute themselves to this society after prison.We shouldn’t give up them.As a government, it should give money and equipment to prison without hesitation. And help the people in there instead of putting them into a incorrect environment.Through a good physical and mental treatment,most of them can be a better man.Meanwhile we need to reform and improve the treatment to the minor offenses. That ‘s the purpose of prisons.That’s my point of view.

i think prison should be there to help people get better and not want to go back to prison. i don’t think that someone should go to jail just because of a speeding ticket or parking ticket. whats the point i think its just using more tax dollars to pay for people a place to stay and a meal each day. i think its more that people need help not prison there are some people who deserve life in prison but others don’t.

I think the purpose of prison should be to punish the people who have done wrong. I dont think it should be a place to help addicts. I do think that prisons should punish people, but only if they are in there for something like murder. If someone is in for drugs i dont think the jail should serve as a rehabilitation center.

The purpose of prison should be to help keep people from doing bad things. I think that not only should they punish people for what they did, but they should be able to rehabilitate people and get them back on their feet. People should not get arrested for driving with a suspended license or failing to pay a speeding ticket. That’s just a bunch of bullcrap! Instead, [the person who’s doing the wrong] should receive notices and/or reminders in the mail, whether it be electronic or paper, that they need to get their licenses renewed, or they still need to pay their ticket. I think this is the way things should be! That way, we don’t have overcrowded jails and prisons in our free country.

I personally don’t think someone should go to jail or prison for a minor offense such as many traffic violations. But I also still think there should be a some type of penalty for many traffic or small crimes if it happens many times in a short time period. For the fact to keep traveling safe and free from acccidents.

I think the purpose of prison is to show that person who committed a crime that what they did was wrong. And that their not gonna get away with it, with out learning the hard way. prison shouldn’t be just a place for people to live who don’t want to pay the fine that they got. I also think that they should have to work it off in the jail or prison i think its about two dollars a hour so let them work it off other wise there gonna live in there till the day they die.

What's Next

The Purpose of Prisons Overview Essay

Many people would not dispute the fact that prisons are created for different purposes. For instance, punishment and rehabilitation are the most significant ones. Some may assume that prisons have only one goal, which is either punishment or rehabilitation. Arguably, jails should serve all purposes for prisoners regarding the severity of the crime that they committed. Punishment includes retribution for crimes against society, depriving criminals of their freedom, and incapacitation which refers to the removal of criminals from the community. Meanwhile, rehabilitation activities involve giving educational classes in jail, training job skills, and treatment services with a psychologist or social worker, and are designed to change criminals into law-abiding citizens.

One of the most commonly applied types of punishment for a convicted offender is imprisonment and deterrence. Prison was a saving grace for some offenders, pushing them to change their criminal behavior and make apologies for their crimes. In this context, the punishment model is justified to prevent the crime from occurring again. Moreover, in some jails, conditions are terrifying; thus, ordinary citizens may accept that prisons are terrible places and, as a result, be aware of committing the crime. According to the statistics, the awareness of jails eventually had a minor influence on the number of inmates because “the proportion of US residents who are in prison fell 15%, from 506 sentenced prisoners in 2008 to 431 in 2018 per 100,000 US residents” (Carson, 2020, p. 1). Thus, the US local authorities achieve a decrease in crimes through deterrence and discipline, even in small amounts.

On the other hand, punishment through depriving and incapacitation may cause serious health issues due to the horrendous condition in jails. This situation may lead to prison riots, difficulties with rehabilitation, and policy implications such as financial losses and societal rejection and hate. For instance, Maruschak (2015) mentioned that “half of state and federal prisoners and local jail inmates reported ever having a chronic condition. Chronic conditions include cancer, high blood pressure, stroke-related problems, diabetes, heart-related problems, kidney-related problems, arthritis, asthma, and cirrhosis of the liver” (p. 1). Additionally, rehabilitation with punishment is one of the worst ideas that had ever occurred because penalties may reduce some symptoms. Still, they would never correct the original issue of why a person had been seized to jail.

Therefore, if the government provides proper medical care and education for prisoners, the number of crimes may decrease considerably. Snell (2014) claimed that “four states (California, Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania) held more than half of all inmates on death row on December 31, 2011” (p. 1). Thus, punishment may cause a positive effect on society, such as the fear of jails, as well as negative, for example, the struggle for prisoners’ rights regarding death and other sentences. Meanwhile, rehabilitation and education of inmates may extinguish the issue with the fight for individuals’ rights, and force realized prisoners to teach other humans that crime committing is not worth striving.

