current situation of imprisonment

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How useful is the concept of 'crisis'in explaining the current situation

of imprisonment?

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How useful is the concept of 'crisis' in explaining the current situation ofimprisonment?

ESSAYPrison is one of the sanctions available with the court of law to deal the

person who had committed criminal offence. In present era, imprisonment isone of the harshest sanction in UK. However, this is not in matter of fact ofpresent search. Present study is focuses on the significance of concept of'crisis' in explaining the current situation of imprisonment. From the verybeginning there were certain issues in concept of imprisonment (The Rationalefor Imprisonment, 2015). Thus, for the better justice parliament of UK iscontinuously focused on the improvement in this concept. In 20th Centurydevelopment of prison has been continued by making valuable amendments incriminal law. Despite of these improvements there are certain crisis inimprisonment such as high population, inappropriate management, traditionalsystem of rehabilitation etc.

According to the certain researches, it has been proved that prisonsystem in UK is facing severe crisis. Britain is on the verge of its worst positiondue to overcrowding since 2008. According to the statement of Mr Graylingregarding sanctioned emergency measures, there were only 265 free spacesleft out from the capacity of 85,800 across the England and Wales prison estate.In comparison to past four years, this was the highest number since thecoalition took power (Zimmermann, 2009). In addition to this, hostage incidentsand disturbances are continuously increasing in society which is intensifyingthe fear that prisons in Britain are in crisis. It has been noticed by mountingunrest, there is correspondent increment in the figure of deployment ofspecialist teams convicted for the imprisonment estate to quell riots and



protests.Initial crisis was identified in 1860 regarding problem of recidivism. To

resolve this issue, idea of penal sanction was applied by the Court of law.However, outcome of this idea was more pessimistic and negative. Thus, due toinappropriate management of crisis adverse impacts are also enhanced due towhich government has faced severe issues. Similarly, in present era inefficientstrategies to resolve issues in prison is leading to the situation of crisis. This ismost crucial aspect required to be considered by Parliament of UK. Presentsystem of UK regarding prison is not able to achieve core aim (Lurigio, 2002).Approach of prison or imprisonment was introduced to reduced the crime andto provide fair chance to criminal for rehabilitation. By considering the previousdata of sentencing in UK, it can be noticed that in 19th Century there werenearby 300,000 people in prison and data of 20th Century shows that over 2million people are facing conviction of sentencing. This data shows that,instead of reduction of crime and criminals it is continuously increasing.

In accordance with the Criminal Justice Act 2003, main purpose ofconviction of imprisonment is to provide justified punishment to the offender,reduction of crime, protection to the public, making of reparation by offenders

Sample on current situationof imprisonment

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to persons affected by their offences and reform and rehabilitation of thecriminals (The Rationale for Imprisonment, 2015). Statutory guidelinesrepresents that imprisonment is provided to the offender for the purpose ofretribution, deterrence, incapacitation, punishment and rehabilitation. However,these objectives are not achieved by the process of sentencing. This aspectdepicts that, there are certain issues or loopholes in the system of prisonmanagement due to which this concept is not working. Green paper ofBreaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing ofOffenders, says that Criminal Justice System in Britain is “an expensive way ofgiving the public a break from offenders, before they return to commit morecrimes”.

Another issue that is faced by parliament of UK is Crisis of managementregarding governance of prisons. System implemented for the management ofprison is not appropriate. Due to this aspect, problem of overcrowding iscontinuously increasing (Britain's prison overcrowding crisis surges 'close to thebrink', 2014). In present era, condition of prisoners and prison is adverselyaffected by severe inadequacies such as poor physical health, high congestion,sanitary conditions, rehabilitation programmes, restricted connection with theoutside world and large percentage of awaited trial. To resolve this issue,approach of privatization was implemented. According to the government,approach of privatization will assist them in better management of prisons.However, issue of inappropriate management is still not resolved by privateentities (Kurtis, 2004). Recently, so many scandals were identified forembezzlement of funds provided for management of prison. This aspect can beevidenced by the news that, managers of 14 private sector prisons includingSerco and G4 were at the centre of such scandals last summer.



