Critical Analysis When overcrowding becomes an extremely serious human and ethical problem such that state or federal prison officials must find a temporary solution, one trend that has been implemented is to move inmates to other prisons in distant states. However, according to author Othello Harris, who is also editor of the Journal of African-American Men, moving inmates to other states has the "…consequence of reducing the likelihood that prisoners will receive visits from their families and friends" (Harris, et al
Hence, the thought of stereotyping black people as though they were monolithic is not only absurd, it's ignorant. In his book, Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, author Todd Nelson discusses "High-Power people" and "Low-Power people" (Nelson, 2009, 254) vis-a-vis the way stereotypes and categorizations emerge in social and work situations
3). Impacts of the "mass incarceration of African-American men": In The Western Journal of Black Studies the authors take the position that while commentators, journalists, scholars and others have done "…a good job recognizing that mass incarceration devastates the lives of African-American men," that mass incarceration in prisons that are seriously overcrowded also has a devastating effect on the mothers, wives, girlfriends and friends of the incarcerated -- along with the communities from which the inmates came (Smith, et al
Gamble (1976), determined that medical care in the Texas prison system was below a constitutional level. Estelle and subsequent decisions established that prisoners have a constitutional right to health care equal in quality to that available in the outside community (Poster, 1992)
With the exception of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which staffed its medical service needs with Public Health Service physicians and provided hospital care in facilities accredited under the Joint Commission for Hospital Accreditation, neither public health officials nor the outside medical community showed much concern for medical services in prisons or jails or for the health status of prisoners. Until the 1970s no general standards for medical services in prisons existed in the United States (Weisbuch, DNI)
The BOP's job is not limited to healthcare. Instead, it has responsibility for the entire federal prison system, which "currently includes 114 prisons, 6 regional offices, 2 staff training centers and 28 community corrections offices" (Wallechinsky, 2012)
Perhaps the most cause for concern is the problem of the potential for lack of security in privatized prisons and the potential for prison escapees. In August of 2010, three convicted murderers were able to break free from a privately operated medium-security jail in Arizona (Levine)
However, there are differences between private and public penitentiaries, both in the implementation of punishment and in the reformation of criminals which differentiate the two types of prisons. Privatization has become an important role in many aspects of prison life, both while the convicted individual is within prison and afterwards when they are on probation (Siegel 546)
Many times this results in the early probation of criminals before they have served their full sentences, as well as a decrease in the level of care and observation during the probationary period of the former convict. In such instances, private corporations and entities take over existing penitentiary structures or construct new ones to alleviate the overcrowded prison system and ensure the situation does not become worse because of the shutdown (Zito)
'" The first true advancement toward modern analysis of masculinity was seen in the works of Freudian psychoanalysis, which showed that adult character was not only biological and determined by the body, but also built through emotional relationships to others, in a chaotic growth process. Later, anthropologists, such as Malinowsky and Mead stressed the cultural distinctions and the importance of social norms (Connell, 1994)
'" The first true advancement toward modern analysis of masculinity was seen in the works of Freudian psychoanalysis, which showed that adult character was not only biological and determined by the body, but also built through emotional relationships to others, in a chaotic growth process. Later, anthropologists, such as Malinowsky and Mead stressed the cultural distinctions and the importance of social norms (Connell, 1994)
According to Connell and Messerschmidt (2005) this concept of hegemonic masculinity was applied to research in the field of education to better understand the activities taking place in the classroom for such behaviors as resistance and bullying among boys. The hegemonic theory also helped to better understand the curriculum and the problems with gender-neutral pedagogy (Martino 1995), as well as teacher planning
Recently, academicians in the field of criminology, such as James Messerschmidt, have questioned the validity of the stereotypes that based on biology where "women are good, men are bad, plain and simple. And it is this essential badness that leads to patriarchy and violence against women" (Messerschmidt, 1993, p
Actually, because gender differences need to appear natural and essential through "doing gender," it is critical in maintaining the status quo of oppression of men over women. There are traditional and nontraditional forms of "doing gender," to reach the same result (West & Zimmerman, 1987)
As Foucault stated, "The public execution is to be understood not only as judicial, but also as a political ritual." (Foucault, 1995, p
"Marriage alliances, family groups, and other kinship ties formed by the inmates integrate inmates into a meaningful social system." (Giollombardo, 1966, p
"Marriage alliances, family groups, and other kinship ties formed by the inmates integrate inmates into a meaningful social system." (Giollombardo, 1966, p
As Sykes asserts "the depredation or frustrations of prison life today might be viewed as punishments which the free community deliberately inflicts on the offender for violating the law." (Sykes, 1971, p
As Sykes asserts "the depredation or frustrations of prison life today might be viewed as punishments which the free community deliberately inflicts on the offender for violating the law." (Sykes, 1971, p
While the experiment was slated to last 14 days, it was cancelled after just 6 days because, as the researchers state on their web site, "our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress." (Zimbardo, 1973) While this particular experiment has been touted as the extreme to which prison can affect people, critics claim that a simulation is not the best way to discover the social effects of prison