In conclusion, in light of the information mentioned above, the US government has not decreased the number of offenses and crimes considerably. Statistics prove that there was a minor reduction of the US residents in prisons, and, still, those are the minor amounts. Therefore, in order to prevent illegal activities, even more, the authorities should provide not only deterrence but also proper medical treatment and education regarding the severity of the prisoner’s crime.

Carson, E. A. (2020). Prisoners in 2018 . U.S. Department of Justice.

Maruschak, L. M. (2015). Medical Problems of State and Federal Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011–12 . U.S. Department of Justice.

Snell, T. L. (2014). Capital Punishment, 2011 – Statistical Tables . U.S. Department of Justice.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Prisons and Jails

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Prisons and Jails by Beth M. Huebner , Morgan McGuirk LAST REVIEWED: 01 August 2014 LAST MODIFIED: 29 May 2019 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0037

Prisons and jails have been a central part of society for many centuries, and a substantial body of work has been amassed on theories of punishment. Correctional institutions serve many functions but generally serve to manage men and women who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses. The nature and purpose of correctional institutions vary considerably. Traditionally the study of corrections focused on the prison; however, the research on corrections now includes the study of a range of institutions and community sanctions. In addition, a specialization of research in this area seeks to explain unique experiences of inmates, including that of women and juveniles. The literature listed in this article summarizes the prominent works in this area and provides sources of reliable data on jails and prisons.

A number of texts on corrections and imprisonment have been developed. Clear, et al. 2019 provides a broad overview regarding a range of topics on corrections and is appropriate as an introductory text for students. The Latessa and Holsinger 2015 reader is comprised of annotated classical and contemporary articles, appropriate as a stand-alone text for undergraduate courses or as a supplementary text for a graduate course in corrections. For advanced graduate seminars, Morris and Rothman 1997 provides an excellent historical and theoretically informed discussion of imprisonment in the United States and abroad. Tonry 2006 discusses the future of corrections in an accessible anthology of works by top correctional scholars. Finally, the Pew Center on the States 2008 is an important electronic text that includes contemporary statistics illustrating imprisonment trends, and is suitable for either established researchers or new students.

Clear, Todd, Mike Reisig, and George F. Cole. 2019. American corrections . 12th ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Broad and accessible overview of prisons, jails, and community corrections. Suitable for undergraduate courses.

Latessa, Edward J., and Alexander M. Holsinger, eds. 2015. Correctional contexts: Contemporary and classical readings . 5th ed. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Anthology of annotated classic and contemporary readings in corrections; includes materials on the history of corrections, institutional treatment, working in prison, and release from prison. Appropriate text for an advanced undergraduate class or an introduction to imprisonment in a graduate course.

Morris, Norval, and David J. Rothman, eds. 1997. The Oxford history of the prison: The practice of punishment in Western society . New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Edited collection of essays designed to trace the history of imprisonment in the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and Australia. Augmented with articles on jails, detention of juveniles and women, and the political prisoner.

Pew Center on the States. 2008. One in 100: Behind bars in America 2008 . Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts.

Provides a comprehensive narrative on the growth of imprisonment in the past two decades. Includes a number of cogent graphs; an excellent introduction to imprisonment trends for an undergraduate student. Available online .

Tonry, Michael, ed. 2006. The future of imprisonment . Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Edited volume of essays written by top penal scholars. Using a historical lens, the contributors provide theoretically rich analysis of current imprisonment policy. This sophisticated anthology is appropriate for policy makers and scholars alike.

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1.5 The Purposes of Punishment

Learning objective.

• Ascertain the effects of specific and general deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution.

Punishment has five recognized purposes: deterrence , incapacitation , rehabilitation , retribution , and restitution .

Specific and General Deterrence

Deterrence prevents future crime by frightening the defendant or the public . The two types of deterrence are specific and general deterrence . Specific deterrence applies to an individual defendant . When the government punishes an individual defendant, he or she is theoretically less likely to commit another crime because of fear of another similar or worse punishment. General deterrence applies to the public at large. When the public learns of an individual defendant’s punishment, the public is theoretically less likely to commit a crime because of fear of the punishment the defendant experienced. When the public learns, for example, that an individual defendant was severely punished by a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty, this knowledge can inspire a deep fear of criminal prosecution.