Facilities are not increasing in prison in accordance with the increasingpopulation. As per the recent data of prison, population in prison has beendouble in past 20 years but there is significant difference in the infrastructureand other resources. Increasing population in prison is adjusted in the limitedspace. Due to this aspect, there are no opportunities for education,employment and rehabilitation for prisoners. Due to the lack of facilities,prisoners has to squeeze themselves in the overcrowded population.

In addition to the above described issues, inappropriate psychologicaland material conditions of imprisonment also leads to the crisis in prison. Casesof sexual harassment and physical violence is not new in prisons. For bettermanagement of prison environment, policy of separation of adult and youngprisoners was implemented by authoritative parties. Main objective of thispolicy was to resolve issue of overcrowding in prisons. However, kids andyoungsters are leaded to the world of drugs and violence due to inappropriateenvironment in prison. Along with this, they have to face sexual assault by theadult prisoners or inspection. Due to this issue, there is continuous increase incases of suicides in prison. According to the British statistics, more than 85prisoners are committing suicide (Grodin, 2013). In accordance with the recent





study of researchers, it has been noticed that two prisoners are surviving onthe space of each prisoner because of the limited facilities and increasingscandals and population.

As per the above description, prevailing crisis in imprisonment can beclearly noticed. Such deplorable situations of the prisoners had adverse effecton the social and behavioural factors of individual. There are so many factorson which statutory authorities are required to focus to provide better system inprison. If these will not be resolve in proper manner then government andsociety has to face severe consequences.

Issues associated with concept of prison is not new to the British society.These problems are continued from past four decades which can be noticed byincreasing number of cases in the cells. Rate of punishment related toimprisonment is increasing day by day which is leading to the overcrowding injails of UK (Emenyo̲nu, 2010). As a consequence, facilities provided in prison isnot justified to the increasing population. In addition to this, there are somerecurring issues in management of prison which are not appropriately resolvedby authorities or statutory parties. In present era, these issues have becomepart of culture or environment of prison.





From the past four decades, it has been observed that the prisoners arefacing recurring issues due to injustice. The conditions have become even theworst due to ill treatment and insecurity of the prisoners under imprisonment.In order to solve the current serious issue, the prison authority have to providesocial contract of well treatment and produce protective environment withincells (Wakefield and Wildeman, 2011). Under these cage, the cons are boundedto live a restricted life due to their own faults, but they should be provided withsafe environment under cells. The current policy have lost its existence in thecurrent period due to which the present conditions of these culprits havebecome even more worst. Even the basic right of providing education andemployment has been restricted due to increase in the number of culprits intocells and their time to move out of the prisons have been reduced down andstrictly supervised in order to avoid any kind of outrageous breakdowns andinsecurity to the public (Maruna, Wilson and Curran, 2006).

The authorities of prisoners have been made more strict due to whichthey are facing immense degree of frustration. Since, the number of culpritshave been increasing rapidly, the basic time for taking bath and food have alsobeen reduced in order to manage the population. Out of the total time spent ina day, the culprits under cells are living as if their life has been seized whicheventually leads to hindrance and anger among people inside cells. With suchnegative conditions inside cells, prisoners make attempt to run out of theprison by the way of outrageous breakdowns which have been noticed in largenumber since long time (Carlen, 2013). Also, the health factors and hygieneconditions have been deteriorated because of the number of prisonersincreased in cells. The prison staff is unable to handle such a huge crowd dueto which the quality of services to prisoners inside cells were becoming worst



and health security is not offered to them. The young culprits are capturedunder vulnerable conditions and forced to kept under dark with least degree ofcare to them. These worst conditions also leads to many mental issues due totorturing culture under cells. As a consequence, the old prisons havedominated the regulations of the cells and they are exploiting people includingnew and weak prisoners through violence. Such conditions have now becomethe part of culture under prisons leading to high level of tension among culpritsunder cells (Wildeman, 2009).

