American Corrections: Concepts and Controversies
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Video
US Prison Population
The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world—more even than China or Russia. Prof. Daniel J. D'Amico explains that as of 2010 more than 1.6 million people were serving jail
American Corrections System Locks Up More Individuals than Any Country
D.C. anchor Mike Walter takes an in-depth look at the American corrections system and discusses the development of some of the more controversial applications of criminal justice in the United States.
Arise America, Prison Cost
Martin F. Horn, former New York corrections commissioner and a current lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice joined us to discuss the outstanding rate of prisoner cost.
Web Resources
Chapter 2: Punishment and Social Structure
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Video
'Slavery by Another Name' Relays the Forgotten Stories of Post-Civil War Slavery
A new PBS documentary called "Slavery by Another Name" tells the story of the adapted forced labor practices that helped extend slavery long after the end of the Civil War. Gwen Ifill speaks with Douglas Blackmon, the film's co-executive producer, about this largely forgotten piece of history and the forces that propelled it.
Prison Labor: Modern Day Slavery | Interview with Nicole Porter
Abby Martin talks to Nicole Porter, Director of Advocacy for the Sentencing Project, about prison sentencing, racial disparities, slave labor and other aspects of the US prison industrial complex
Chapter 3: The Purpose of Punishment and Sentencing Trends
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Video
Introduction to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines Part 1
Overview of the United States Sentencing Commission
Criminal Risk Assessment
In this interview, Edward Latessa, Ph.D., Director of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, discusses risk assessments for criminal behavior and why they are useful to policymakers and practitioners in developing evidence-based practices.
War on Drugs
The video demonstrates the cost spend on the war on drugs and its effectiveness
Why is the US Prison Population so Large
Professor Daniel D’Amico examines the data behind the alarming increase in the number of prisoners in the United States and finds that much of the growth in the last 40 years has been driven by the war on drugs.
Audio
20 Years Later, Parts Of Major Crime Bill Viewed As Terrible Mistake
The audio details the effectiveness of the 1994 Violent Crime Control Act
High Court Expands Defendants' Plea Bargain Rights
For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that defendants have a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel in plea bargains. In a 5-4 decision Wednesday, the court went further, declaring that when a lawyer acts unethically or gives clearly wrong advice, the defendant may be entitled to a second chance at accepting a plea offer.
Web Resources
Chapter 4: Jails
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Video
Jails are the “new insane asylums”
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, during an interview on 60 Minutes, warned about the dangers of sending mentally ill people to jail. Dart calls jails and prisons "the new insane asylums" and says the criminal justice system is not equipped to address issues of mental illness. More from CBS News
Successes seen in programs at Belknap County Jail
In the Belknap County Jail, one of the oldest jails in New Hampshire, inmates' artwork lines the walls while workers try to make sure that once released, those inside don't come back.
Inmate: Jail program 'opened my eyes'
A Kalamazoo County Jail program is expanding as it proves it can keep inmates from returning to the slammer. Inmates say the program works because it gets to the core of what's causing them to get locked up.
Why Are We Using Prisons to Treat the Mentally Ill? • OverCriminalized #1 • BRAVE NEW FILMS
Instead of helping the mentally ill, police often put them behind bars. Watch how one police department is making a positive difference.
Audio
As Court Fees Rise, The Poor Are Paying The Price
A yearlong NPR investigation found that the costs of the criminal justice system in the United States are paid increasingly by the defendants and offenders. It's a practice that causes the poor to face harsher treatment than others who commit identical crimes and can afford to pay. Findings reveal that impoverished people sometimes go to jail when they fall behind paying these fees.
Web Resources
Chapter 5: Probation and Alternatives to Incarceration
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Video
So you want to be a Probation or Parole Officer
This short video highlights the day-to-day activities you might expect to encounter when you are a Probation or Parole Officer.
NJ Court Clips: Drug Court
Court Clips takes a look at the New Jersey Courts successful Drug Court Program.
What is restorative justice?
Director of SFU's Centre for Restorative Justice explains what restorative justice is and the effects
The War On People Overcriminalized
The "War on Drugs" has been a complete disaster since 1971. Now police have alternatives to incarceration that actually help people -and save money for the taxpayers.
Audio
In Freedom, Ex-Felon Becomes Probation Counselor
Clark Porter was 17 when he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for robbing a downtown post office at gunpoint. He spent 15 years in prison and today, as a probation counselor, he helps some of the toughest ex-offenders turn their lives around.