Incapacitation

Incapacitation prevents future crime by removing the defendant from society. Examples of incapacitation are incarceration, house arrest, or execution pursuant to the death penalty.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation prevents future crime by altering a defendant’s behavior. Examples of rehabilitation include educational and vocational programs, treatment center placement, and counseling. The court can combine rehabilitation with incarceration or with probation or parole. In some states, for example, nonviolent drug offenders must participate in rehabilitation in combination with probation, rather than submitting to incarceration (Ariz. Rev. Stat., 2010). This lightens the load of jails and prisons while lowering recidivism , which means reoffending.

Retribution

Retribution prevents future crime by removing the desire for personal avengement (in the form of assault, battery, and criminal homicide, for example) against the defendant. When victims or society discover that the defendant has been adequately punished for a crime, they achieve a certain satisfaction that our criminal procedure is working effectively, which enhances faith in law enforcement and our government.

Restitution

Restitution prevents future crime by punishing the defendant financially . Restitution is when the court orders the criminal defendant to pay the victim for any harm and resembles a civil litigation damages award. Restitution can be for physical injuries, loss of property or money, and rarely, emotional distress. It can also be a fine that covers some of the costs of the criminal prosecution and punishment.

Figure 1.4 Different Punishments and Their Purpose

Key Takeaways

• Specific deterrence prevents crime by frightening an individual defendant with punishment. General deterrence prevents crime by frightening the public with the punishment of an individual defendant.
• Incapacitation prevents crime by removing a defendant from society.
• Rehabilitation prevents crime by altering a defendant’s behavior.
• Retribution prevents crime by giving victims or society a feeling of avengement.
• Restitution prevents crime by punishing the defendant financially.

Answer the following questions. Check your answers using the answer key at the end of the chapter.

• What is one difference between criminal victims’ restitution and civil damages?
• Read Campbell v. State , 5 S.W.3d 693 (1999). Why did the defendant in this case claim that the restitution award was too high? Did the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agree with the defendant’s claim? The case is available at this link: http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11316909200521760089&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr .

Ariz. Rev. Stat. §13-901.01, accessed February 15, 2010, http://law.justia.com/arizona/codes/title13/00901-01.html .

Criminal Law Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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What is the purpose of imprisonment?

Devika Katbamna

CRIME CONTROL

AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

CRM020C075S

Punishment is depicted as an intense collective phenomenon driven by irrational forces. It was seen as rituals expressing the furious moral outrage of the group against those who had violated its sacred moral order.

Edward Glover (1931) argued that punishment was sadistic and a displacement activity.

Imprisonment is seen as an intimidating relationship between the state and the offender, which is the central image underlying many critical studies of imposing penalty.

It can also be represented as a legal procedure, a form of power, an instrument of class domination, an expression of collective feeling, a moral action, a ritual event or an embodiment of a certain sensibility.

Imprisonment is society’s settled means of dealing with certain needs, relationships, conflicts and problems which repeatedly recur and must be managed in an orderly and normative way if social relations are to be reasonably stabilised and differentiated.

The state uses prison as a punishment practice. The main theory of rehabilitation, deterrence and incapacitation are all embodied within the process of punishment that is incarceration behind the prison walls.

People are imprisoned based on themselves, not just the offence alone. Society would see the primary purpose of imprisonment as protecting the public by holding those committed by the courts, in a safe, decent and healthy environment, reduce crime by providing constructive regimes for prisoners, which address offending behaviour, improve educational and work skills and promote law abiding behaviour in custody after release.

Prisoners are committed to prison as  punishment, not for  punishment. The primary focus for the term of imprisonment is to turn around offending behaviour and release individuals back into the community who will not return to crime.

A healthy prison is that which makes the weakest prisoners feel safe; all prisoners are treated with respect as individuals; all prisoners are busily occupied, are expected to improve themselves and given the opportunity to do so, and that all prisoners can strengthen links with their families and prepare for release.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Imprisonment is based on a simple form of deprivation of liberty. In harsh and concrete terms, prison seems to express that the offence has injured, beyond the victim, society as a whole. It is an apparatus for transforming individuals. It is like a strict school, the most immediate and civilised form of all penalties.