The basic routine of prisons have also disturbed due to exclusion ofcommon and basic activities which have earlier been part of the culprit's lifeunder cells. Acts like reading books under library, gymnasium and other mentalexercise activities have also been restricted. As these activities have beenstopped, the conditions inside cells have become even terrible. In order tomaintain the security, new norms were formulated where social visits ofoutsiders and meeting with family members and relatives have also beenstopped. Such restrictions lead to high degree of violence inside cells anddestruction of rules and infrastructure as well which results to increase in costof maintenance too (Berger, 2009).





In the prison, there is also problem in basic amenities such as food andmedical facilities. Unhygienic and tasteless food is provided to prisoners forseveral weeks due to which health issues are continuously enhancing. Inaddition to this, basic medical facilities such as daily check ups and routinemedicines are not up to the mark (Daly, 2006). Issue related to basic amenitieshas been continued from 1950 and till now it is remained unheard. Policiesimplemented by management of prison was temporary in nature and thus ithad not provided suitable remedy for the issue.

Major issue that has to be faced by the management of prison is that,they are not able to achieve core aim from their strategies. Imprisonment orsentencing is provided to the offenders for the purpose of reformation of theirlives in order to provide better vision. However, strategies implemented byinternal system of prison has no effective impact on the lives of the criminals.In the research of Aday, it has been concluded that 80% of the prisonerscontinue their routine life after completion of the period of sentencing. Resultsof this study, reflects that system of prison is not effective for the purpose ofreformation in the life of criminals in accordance with the expectations (Aday,2003).

Most of the studies related to the crisis in prisons is focused on repetitiveissues which is not resolved by government and authoritative committees.Inadequacies in basic resources is leading to the situation of increasinginjustice to the prisoners. In addition to this, issues in prison cannot be resolvedby temporary polices, management of prison has to make properimprovements in the living conditions of the jails (Berger, 2009). Continuationof these issues reflects lost of humanity in prisons because prisoners are notable to fulfil their basic needs. Above mentioned unsolved issues had created



terrible environment in prison.To identify the cause and consequences of crisis in prison, several studies

has been done by criminologists. Most of the studies shows similar conclusionthat major issues in prisons are continued from very beginning and it is not newto the people and society (Carlen, 2013). Management of prisons are alsoaware about such scenarios but still they are not taking any proactive steps toresolve these issues. In order to develop suitable reports, criminologists hadanalysed the nature, extent, impact and solution of prevention of issues incrime sector. For this purpose, crisis in imprisonment are closely observed bythem and they had identified several factors which are cause for the crisis inprisons.

In accordance with the study of criminologists, primary reason of crisisimprisonment or sentencing is sexism, discrimination and racism in the BritishSociety. These factors have adverse impact on the minds of offenders orcriminals. Moreover, these factors are influencing or provoking them incommitment of criminal acts (Britain's prison overcrowding crisis surges 'closeto the brink', 2014). People are engaged in wrongdoing because either theywant to promote discrimination or they want take revenge for discrimination.However, in both the situations' crime is increasing and society has to facesevere issues as innocent people are being victimized. Thus, population inprisons is continuously increasing and issue of overcrowding is created.

Other reason for increase in crime is concept of victimization. Collectiveforce of adverse psychology has also leaded to the increase in act of crimesand violence. Concept of victimization deals with the cultural and social theoryof criminology. According to this theory, cultural and social exposure ofindividual has significant impact on criminal activities. In addition to this, if



individual has to face adverse conditions of living then they will easily getattracted to the criminal activities (Maruna, Wilson and Curran, 2006). As perthe above study, it has been noticed that management of prison is not able tofulfil the basic needs of the criminals due to which prisoners as drasticexperience in prison. Such environment provokes them to get engaged inviolent activities to achieve their rights or to get their needs fulfilled. Due tothis aspect, innocent and new prisoners are victimized and they took out theiranger through revenge on other prisoners. This circle is continued and issues inprisons get unsolved.

