Prisons and jails are used to incarcerate individuals and rehabilitate them, though prisons are state or federally run facilities for longer sentences while jails are locally run for shorter terms. Overcrowding is a major issue as prison populations have risen greatly in recent decades. The document also outlines security levels in prisons as well as characteristics, purposes and problems associated with prisons and jails.

1. Prisons and Jails

2. Prisons
 There are about 1,325 state prisons and 84 federal
prisons in operation in United States today.1
 The prison population increased 700% from 1970 to
2005.2
Because of the growth of prison population, the
government is going to fund and construct more and
more prisons.
 The rate of crime dropped until recently because the
increased rate of incarceration removed from the
community those who are likely to reoffend.

3. Characteristics of prisons
 About 68% of state
prisoners lack a high
school diploma.
 Half are functionally
illiterate.
 About 53% of state
prisoners are dependent on
drugs.
 The work histories and
skills of prisoners are well
below those of the general
population.3

4. Purposes of prisons
 One of the purposes of
prisons is to rehabilitate and
help inmates who are lacking
a high school
diploma, illiterate, or
dependent on drugs.
 The central aim of a true
prison system is the
protection of society against
crime, not the punishment of
criminals.(Zebulon R.
Brockway, 1827-1920).

5. Overcrowding
 Prison overcrowding can
be measured along a
number of dimensions.
 Space available per
inmate.
 Length of confinement
of inmates in cells or
housing units.
 Living arrangements.
 Type of housing.

6. Prison capacity
 Rated capacity refers to the size of the inmate
population that a facility can handle according to the
judgment of experts.
 Operational capacity is the number of inmates that a
facility can effectively accommodate based on an
appraisal of the institution’s staff, programs, and
services.
 Design capacity refers to the inmate population that
the institution was originally built to handle.

7. Maximum security levels
 High fences.
 Thick walls.
 Secure cells.
 Gun tower.
 Armed prison
guards.

8. Medium security level
 Prison yard.
 Exercise room.
 Library.
 Showers.

9. Minimum security level
 Recreational, educational,
and skill training
programs.
 No fences.
 No gun towers.
 No armed guards.
The above is also used a type of classification system with
more serious offenders put in maximum security facilities
and less serious offenders in medium to minimum
security facilities.

10. Federal Prison System
Beside the operations of state prisons, the Federal
Prison System operates simultaneously:
 103 institutions.
 6 regional offices.
 The Central Office.
 2 staff-training centers.
 28 community correction offices.4

11. Jails
 A similar aspect to prison
is Jail.
 Jails are locally operated,
short-term confinement
facilities.
 There are total of 3,360
jails that operate
throughout the United
States today.5

12. Purposes of Jails
 Readmitting probation, parole, bail-bond violators.
 Detaining juveniles, mental ill temporarily.
 Transferring inmates to federal, states, or other authorities.
 Holding inmates sentenced to short term ( under 1 year).
 Releasing convicted inmates to the community upon
completion of their sentences, etc…
 Operating community –based programs with day
reporting, home detention, electronic monitoring, or other
types of supervision.

13. Problems of Jails
 Women in jails occupy
12% of jail population.6
 Many of them are drugs
addicts, illiterate.
 Because the lack of
female officers who work
in jails, women in jails
are at risk to be abused
by male staff.(Ibid., p.6).

14. Children born in jails
 Many women are pregnant
before going to jails.
 There fore, few hundred
children are born in jail
each year.
 Their mothers may have to
pay for their support.

15. Disadvantages of jails
 Being run by people that
are too old.
 Poorly funded.(The cost
for incarcerating an
inmate is about $47,000
per year, but only $17,000
in jail).
 Poorly trained
employees.
 Overcrowded.
 Misused of detention.

16. Conclusion
 Building new prisons and jails may be good because
they create more jobs locally that impact a part of the
economy.
 It can stand to help with overcrowding if enough are
built.
 Nowadays, the government has plans for improving
and developing jails systems as well prisons systems.
 The private prison is also a solution for avoiding
“overcrowded”.

17. Sources
1. Washington DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003.
2. Philadelphia: Pew, February 2007, p.1.
3. Kessler, The Impending Crime Wave, p.7.
4. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Staff Breakdown,
http://www.bop.gov/about/facts.jsp #5.
5. Stephan, Census of Jails, 1999.
6. American Jails, Vol. 4, No. 3. William Reginald Mills and Heather
Barrett.