Describe the organization and operation of correctional systems and alternatives to institutionalization.
• Describe treatment and rehabilitative programs.
• Differentiate between the short-term incarceration and long-term institutional environments.
• Evaluate current and future correctional issues.
• Identify the Constitutional rights applicable to the correctional setting.
Assignment
In this research assignment, students will complete a 5-page paper on one of the following topic:
Topic: Evidence Based Practices and Rehabilitation: What is evidence-based practices and how is the concept applied in rehabilitating offenders.
Content:
A successful paper will include the following criteria as it relates to the topic:
The structure of your paper should have a good introduction that presents the topic of the paper and a good thesis statement.
• Describe and evaluate the correctional system’s current response to the thesis statement. The paper should include current policies utilized by corrections and probation that address the thesis statement.
• What are the Constitutional issues that arise in addressing your thesis? Examples include: Is mass
incarceration/mandatory sentencing a violation of the 8th amendment? 2. Does satellite based monitoring violate 4th amendment rights?
• The paper should include references to rehabilitative goals of correction facilities and discuss whether or not those goals are in conflict with the thesis statement.
• The paper should identify and discuss the role of corrections in addressing the thesis statement.
• The conclusion should summarize the theme of the paper. Students are allowed at the end of the paper to give an opinion as to whether or not the solutions will be effective.
Research and Information In completing your research paper, be mindful of the sources you obtain. Your information should come from peer reviewed articles, journals, or books. Sources should not be based upon opinion but instead from analysis and verified data. News and magazine articles, whether in print or digital format, may contain information that is not verified, opinion, or outright falsehoods. The library is an excellent source to find credible information from journals and books. Information collected by Google Scholar is also acceptable as the information is guaranteed from a peer reviewed source. You may use statistical data, charts, and spreadsheets to support your arguments throughout your paper. Your instructor will assist you in completing identifying
credible sources of information.
Formatting
Please use the template to complete this assignment. You must use Help write my thesis – APA standards in formatting and citing your paper. Attached is the Help write my thesis – APA reference guide that will assist you in formatting your paper, creation of proper citations, and the creation of a proper reference page.
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Evidence-Based Practices and Rehabilitation
Student’s Name:
Institution:
Evidence-Based Practices and Rehabilitation
The American correctional system has consistently adopted reforms in line with the changing environment and meeting the criminal justice system goals and the interest of the offenders. Issues keep arising in the correctional programs and practices; thus, changes are consistently adopted to better the correctional operations and services, making the institution very dynamic. The correctional facilities have a wide range of programs and operations directed holding and confining convicted felons for different periods to punish or rehabilitate them to ensure that they are integrated into the society as law-abiding citizens (Aviram, 2015). The correctional facilities at state and local levels have improved its management from time to time through the adoption of technology to improve the safety of the inmate and the staff, adoption of new state and federal legislation and the incorporation of administrative procedures and policies. Correctional facilities are dynamic to adopt reforms at different levels and sections to counter negative issues at present and in future while meeting the goals and objective of the criminal justice system.
Organization and operation of the correctional system and alternative to institutionalization
When the defendant is convicted with charges that meet the merit of a jail term they are subjected to correctional facilities for punishments or programs dire ted to meeting the goals and objectives of the criminal justice system (Broughton, 2012). The convicted parties are incarcerated or subjected to probation. Probation can be supervised or unsupervised. The supervised probation entails the case of the offender, maintaining close contact and monitoring from the probation officer to evaluate their compliance. The unsupervised probation entails the case where one faces jail terms and punishment when they are found to violate the law. Consequently, under incarceration, the convicted party is housed in a jail or prison facility. Jails are distributed across counties, and they are meant to house convicts with less serious crimes while prisons house convicts with serious crimes serving for more than a year.
There are different alternatives to institutionalization in the criminal justice system as influenced by deinstitutionalization aspect of mental health, rehabilitative limitations and the benefits realized from deinstitutionalization (Foucault, 2009). The alternative to institutionalization includes verbal sanctions (warning, reprimand, admonition), conditional discharge, status penalties, economic sanctions and monetary penalties, confiscations, restitution or compensation order, house arrests, community service order, probation and judicial supervision.