Web Resources
- Career as Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
Chapter 6: Prisons
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Video
Life In Prison! Inmate Serving 170 Years In A Maximum Security Prison For Double Homicide At Age 1
An interview is conducted on a man serving life in prison from the age of 15!
Matt Hale s Florence CO Home Clean Version Of Hell Supermax ADX
Arise America, Prison Cost
Martin F. Horn, former New York corrections commissioner and a current lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice joined us to discuss the outstanding rate of prisoner cost.
Audio
Solitary Confinement Costs $78K Per Inmate And Should Be Curbed, Critics Say
An overview of the costs and consequences of solitary confinement
How 4 Inmates Launched A Statewide Hunger Strike From Solitary
Four alleged leaders of rival prison gangs worked together to coordinate a hunger strike at California's Pelican Bay State Prison. They were protesting long-term, indefinite incarceration in solitary confinement.
States Release Inmates Early To Cut Prison Costs
With a sputtering economy and widespread budget crises, many states have decided that reducing their prison populations is a good way to save money. Illinois is one of the latest examples. Under its new early release program, as many as 1,000 nonviolent offenders will be able to finish their sentences at home or at other locations approved by prison officials.
Web Resource
Chapter 7: Reentry and Parole
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Video
Nowhere To Go But Jail? OverCriminalized: Homelessness • BRAVE NEW FILMS: JUSTICE
It is time to stop treating the homeless like criminals. Police have alternatives to incarceration that actually help people -and save money for taxpayers.
Adjusting to Life After Prison
Life on the outside can be tough for ex-inmates, as they struggle to find jobs, housing, and readjust to everyday experiences. Some states are considering freeing prisoners ahead of schedule to save billions of budget dollars. But if more prisoners leave jail sooner, what will be the impact on re-entry and rehabilitation resources?FaraiChideya talks with Melissa Bradley — president of the Re-entry Strategies Institute — and Jason Sole, a re-entry services associate at AMICUS, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that helps inmates and ex-offenders.
Criminal Justice Realignment
For years prisons in California have been overcrowded, creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment. In fact, the overcrowded conditions led to a ruling by the United States Supreme Court which required California to reduce its prison population, resulting in something referred to as "Realignment." So what's been the impact for the Marin County Probation Department?
Audio
Adjusting to Life Beyond Bars
New guidelines will go into effect that will retroactively reduce the sentences for crack cocaine offenders. Approximately 1,500 current inmates will be eligible to apply for immediate release. Former inmates discuss the challenges of readjusting to society after serving long sentences.
Web Resource
Chapter 8: Juvenile Corrections
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Video
Adolescent Development & Juvenile Justice
Behavioral psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman explores the factors that drive adolescents to commit serious crimes. In addition, she explains the importance of helping these juvenile offenders to stop their crimes, rather than simply incarcerating them.
Kids Behind Bars
This young convict was sent to an adult facility, leaving him alone in a sea of predators and violent offenders.
Audio
'Culture Of Violence' Pervades Rikers' Juvenile Facilities
Juvenile detainees are subjected to routine violence, both by other inmates and by correction officers.
Sexual Abuse Persists In Juvenile Detention Centers
More than one in 10 juveniles under the age of 18 are sexually abused while in detention, according to government data. Reginald Wilkinson, former director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, recently sat on a Justice Department panel aimed at figuring out ways to curb the abuse.
Crisis-Prone Texas Juvenile Facilities Look to Reform
The Texas juvenile corrections system is in a deep crisis. Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at youth prisons in Texas have led to arrests and firings of top officials and prompted a push to reform
Web Resource
Chapter 9: The Corrections Workforce
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Video
Corrections Officer / Jailer Job Overview
These videos, created by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development for their One-Stop Career System Multimedia Career Video Library, are designed to provide a brief, visual introduction to careers and to supplement more detailed sources of career information.
Inside the NYC Corrections Academy
The Daily News goes behind the scenes to see what kind of training corrections officers receive at the NYC Corrections Academy.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment, a dramatic simulation study of the psychology of imprisonment and one of the best known psychology experiments ever undertaken.Dr. Zimbardo takes us through the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which healthy college students are transformed into unstable prisoners and brutal prison guards within days by the power of the situation in which they found themselves.
