Social Injustice Within the Prison System @koglerh167-blog - Tumblr Blog

Social Injustice Within the Prison System

Throughout the process of researching social justice issues in the prison system and reading articles about the harsh truths of the justice system, it has become apparent how prison systems are in need of restructure and reform in order to create a more effective and justified criminal justice platform. Articles and personal stories as well as statistics about wrongful convictions was some of the most troubling information to discover. Faults in the legal and justice systems have caused hundreds if not more innocent people to serve time in prison for crimes they did not commit. Also, information about women and especially mothers in prison were very concerning to read. The lack of programs and assistance for women who have minors is astounding, leaving thousands of children sometimes without contact with their mothers for years. The impact on the children who have a parent in prison becomes so influential that many juveniles and children will also end up in juvenile correctional facilities or in prison themselves at an older age. Basic human rights and necessities are ripped from millions of people in United States prisons so much so that people that commit crimes are dehumanized to inmates receiving punishment instead of people receiving incarceration in proportion to breaking the law. The level in which it has become socially acceptable and normal to treat human beings just because they are incarcerated is barbaric and cruel, questioning the line between justice and cruelty and revenge for those who are convicted. Throughout the blogging process the evidence of organizations and individuals striving toward reform and assisting the people that are in prison was heartwarming and joyful to find. The progression toward making the justice system actually just is slow, but there are advancements and small things that are being implemented to give humanity and help to people who are imprisoned. There is hope toward social reform within prisons, but it takes recognizing the injustices and seeing past the crime and the label of prisoner to begin to make an effective prison system for our nation as a whole.

Published by Getty Images, the photograph here entitled "Turning to Crime" depicts a male prisoner on his bed in an open cell on what was formally known as Blackwell's Island in 1890. The photograph is pictured as part of a series entitled "Welcome to America: Poignant black and white pictures show the brutal hardships endured by immigrant families in 19th century New York" by the Daily Mail Reporter. In contrast to the images of inmates that the public is familiar with today, this photograph provokes more sympathy for the man as he sits in prison. The man here, hidden away in his cell gives a sense of sorrow and hardship. The entire collection of photographs are intended to display the hardships that immigrants had faced in New York during the 18th century. As a viewer of this photograph, you are forced to face the injustice of imprisoning an immigrant no matter if he was a brutal murderer or if he simply stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. In looking at images of inmates in prison systems today, we are often intimidated and frightened by the dangerous criminals being pictured. Many people could look at a photograph of an inmate in prison today and feel relief that he was behind bars and society was protected from a criminal like him, no matter the crime he committed. This stark contrast between how we as a society view pictures of prisons from 1890 and pictures from today begs the question of when does it reach the point when you look past the prisoner and acknowledge the man. Looking at a photograph of a prisoner in today's society and you might not notice the hardship, pain or sorrow in that man's face or notice the conditions he lives in. Whether the prison facility is dirty or lacking in basic human necessities or overcrowded with other nameless faces, we as a society immediately write them off just because they are in prison.

This video is part of a campaign by three former prisoners, one of which who is featured here, Chris Wilson that are fighting for reform within the prison system. The article from The Root describes how Chris Wilson, Yusef "Bunchy" Shakur and Shaka Senghor have all made themselves successful since being released from prison and are now looking to push for reform within the prison systems. The main idea that they are promoting supports the concept that there needs to be more rehabilitation and reform programs in place for inmates in order to deal with the issue of rising crime rates. The solution of mass incarceration is only making the re-offence rate increase steadily as more and more people are being placed in prisons for extremely long mandatory minimum sentences. Instead of providing aid to inmates to make sure they don't return to the bad habits that got them sentenced to prison and giving them the tools to build successful lives as the three men have done here.

This photograph from the Last Mile is featured in an article from the Huffington Post about new technology that is being introduced in prison education programs in California. Many research studies support the idea that in-prison education programs reduce the rate of inmates that re-offend to less than 43%. The article describes more in depth however, how a technology company The Last Mile (TLM) has become a major entrepreneurship technology present in San Quentin’s prison community. They have instituted programs in the facility for inmates to attend twice a week for six weeks in an effort to educate as well as decrease the amount of prisoners that are likely to re-offend after being released. The inmates are to create start-up companies and are encouraged to integrate the internet as well as social media outlets to build a successful business. In the process of this program, new technologies such as Edovo are emerging. Edovo is a specially formatted program for a tablet that gives access appropriate to the prison restrictions on a restricted network as well as aiding in the education of business and reaching a larger target audience. This technological movement within the prison system along with prison education programs such as the one TLM has developed give inmates the knowledge that will help them on the outside when they are released in finding jobs and supporting themselves. This effectively aims to decrease the amount of criminals that resort to their previous lifestyles and poor decisions that leads to re-offences.