According to the report of disturbances in prison, it can be noticed thatimproper hygiene conditions and poor physical facilities is increasing issues injails. Due to inadequacies in necessities there is regular contradiction betweenthe prisoners and management. As a consequence of these contradictions,statutory parties are not able to achieve their objectives in efficient manner.Similar results are generated with the poor management of infrastructure. Incomparison to prisoners there is inadequate infrastructure ((Wildeman, 2009).Thus, staff of prisons is not able to provided proper services continuously.Moreover, basic rights such as social meeting and healthy regimes are also not





provided to prisoners due to which they are not satisfied with the policies ofprison. High level of dissatisfaction lead to the stress and violence in prisonswhich also enhances crisis in imprisonment.

To provide suitable environment to prisoners, government is requiredmainly work on improving accommodation facilities in accordance with theincreasing overcrowding. From past few decades, regulatory authorities hadpromised to provide better facilities to the prisoners but they had not taken anyeffective step for the same. In addition to this, crime rate of UK is continuouslyincreasing and this aspect can result in severe issues in future time. Thus, thisis high time for governing party to take proper measures to resolve issues inimprisonment. Growth policies of government is required to be developed forimprovement in safety and health conditions of prisoners (Wakefield andWildeman, 2011). This strategy will also be helpful in the reduction of injusticedone with the prisoners. Further, there should be proper supervision on theactivities of prisoners so act of exploitation can be prevented against theinnocent parties. By implementing these suggestions, management of prisonwill be able tor provide proper environment to criminal for the rehabilitationand reformation of their life. In addition to these benefits, regulatory party willbe able to achieve their objectives in effective manner.

From the present study, reasons of increasing crisis can be reflected. Inpresent environment, imprisonment is one of the unpleasant sanction in UK.From the very beginning there were certain issues in concept of imprisonment.Thus, to provide better justice to prisoners parliament of UK is continuouslyfocused on the improvement in this concept. Imprisonment is provided to theoffender for the purpose of retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, punishmentand rehabilitation. However, these objectives are not achieved by the process



of judgement of conviction. Britain is on the verge of its worst position due toovercrowding since 2008. Condition of prisoners and prison is adverselyaffected by severe inadequacies such as poor physical health, high congestion,sanitary conditions, rehabilitation programmes, restricted connection with theoutside world and large percentage of awaited trial. To resolve this issue,approach of privatization was implemented. However, issue of inappropriatemanagement is still not resolved by private entities. It is because, so manyscandals were identified for embezzlement of funds provided for managementof prison.

Issues associated with prisons is continuous from past few decades. Rateof punishment related to imprisonment is increasing day by day which isleading to the overcrowding in jails of UK. Most of the studies related to thecrisis in prisons is focused on repetitive issues which is not resolved bygovernment and authoritative committees. Inadequacies in basic resources isleading to the situation of increasing injustice to the prisoners. Thus, regulatoryauthority is required to resolve these issues else they have to face severeconsequences.





REFERENCESBooks and journals

Aday, R., 2003. Aging prisoners. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.Berger, D., 2009. Constructing crime, framing disaster Routines of

criminalization and crisis in Hurricane Katrina. Punishment andsociety, 11(4). pp. 491-510.

Carlen, P., 2013. Women and Punishment. Willan.Daly, R., 2006. Prison Mental Health Crisis Continues to Grow. Psychiatric News,

41(20), pp.1-30.Emenyo̲nu, E., 2010. New novels in African literature today. Ibadan, Nigeria:

HEBN.Grodin, M., 2013. Health and human rights in a changing world. New York, NY:

Routledge.Kurtis, B., 2004. The death penalty on trial. New York: Public Affairs.Lurigio, A., 2002. Book Review: Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis

Behind Bars and What We Must Do About It. The Prison Journal, 82(2),pp.285-287.

Maruna, S., Wilson, L. and Curran, K., 2006. Why God is often found behindbars: Prison conversions and the crisis of self-narrative. Research inHuman Development, 3(2-3). pp. 161-184.

Wakefield, S. and Wildeman, C., 2011. Mass imprisonment and racialdisparities in childhood behavioral problems. Criminology and PublicPolicy, 10(3). pp. 793-817.

Wildeman, C., 2009. Parental imprisonment, the prison boom, and theconcentration of childhood disadvantage. Demography,


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