Audio
Correctional Officers Protest Inmate Work Cuts
Federal correctional officers are gathering outside the Justice Department on Wednesday to protest budget cuts and cutbacks to the federal inmate work program. The officers say it's the only program they have left to keep inmates out of trouble.
Web Resource
- Career as a Correctional Officer
Chapter 10: Law and Corrections
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Video
Cruel and Unusual -- transgender and in prison
Women, transgender women such as Ashley, Linda, Anna, Yolanda and Ophelia, are incarcerated in men's prisons across the U.S. from Wyoming to New Jersey and Florida. Denied medical and psychological treatment, victims of rape and violence, the documentary Cruel and Unusual asks if the punishment for their crime is indeed cruel and unusual?
Divided High Court Orders Calif. to Ease Overcrowding in Prisons
The high court ruled 5-4 Monday that the packed living conditions in California prisons violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle explains.
Audio
Do Heat-Sensitive Inmates Have A Right To Air Conditioning?
Inmate dormitories at Louisiana State Penitentiary, like this one photographed in July 2011, have heating in the winter and cooling by fans and open windows in the summer, but no air conditioning. A judge ruled earlier this year that that constituted cruel and unusual punishment, but installation is on hold pending a state appeal.
Bill Of Rights Series: The Eighth Amendment
Join Ray Suarez as Talk of the Nation continues its series on the Bill of Rights with a discussion of the Eighth Amendment and its four famous words: "cruel and unusual punishment." Ray will talk with a woman who is serving a life sentence in prison for her very first offense and one of the first to be sentenced to life for drugs in Michigan. He'll also talk with his panel of experts issues such as prison overcrowding, chain gangs, and the death penalty
Prison Rape Law A Decade Old, But Most States Not In Compliance
In a recent survey, the vast majority of states said they will try to comply with federal rules. But several others, led by Texas, have protested to the Justice Department. Texas Gov. Rick Perry says following federal standards for the Prison Rape Elimination Act is too burdensome for states.
Web Resource
- American Civil Liberties Union
- National Constitutional Center
- National PREA Resource Center
- Confronting Confinement: A Report of The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons
- Civil Rights Injunctions Over Time: A Case Study of Jail and Prison Court Orders
- Meet the 17-Year-Old Who Blew the Lid Off Racial Profiling With His iPod
Chapter 11: Corrections and the Color Line
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Video
Racial inequality in the CJS
Prof. D’Amico points out problems with the perverse incentives politicians and bureaucrats have in developing laws. Although laws about drug prohibition, for example, are ostensibly color blind, people with different levels of wealth face different costs and benefits to participating in the drug trade. Minorities are overrepresented in U.S. prisons. In light of this, Prof. D’Amico argues that radical changes to the system might be necessary and preferable to the status quo.
The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration 1.
In the 1980s Communist Romania under the most brutal eastern european dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu locked up 71,000 of its own citizens or 1 in every 300. Today the USA, the world's oldest democracy jails 2.2 million or 1 in every 136 of it's own citizens, ie. 2.2 times the incarceration rate of a notorious police state. This does not make any sense unless we look at the racial aspects of the US justice system.
Legal Scholar Michelle Alexander on The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Immigration detention: fastest growing incarceration system in the U.S.
The arrest, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants is higher than at any time in U.S. history with more than 2.3 million individuals deported in the last five years.
The government's immigration enforcement efforts -- detention -- is now the fastest growing incarceration system in the U.S.
NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk: Racial Profiling or 'Proactive Policing'?
NYPD says its controversial policy keeps the streets safe, but critics say its harassment.
Audio
One Lawyer's Fight For Young Blacks And 'Just Mercy'
Bryan Stevenson challenge racial bias and economic inequities in the U.S. justice system.
Race, Violence ... Justice? Looking Back At Jena 6
In August 2006, a black student in Jena, La. asked if he could sit under a tree on campus or if it was reserved for whites. Three nooses hung from the tree the next day. In December, six black boys brutally beat a white student, and five of the suspects were charged with attempted murder. Black talk radio hosts and civil rights leaders nationwide protested the charges. Have the demonstrations helped move the U.S. closer to racial justice? Host Michel Martin speaks with Stanford Law School Professor Richard Ford and radio talk host Warren Ballentine.
Sentencing Disparities: Fact of Fiction?
The conversation about criminal justice continues with Richard Samp, chief legal counsel for the Washington Legal Foundation, who says the inequality isn't necessarily racial.