This piece of art called "What Now?" by Jermiha Brown is part of the 15th Annual Exhibition in 2010 for The Prison Creative Arts Project. The Prison Creative Arts Project or PCAP takes artwork and poetry from people currently in the prison system or those who have recently been released from prison. This piece comes from Brown, who is serving a life sentence for his crime. The young boy portrayed in this piece is lost and melancholy, giving the audience a sense of remorse and helplessness. The contrast between the black and white as well as the shadows in the piece emphasize how alone the boy is as well as brings your attention to the sadness in his face and the visible arm that directs your eye from the dark center of the canvas to toward the right side to see the darkness that surrounds the boy and makes his stance and face so uncertain.

The documentary "Lost for Life" describes the stories of criminals facing life without possibility of parole sentences for crimes that they committed when they were just teenagers. The documentary opens with a phone call from a son in prison to his mother, begging her to help him get home. As of 2013 there are 38 states that permit life without parole to minors that commit murder. Many question this decision as the sentence of life in prison at such a young age may seem extreme. The decisions that adolescents make to kill are being evaluated to see if they were made maturely enough to qualify for the life without possibility of parole sentence. The documentary evaluates who these inmates were at the point of their lives when they committed their crimes and if they were developed mentally enough to deserve their sentence. The documentary focuses on several individuals that were sentenced when they were adolescents. Two men that the documentary opens with, Brian and Trey were two sixteen year old boys that plotted and recorded the plan to kill a young girl inside of her home. The two boys stabbed her to death. As men, they account what had happened when they killed her and what they felt and their mindset at that age. Both men cannot believe the series of events that led them to kill their friend Cassie and are deeply regretful for the actions that they made at such a young age.

In the next part of the documentary, the focus shifts toward Jacob's story, who was arrested at 15 years old for the murder of his mother and step-father with the aid of a friend. He killed his family in an effort to escape his problems, saying that he "just wanted them to be gone" and that was all he expected to happen as a result of their deaths. He describes how at that age, he was a severely disturbed and depressed teenager that didn't comprehend the gravity of his actions until he saw his family dead on the floor in front of him. The documentary then goes into the discussion of the families of the victims, fighting for the life without parole standard to stay in place for juvenile murderers. The idea is that there was still a life that was taken because of criminal actions and that just because the offenders were juveniles at the time does not mean that they deserve any less than any other murderer. This juxtaposes with the testimonies of the parents of the men that were sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed as teenagers. Here, the parents are heartbroken that the awful crime their children committed at such young ages will cost them their lives essentially in prison. These men grew up as troubled, depressed, as part of gangs and in some cases getting sexually, physically and mentally abused. They led lives that were not acceptable for children and ultimately reached the point in which they felt the only way to end it was through killing.

The end of the documentary focuses on the lives that these young men left when they were sentenced to life. One account in particular describes "I was a seventeen year old kid, I took nothing seriously until I killed someone". The documentary raises a question as a whole if adolescents that commit murder are truly in a place in their lives when they realize the severity of the crime. Each account reflects the mistakes each boy made in their lives and how they have changed since being in prison. Many face the weight and pain of the guilt they feel for their actions, leading to self harm and further depression. In a prison cell these men have countless hours to think about the crimes they committed. In a cell "you can't run away from who you are". But then where is the line that separates those who believe those that commit crimes as juveniles deserve life without parole and those who believe that mandatory life sentences for juveniles is unconstitutional despite the crime? When is the point where juvenile offenders cannot be rehabilitated and counseled and prison is the only way that justice can be reached?

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California Central Juvenile Hall, Los Angeles, CA. Richard Ross, from Juvenile In Justice

The Juvenile In Justice project was created by photographer Richard Ross as a way to bring the realities of America’s juvenile detention system into informed public discussion. In the eight years the project has been underway, it has grown into an enormous resource of photography, interviews, personal narratives, articles and more (including museum exhibitions and two books). It’s organized by geographic location, so you can find out what’s going on behind the heavy doors of the institutions in the state where you live.

The most recent turn of the project has been a focus on the lives of the girls in the system. Girls In Justice has just been published as a photographic book; you can view page spreads on the website.