Treatment and rehabilitative programs
The criminal justice systems have different treatment and rehabilitative programs for offenders to meet various criminal justice system goals and objectives. The treatment and rehabilitative programs are directed toward countering factors inclining the offenders to engage in crime such that law and order can be maintained in the society (Cullen and Jonson, 2011). In this regard, there are supervision programs at different levels of intensive and intermediate supervision. In intensive supervision, the offender is subjected to frequent contact with supervising officers in community service, enforcement of parole and probation conditions, and frequent random drug testing. On the other hand, intermediate supervision includes drug testing; short jail stays, regular reporting to criminal justice officers referrals to day reporting centres, electronic monitoring. The supervisions ensure that the offenders abide by rules and conditions under parole and probation.
The offenders are required to present themselves in the day reporting centres for assessment and evaluation (Cullen and Jonson, 2011). The reporting is done at predetermined times where they are subjected to services such as anger management, vocational training, community service, violence prevention, medical and health treatment, drug testing and General Equivalency Exam (GED) preparations.
There are treatment and rehabilitative program directed towards the meeting of basic needs of offenders or former offenders before they are allowed back to society. Parolees and probationers must meet different basic needs, such as housing employment for the start of treatment or their release proceedings (Cullen and Jonson, 2011). Additionally, if the offender cannot meet prolonged abstinence or detoxifications, then some programs such as housing and employment cannot be initiated. In this regard, the housing programs are made to ensure that the offender can recover properly under stable conditions.
The offenders are subjected to reintegration programs with their family members and social support groups. The environment of the former offender enhances the adherence and success in the treatment operations. The program ensures that the offender cultivates a beneficial relationship with the family members, community and social support groups to ensure that steady recovery.
The offenders are further subjected to vocational training and employment program to ensure that they have a source of livelihood, thus preventing them from engaging in crimes or violation of the law. Vocational training ensures that offenders retain their jobs or get better jobs (Cullen and Jonson, 2011). The vocational training is integrated with other services such as counselling, placement, training and treatment follow-ups to ensure that one is effectively trained and they are ready to take different employment opportunities.
Difference between short-term incarceration and long-term institutional environments
The short-term incarceration entails the confinement before and after convictions where both juveniles and adults are subjected to a jail facility for a short period on conviction for a less offence (Dvoskin and Brown, 2015). On the other hand, the long term institutional environments entail state and federal housing facilities tasked with confining convicted felons with sentences that are longer than a year.
Short term incarceration centres are run local law enforcement or government agencies and are meant to hold awaiting trials or to serve short sentences. The short term incarceration operates as work release programs and boot camps while offering educational programs, vocational programs and substance abuse programs (Dvoskin and Brown, 2015). The programs, in this case, ensure inmates can improve themselves and prevent inmates from re-offending by keeping them busy and engaged in productive operation.
On the other hand, long term institutional environments are run by the federal bureau of Prisons (BOP) or even the state government. The facilities are designed to confine the offender involved in serious crimes (Dvoskin and Brown, 2015). The facilities offer a wide range of programs to the inmates depending with levels of custody (minimum, medium, solitary confinement or maximum security). The programs offered under the minimum and medium custody levels include community restriction centres, work release programs and halfway house programs.
Current and future correctional issues
The correctional facilities and operations are faced with current and future issues that are barriers to effective and efficient rehabilitation of inmates (Goodstein and MacKenzie, 2013). The current and future issues facing the prisons include overcrowding in prison facilities, incarceration of mentally ill offenders, insufficient healthcare in healthcare facilities, recidivism rates among the offenders, mass incarceration/mandatory sentencing and impact of satellite-based monitoring.
Overcrowding in incarceration facilities is an issue that negatively affects the operations by derailing the attainment of correctional goals and objectives. Overcrowding contributes to poor prison conditions, lack of privacy among the prisoners leading to mental health problems and increased rates of violence, suicide and self-harm (Goodstein and MacKenzie, 2013). Therefore, overcrowding negatively contributes to the running of prisons, and there is a need to expand the prison facilities to sufficiently accommodate the high number of inmates.