It is not just deprivation of liberty alone; it is kind of like legal detention and an enterprise solely for reforming individuals.

Therefore, imprisonment covers both the deprivation of liberty and the technical transformation of individuals.

In Philadelphia, the rehabilitation of the criminal is expected not by the application of a common law, but of the relationship of the individual to his own conscience. The walls of the prison are equivalent to the punishment of the crime and the cells of the prison are equivalent to confronting the convict with himself.

If rehabilitation is part of the purpose of imprisonment, then isolating the prisoner from his or her family and culture, defeats that purpose. The denial of access to simple facilities such as radio and television, or the simple right to write and receive letters, is a denial of human and social rights. Punishing a prisoner’s relations by making long journeys necessary in order to see him or her is not the way to ‘rehabilitate’ the guilty or reconcile the innocently convicted to the current rule of law.

Prison did not force offenders to work, it seems to have re-introduced into its very institution, by means of taxation, labour on others. The labour by which the convict contributes to his own needs turns the thief into a docile worker. The utility of penal labour imposes on the convict the ‘moral’ form of wages as the condition of his existence.

The prison, the place where the penalty is carried out, is also the place of observation of punished individuals.

Their privacy is completely taken away as they remain under constant surveillance. The imprisonment rate has increased by 28%, rising from 117 to 151 prisoners for 100,000 members of the adult population.

A report by the Social Exclusion Unit records that of those 58% of prisoners (72% young offenders) re-convicted in the two years following release, each will have received an average of three further convictions, for each of which five recorded offences are committed.

This can imply that prison fails to function adequately and does not aim to fulfil what its primary purpose is if the prisoners are being convicted again.

There are proven links between social exclusion and re-offending, the report recommends measures for the Prison Service to adopt to ensure a rehabilitative focus.

They identify nine key factors that influence re-offending:

        -education

        -employment

        -drug and alcohol misuse

        -mental and physical health

        -attitudes and self-control

        -institutionalisation and life skills

        -housing

        -financial support and debt

        -family networks

Therefore, the task is not to resettle prisoners in society, but to settle them for the first time. As part of this process, the government announced, in July 2002, their proposals for new innovative sentences, and reform of short custodial sentences, to continue custody with community activity and punishment with rehabilitation.

Another proposal, that of Intermittent custody, equally seeks to strengthen family and community ties, without compromising on punishment. Under the proposal, offenders would serve their custodial sentence either at weekends or during the week, whilst the remainder of their time would be spent in the community, enabling them to continue in employment and meet family responsibilities.

These significant moves towards minimising recidivism are further evident in Government proposals to act upon criticisms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In July 2002, the Home Office issued a report receiving the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 with a view to making the act pro-active in reducing crime. The review found that the act has been limiting the prospects of the resettlement of ex-offenders, making it virtually impossible for them to put their past behind them.

In conclusion, new prisons will not help deter crime and rehabilitate prisoners entirely. They will only cater to the serious problems that exist in the system and make room for new criminals. This proposal will stop overcrowding, may help to deter crime and probably rehabilitate criminals. The only way to make the prison system work is to change it.

Bibliography

Valier, C. (2002) Theories of Crime and Punishment

Garland, D. (1990) Punishment and Modern Society

Uglow, S. (2002) Criminal Justice

Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish: the birth of the prison

Document Details

• Word Count 1096
• Page Count 6
• Level University Degree
• Subject Law

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What is the purpose of imprisonment Essay Example

• Pages: 4 (1022 words)
• Published: December 4, 2017
• Type: Analysis

Punishment is depicted as an intense collective phenomenon driven by irrational forces. It was seen as rituals expressing the furious moral outrage of the group against those who had violated its sacred moral order.Edward Glover (1931) argued that punishment was sadistic and a displacement activity.Imprisonment is seen as an intimidating relationship between the state and the offender, which is the central image underlying many critical studies of imposing penalty.

It can also be represented as a legal procedure, a form of power, an instrument of class domination, an expression of collective feeling, a moral action, a ritual event or an embodiment of a certain sensibility.Imprisonment is society's settled means of dealing with certain needs, relationships, conflicts and problems which repeatedly recur and must be managed in an orderly and normative way if social relations are to be reasonably stabilised and dif

ferentiated.The state uses prison as a punishment practice. The main theory of rehabilitation, deterrence and incapacitation are all embodied within the process of punishment that is incarceration behind the prison walls.