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In this post by du285, the demographic of girls in juvenile prison systems are addressed. When most people think of juvenile offenders, the obvious stereotype are young troublemaking boys. Most of the public ignore the fact that there are many girls within the juvenile justice system. Entering a prison environment as a woman is difficult enough, with many guards and other inmates thinking less of you for your gender. As a girl however, prison can turn into a nightmare, as many people including guards and male inmates will physically, mentally and sexually abuse these girls without hesitation. Young girls are extremely impressionable and girls in the juvenile detention program already come in with problems that got them to where they are. Further abuse and neglect of these young women destroys them from the inside out, making them more likely to return to prison as an adult than boys. It also leads to higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies in young women. This only emphasizes the damage that having young women in the prison system can make. These girls are neglected and forgotten about in society and for that they are suffering and having them in a juvenile detention program only does further harm.

These photographs taken by Yousef Khanfar document women from prisons across the state of Oklahoma in a photo essay entitled "Oklahoma Incarcerates More Women Than Any Country on Earth" published on the New Republic in 2013. Each woman pictured as her own story, her own background and her own reason for being in prison. Khanfar aimed not only to describe these women as inmates, describing the crimes they had committed, but also as human beings. He took quotes from these women to show how their lives were effected by prison as well as voice any messages they had for the outside world. Most of these women are also mothers. In fact, the two women pictured together are mother and daughter. This re-enforces the idea that children with mothers in prison often end up leading troubled lives, more likely to enter prison themselves than any other demographic. These photographs allow the public to see the pain and bravery in these women's faces, forcing them to see the people instead of the criminals.

Time Magazine created this photo essay entitled "Welcome to Prison Valley" with photographs by Phillipe Brault, Agence Vu and Aurora of Freemont County, Colorado. The county is home to thirteen different prison complexes with roughly 7,500 inmates in each and these images look to capture the scale of prisons in Freemont County as well as the lives that are touched by the systems in place. Some of the most notorious and dangerous inmates are held in these facilities. Because of this, guard fatality in Colorado prisons is very high, and the community often gathers in remembrance of the guards that lost their lives while on duty. Photographs include the construction of a second Colorado State Penitentiary, guards uniforms that were made in bulk in a store that specializes in prison dress codes , a general layout of prison facilities being built in the county, the poverty of the community, and the wives and families and community of Freemont County living around these prison facilities. Prison facilities dominate the already poverty stricken economy of the county. Because of this, without prisons the county of Freemont would not continue to run due to the lack of jobs and economy outside of the prisons. The construction of new prison facilities provides jobs as well as utilize inmates work for higher efficiency at lower costs to contractors. Freemont county revolves around prison, making it one of the largest places in America for prison systems and prison related jobs.

Mothers in Prison

More than 60% of women in prison are reported to have children under the age of 18. An article in "The Real Truth" Magazine by Samuel C. Baxter and Stacey L. Palm describes the immediate and lasting impacts on children that have mothers in prison. It describes the difficulty children face growing up without a mother as well as how they deal with the sadness of them being away, the worry that when they get out they have the chance of going right back in and the ridicule and misunderstanding from society.

"Children of incarcerated mothers grow up with the stigma of knowing that their mother’s “home” is a place that society considers disgraceful. And instead of feeling proud to have a positive example to emulate, the child feels ashamed and rejected, angry and confused—alone in a world that has difficulty understanding their situation."

Having children that have parents in prison integrate well into society and have full lives is often very difficult. Without the constant maternal or parental figure in a child's life it is often difficult for them to see the boundaries of the law as well as grow up having friends and adults to go to when they are in trouble. Children can come from all types of broken homes, including having a parent in prison and it shapes who they become as adults. Many children might be pulled in so many directions and grow up with so little of structure that they too will end up eventually in prison like their parent.

This series of photographs by Damien McGuinness of BBC News, Tbilisi shows some of the nearly 5,000 inmates in the state of Georgia reuniting with their loved ones after being released from jail. The article from BBC News describes how most of the freed inmates shown were peaceful protestors that were incarcerated when a protest quickly escalated into a violent riot. However the look on these people's faces show the emotion of being released from prison, and the joy of not only re-entering society but also coming back to the families and social lives that they had to leave behind. Many of these inmates may have been unfairly convicted or treated while they were in prison, but the ultimate result of being released and having these reunions seems to be the best reward for everyone for serving the time allotted for the crime they committed.