Issues arise on whether the mentally ill offenders should be jailed or given psychiatric care, especially with the rising number of mentally ill offenders. It is argued that mentally ill offenders engage in crime or violation of crimes due to factors beyond their control and thus they should be subjected to mental care as opposed to incarceration programs (Goodstein and MacKenzie, 2013). Therefore, there are a public debate on the handling mentally ill offenders since they act from external influence as opposed to their free will.
Prisons lack sufficient health care facilities, and resources resulting in deterioration of inmates’ health. Prisons have high health cases that include hypertension, asthma, heart problems, kidney problems, tuberculosis and other medical ailments all requiring specialized care (Goodstein and MacKenzie, 2013). The fact that there are insufficient medical care resources and personnel makes the health condition among the inmates to deteriorate. Therefore, the government and the relevant parties need to ensure that there are sufficient funds to cater for medical care.
There is the issue of mass incarceration or mandatory sentencing that is equated to the violation of the eight amendments (Goodstein and MacKenzie, 2013). The mass incarceration arises from imposition of excessive bail terms, excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment leading to a lot of people finding their way in jail. On the contrary, the punishment and fines imposed need to be applied reasonably to ensure that incarceration goals are attained.
Additionally, the issue of using satellite-based monitoring is deemed to violate the fourth amendment (Goodstein and MacKenzie, 2013). The adoption of satellite-based monitoring invades the privacy of offenders, thus negatively affecting their mental health status. The adoption of the technology denies people the right to securing their property since it allows unreasonable searches and seizures among the victims.
Constitutional rights applicable to the correctional setting
The incarcerated persons have rights as prescribed by the constitution meant to protect them while they are serving their different sentences. In this case, prisoners have a right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment as prescribed under the eighth amendment (Reinhardt, 2014). Therefore, the prisoners should be subjected to reasonable punishment while they serve their different jail terms. Consequently, the prisoners have a right to be free from being subjected to sex crimes and sexual harassment from other inmates or the prison staff. The guard, administration and government officials can be held liable for sexual harassment claims among the offenders.
The offenders have a right to make complaints on the prison conditions and access to courts. The prisoners have a right to voice the issues affecting their welfare while in correctional facilities (Reinhardt, 2014). This approach ensures that the offenders serve their sentences within human conditions.
Additionally, inmates have a right to be free from discrimination in the course of serving their jail terms. This fact ensures that inmates are not subjected to racial segregation, religion, ethnicity, disparate treatment founded on religion or ethnicity and preferences based on their ages (Reinhardt, 2014). This right against discrimination ensures that all inmates are subjected to equal and fair treatment.
Conclusion
The correctional facilities are directed to ensure that offenders are effectively handled to achieve the goals and objectives under criminal justice system thus reform are consistently adapted to meet the intended serve the offenders and all the stakeholders involved. The correctional facilities have systems that are implemented through processes and procedures meant to serve the offenders in the interest of maintaining law and order in society. The incarceration offenders are subjected to treatment and rehabilitative programs couples with constitutional right to ensure that they are rehabilitated for future reintegration. Some issues arise in the course of the operations in correctional facilities such as overcrowding, or incarceration of mentally ill offenders which are countered using reforms in policy and procedures.
References
Aviram, H. (2015). Cheap on crime: Recession-era politics and the transformation of American punishment. University of California Press.
Broughton, C. M. (2012). The institutionalization of restorative justice: A Canadian perspective (Doctoral dissertation, Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa).
Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2011). Rehabilitation and treatment programs. Crime and public policy, 293-344.
Dvoskin, J., & Brown, M. C. (2015). Jails and prisons. Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry, 31-34.
Foucault, M. (2009). Alternatives to the prison: Dissemination or decline of social control?. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(6), 12-24.
Goodstein, L., & MacKenzie, D. L. (Eds.). (2013). The American prison: Issues in research and policy (Vol. 4). Springer Science & Business Media.
Reinhardt, S. R. (2014). The Demise of Habeas Corpus and the Rise of Qualified Immunity: The Court’s Ever Increasing Limitations on the Development and Enforcement of Constitutional Rights and Some Particularly Unfortunate Consequences. Mich. L. Rev., 113, 1219.