People are imprisoned based on themselves, not just the offence alone. Society would see the primary purpose of imprisonment as protecting the public by holding those committed by the courts, in a safe, decent and healthy environment, reduce crime by providing constructive regimes for prisoners, which address offending behaviour, improve educational and work skills and promote law abiding behaviour in custody after release.Prisoners are committed to prison as punishment, not for punishment. The primary focus for the term of imprisonment is to turn around offending behaviour and release individuals back into the community who will not return to crime.

A healthy prison is that which makes the

weakest prisoners feel safe; all prisoners are treated with respect as individuals; all prisoners are busily occupied, are expected to improve themselves and given the opportunity to do so, and that all prisoners can strengthen links with their families and prepare for release.Imprisonment is based on a simple form of deprivation of liberty. In harsh and concrete terms, prison seems to express that the offence has injured, beyond the victim, society as a whole. It is an apparatus for transforming individuals. It is like a strict school, the most immediate and civilised form of all penalties.It is not just deprivation of liberty alone; it is kind of like legal detention and an enterprise solely for reforming individuals.

Therefore, imprisonment covers both the deprivation of liberty and the technical transformation of individuals.In Philadelphia, the rehabilitation of the criminal is expected not by the application of a common law, but of the relationship of the individual to his own conscience. The walls of the prison are equivalent to the punishment of the crime and the cells of the prison are equivalent to confronting the convict with himself.If rehabilitation is part of the purpose of imprisonment, then isolating the prisoner from his or her family and culture, defeats that purpose. The denial of access to simple facilities such as radio and television, or the simple right to write and receive letters, is a denial of human and social rights. Punishing a prisoner's relations by making long journeys necessary in order to see him or her is not the way to 'rehabilitate' the guilty or reconcile the innocently convicted to the current rule of law.

Prison did not force offenders to

work, it seems to have re-introduced into its very institution, by means of taxation, labour on others. The labour by which the convict contributes to his own needs turns the thief into a docile worker. The utility of penal labour imposes on the convict the 'moral' form of wages as the condition of his existence.The prison, the place where the penalty is carried out, is also the place of observation of punished individuals.Their privacy is completely taken away as they remain under constant surveillance.

The imprisonment rate has increased by 28%, rising from 117 to 151 prisoners for 100,000 members of the adult population.A report by the Social Exclusion Unit records that of those 58% of prisoners (72% young offenders) re-convicted in the two years following release, each will have received an average of three further convictions, for each of which five recorded offences are committed.This can imply that prison fails to function adequately and does not aim to fulfil what its primary purpose is if the prisoners are being convicted again.There are proven links between social exclusion and re-offending, the report recommends measures for the Prison Service to adopt to ensure a rehabilitative focus.They identify nine key factors that influence re-offending:-education-employment-drug and alcohol misuse-mental and physical health-attitudes and self-control-institutionalisation and life skills-housing-financial support and debt-family networksTherefore, the task is not to resettle prisoners in society, but to settle them for the first time.

As part of this process, the government announced, in July 2002, their proposals for new innovative sentences, and reform of short custodial sentences, to continue custody with community activity and punishment with rehabilitation.Another proposal, that of Intermittent custody, equally seeks to

strengthen family and community ties, without compromising on punishment. Under the proposal, offenders would serve their custodial sentence either at weekends or during the week, whilst the remainder of their time would be spent in the community, enabling them to continue in employment and meet family responsibilities.These significant moves towards minimising recidivism are further evident in Government proposals to act upon criticisms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In July 2002, the Home Office issued a report receiving the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 with a view to making the act pro-active in reducing crime. The review found that the act has been limiting the prospects of the resettlement of ex-offenders, making it virtually impossible for them to put their past behind them.In conclusion, new prisons will not help deter crime and rehabilitate prisoners entirely. They will only cater to the serious problems that exist in the system and make room for new criminals.

This proposal will stop overcrowding, may help to deter crime and probably rehabilitate criminals. The only way to make the prison system work is to change it.

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The Purpose Of Imprisonment - Essay Example

• Subject: Social science
• Type: Essay
• Level: Undergraduate
• Pages: 14 (3500 words)
• Downloads: 1
• Author: pdietrich

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