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When Simon Gittany gets his first bag of mail in prison, the convicted murderer might be surprised to find admiring letters from strangers. For some women, Gittany’s incarceration in a maximum-secu…

I have always found this fascinating, disturbing, and somewhat confusing. It seems to never fail that a high profile murderer is convicted and still manages to end up having women throwing themselves at him. In the case of Scott Peterson he is even on death for murdering his wife, who last time I checked was a woman. So why would any woman fall in love with and want to marry and be with any man like this? I find it fascinating in that it is something that I know I would never do myself. If there was a woman in the same position, and I assume it happens with women who are convicted there just aren’t as many of them, I would want to be as far away from that person as possible. As far as I see it that person is convicted of a major crime and hence they are where they belong. This is what confuses me, the person has been convicted. The women who go after these men know what the guy did, and yet they are still drawn to them. I will never understand the attraction or the draw. It is disturbing, and equally fascinating, to consider the mental state of these men, as this article mentions. Most if not all of these guys who are high profile convicted murderers are psychopathic or at least have some mental issues of some kind. The psychology behind these type of people has always fascinated me, but at the same time it has to be mentioned, as this article does, that these type of people are master manipulators and these women who fall for them play right into their hands. They make it easy.

The final statement I have to make about this is a question. My question is whether this type of relationship should even be allowed? I mean, why should these convicted felons have the privilege of marrying and being with a lover at all while in prison? At this level of crime, prison is meant to be a punishment. It is not supposed to be fun or easy, after all they do call it hard time. So why do these guys get all this attention and love which they obviously are seeking? Jail is a place where these type of people are meant to be punished for the crimes they did, not some sort of dating site where you can mingle with whoever you want in the search of happiness. I guess to each his or her own, but I will never understand this dynamic and I will always question whether the prison systems should even permit it.

New York Post. Candace Sutton. Photograph: Associated Press. December 3, 2013

http://nypost.com/2013/12/03/the-women-who-fall-in-love-with-jailed-killers/

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In this post made by Leo Welsh, the controversial notion of women falling in love with manipulative incarcerated criminals is addressed. This misguided phenomenon is disturbing and often difficult to understand due to the extent of the crimes these men have committed. Most famously, Charles Manson is known for the women that followed him and loved him. Sometimes these women are mentally ill, or crazed fan girls or even conspirators in the crimes in an effort to get closer to the criminal that they "love". For the often narcissistic, ego maniacs that these women fawn over, this obsession with women falling for bad boy prisoners only gives them a stronger sense of power and way of using and manipulating people while he is still in prison. These relationships are clearly unhealthy, yet prisons still allow serious criminals to write, email and sometimes even see these women in person. This is concerning because these women have the possibility of being used as a mule to get information or plans to people out of the prison as well as vice versa without thinking of the consequences because their judgment and motivation is so clouded. Leo makes a good point in wondering if prisoners in high security facilities or who have committed major crimes such as murder should even be allowed to keep in contact with the women that fawn over them like sick groupies. Perhaps in consideration of the magnitude of the crime certain rights to visitation or contact with the outside should be limited or taken away due to the possible risk or harm this woman who would at times do anything for the man she loves could cause.

This video is the eighth episode called "Lockdown: Newbies" from the "Lockdown" series on the National Geographic Channel. This episode is a portrayal of the problems in the Wyoming State Penitentiary. As the state's only maximum security prison, it has quickly become overcrowded without the proper numbers of guards to maintain the facility. Due to the high risk of the maximum security prisoners that are inmates in this prison, many of the correctional officers have quit or left the prison. Some only stay in the job for a matter of weeks, unprepared for the intensity of the prison. Because of the lack of employment, the prison barely holds half of the officers needed to contain the number of prisoners. Desperate for more officers, the facility has placed adds for employment across the entire nation. People faced with unemployment uproot their lives and apply to be correctional officers. Competition with other prisons and companies force the penitentiary to seek employment from anyone willing to take the job. This episode shows 32 people that have never worked in the prison system being trained for nine weeks on everything they need to know for handling prisoners and rules within the prison. The inmates are fully aware of the prison's lack of officers and take advantage of the "new fish" coming in, pushing their limits in order to see who can break down the officers that aren't prepared for the harsh reality of working in a maximum security prison. This episode truly highlights the issue of overcrowding and the affect that unemployment has on the prison systems within the united states. Without qualified officers, and as many officers as there needs to be for the capacity of inmates, the prison system leaves gaps where extremely dangerous criminals can break the law within the prison, hurt themselves or others or even escape or attempt escape as some of the inmates in the Wyoming State Penitentiary have done.

Mothers Behind Bars in the United States

An article from the Huffington Post by Malika Saada Saar in November of 2010 discusses the human rights issue of mothers in prison. It discusses the challenges and indignities that mothers in confinement experience while in prison. Also, it goes into detail the type of mothers that are in the prison system, often abused as children that turn to drugs and alcohol in adulthood.

"Following the introduction of mandatory sentencing to the federal drug laws in the mid-1980s, the number of women in prison has risen by 400 percent. The percentage of females incarcerated for drug offenses now surpasses that of males. Most of these women are non-violent, first-time offenders."

