NCJ Number
211250
Date Published
2005
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This chapter profiles contemporary U.S. prisons and their impact on inmates.
Abstract
American prisons are housing more people sentenced to more time in more prisons than at any time in recent memory. Most of these prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, and located in remote areas that impede visits to inmates from family and friends. Time in prison is generally "dead time" spent in meaningless activities conducted in isolation from the larger society. Whereas people in the outside free world are interacting with family members, coworkers, and rapid change in products and services, prison inmates are stalled in time in a world of empty routine without change, stimulation, and interaction with interesting events and people. Today's prisons offer fewer and fewer amenities and opportunities for self-expression. Each year, surveys show that the list of curtailed or eliminated privileges is longer. Supermax prisons are the culmination of the trend toward "getting tough on criminals." They stand as the extreme manifestation of confinement in limited space, social isolation, and controlled limitations on movement, scope of activities, and opportunities for self-expression and pursuit of interests. The primary stimulation for inmates in most prisons is television, and studies of habitual television watchers has shown that they lack energy, alertness, and involvement in diverse and stimulating activities. Overall, American prisons deaden the human spirit and the realization of the potential of individuals for constructive, satisfying lives based in intimate relationships and the pursuit of personal interests. Those who leave these prisons are ill-prepared to live in a world so radically different from the one they just left. 32 notes and 40 references