Most of these mothers were the primary caretakers for their young children and either turn to adoption or outside family to raise their children while in prison. Only a small number of prisons have specific programs that cater to pregnant women and mothers with small children. Most states, 38 in a study, do not offer proper pre-natal care to pregnant inmates. Also, only thirteen states offer prison nursery programs and only for children under the age of two years.

The discussion about mothers and pregnant women in the prison system brings attention to the living conditions and basic human rights within prison facilities. If women are going to be arrested while pregnant, it seems that most states imprison the unborn child as well. A woman, no matter if she is in prison or out in the public should have access to proper care for her child. Her actions and decisions in life should have the least negative impact on the child as possible. By risking the health and wellbeing of a child, it becomes morally and humanely problematic. This issue brings upon public controversy and a need for legislation mandating the treatment of pregnant women and women with children, in the prison system.

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This infographic portrays the statistics of inmates that have reported inmate on inmate sexual abuse and staff on inmate sexual abuse. I way in which the statistics were portrayed via the different shades of orange as the inmates outfit very effective. The information was very well presented and enabled the reader to easily get the message - that sexual assault reports come from people of all different backgrounds. Married, age, education, marital status, weight, time in prison are all factors that had values nearly the same for all categories, showing that sexual abuse happens to a wide variety of inmates and is not target to groups specifically.

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In this infograph from Prison Culture created by Albertson Design from GOOD Magazine that a fellow student, Austin Pilz posted, the graphic highlights the abuse of inmates across a variety of backgrounds to show that in prison, and in general, abuse does not discriminate. This begs the question of how prison systems, guards and the legal overlook of state and county facilities is allowing this abuse to occur. In many cases it may be out of their control, or be happening without their knowledge. However, with abuse, it adds an element to prison that was not laid out when the judge sent the prisoner there. This infograph shows, no matter your crime, your age, your gender or where you come from, we cannot protect you when you enter prison. These REPORTED cases of abuse only go to show that prison does not only mean being held, protecting society and yourself from you, it means exposing you to hundreds of criminals, hundreds of men and women that have the possiblity of being abused, or abusing someone themselves.

This infograph from a human rights campaign in Massachusetts in 2003 under the Massachusetts Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth represents the information regarding inmates that were sentenced without parole when they were children. The graphic seeks to show why 62 people are serving these sentences they received when they were kids, the kind of backgrounds they come from and the overall situations these children were in before their convictions and incarcerations. This information however only looks at the statistics for those who were convicted without parole as children in Massachusetts. If this only represents the information concerning one state it raises the question of the data concerning the rest of the nation. In looking further into the number of people serving sentences from crimes they committed when they were children across the United States, it might be possible to find the root cause of these crimes and help in reforming society so this number does not continue to increase. Many see that the incarceration of a child without possibility of parole is unjust and even Massachusetts legislature ruled it unconstitutional. The infograph is mostly informational in nature, but by including the subject of children and child abuse, it persuades the reader to empathize with these possible undeserving, misguided child criminals, The graphics even make the reader sympathize, showing an eye with a tear coming out of it and the faceless child who is uneducated. In comparison to other graphic design and information graphics, this infograph seeks to not only convey the information, but provoke emotion, outrage, and sadness for these children. John Hartfield's designs tried to provoke emotion as well, getting viewers to feel sadness, outrage and anger against the German Nazi party. In a way of it's own in choosing these statistics to focus on, this infograph portrays the same motive of making readers feel something for these incarcerated children.

Lawsuits that bring attention to problems in prisons across the nation.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in a lawsuit considering prison conditions in the United States written by Roger A. Hanson and Henry W.K. Daley in December of 1994, thousands of prisoners across the nation have issues with the civil liberties given to them while being incarcerated. As part of the lawsuit an investigation was conducted to determine if the federal court system's investigation is helpful in improving the organization, structure and operation of state prison facilities. The focus was put on the states that had the largest prison populations along with the most filed complaints and lawsuits. Pennsylvania was one of the highest states, having 23.388 prisoners and 62.169 lawsuits per 1,000 prisoners. Federal investigators looked into random cases from each state and found that most of the issues dealt with medical treatment, physical security including brutality, improper nutrition, showers and clothing, sanitation and protection from inmates with AIDS or other contactable conditions, denial of religious expression, to name a few. The federal government is still investigating how to address these issues, which the majority of which do not qualify for litigation and how to decrease the number of lawsuits across the nation concerned with prison conditions. With hundreds of thousands of inmates filing claims each year, it only emphasizes the poor conditions of prisons and the lack of initiative or support by the federal government. This unfortunately results in the sometimes inhumane conditions that the nation's inmates face on a daily basis.

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