Web Resource
Chapter 12: Women in the Corrections System
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Video
Why are so many women in prison? • BRAVE NEW FILMS: JUSTICE #3
It's no secret that the incarceration rate in America has skyrocketed since the 1970's. But did you know the number of women behind bars has grown nearly twice the rate of men in recent years? Why are we locking up so many women? The War on Drugs has a lot to do with it. In the eighties, crack was the culprit. Thousands of African-American women were caught up in the system. Many because the so-called "girlfriend" problem -where a women will take the brunt of the charges when she unknowingly assisted a boy friend or relative committing a drug crime.
Alternatives to Incarceration for Women
The United States has one of the highest, most expensive, and fastest growing incarceration rates in the world. Erika Kates, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women, discusses the impact incarceration can have on women's physical health, emotional well being, family life, and economic stability. In this video, Kates discusses alternatives to incarceration, such as women-centered counseling and pre-trial probation.
Incarcerated women and reproductive healthcare
Carolyn Sufrin is an obstetrician-gynecologist and a medical anthropologist. She provides Ob/Gyn care to vulnerable populations of women, including women in jail. Her research focuses on the complex intersection of health rights and the politics of reproduction as they play out in institutions of incarceration.
Audio
Domestic Violence protection still resonate 20 years after crime bill
Number of Incarcerated Women on Rise
A recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the number of women entering America's prisons is growing. The incarceration rate for African-American women is particularly high, compared to Hispanic and white female offenders. Leoneda Inge explores how some intervention programs are working to bring the numbers down.
Letters: Shackling Pregnant Inmates During Labor
Listeners had strong reactions to Friday's story about the shackling of incarcerated women while they're in labor. Robert Siegel and Michele Norris read some of those letters.
Prenatal Care Behind Bars
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in upstate New York houses the oldest prison nursery in the country. Pregnant inmates are given prenatal care and parenting classes. Some women are permitted to keep their babies with them in prison for up to 18 months, in an effort to create bonds between mother and child.
Web Resource
Chapter 13: Special Populations
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Video
Our extreme sentencing policies and a growing number of life sentences have effectively turned many of our correctional facilities into veritable nursing homes — and taxpayers are paying for it. A new ACLU report supplies detailed and practical solutions that states and the federal government can implement to address the dramatic and costly growth in the number of elderly prisoners without putting communities at risk.
Elderly Prison Population Skyrockets Despite Low Risk to Society
Even amidst a modest reduction in the U.S. prison population, the number of aging men and women expected to die behind bars has skyrocketed in a system ill prepared to handle them and still oriented toward mass incarceration. We speak about the problems facing aging prisoners with Mujahid Farid, who was released from a New York state prison in 2011 after serving 33 years. He is now lead organizer with RAPP, which stands for "Release Aging People in Prison." Their slogan is "If the risk is low, let them go." His campaign work is part of Soros Justice Fellowship and is housed at the Correctional Association of New York. We are also joined by Soffiyah Elijah, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, which monitors conditions in state prisons. "The parole board routinely denies people based on the nature of the offense, the one thing that no one can change, just like we can't change our height or our eye color," Elijah notes. "We need to look at that and say, if someone presents a low risk to recidivate, then we should be releasing them from prison. We're wasting precious taxpayer dollars incarcerating people, and it's much more expensive to incarcerate people who are older."
Center Voices, The Sylvia Rivera Law Project and LeGal presented a panel of formerly incarcerated individuals and human rights activists sharing their experiences of being queer and behind bars. www.srlp.org &www.le-gal.org This video excerpt is from Out at the Center, a TV show of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of New York City. To see more episodes go to gaycenter.org. The show is made possible thanks to members of the Center and viewers like you.
Audio
Cutting Prison Costs by Releasing Elderly Inmates
Debra Schifrin reports on one woman's controversial plan to reduce prison costs by releasing elderly prisoners before their sentences are up.
Health Care Can Be Key To A Better Life For Former Inmates
A San Francisco law now permits the sheriff's department to enroll inmates in health insurance policies under the Affordable Care Act — policies designed to cover medical care after a prisoner's release. SheriffRoss Mirkarimi believes that making sure people have health coverage when they leave jail will help keep them from committing another crime and coming back.
What Is The Role Of Jails In Treating The Mentally Ill?
The United States incarcerates hundreds of thousands of inmates suffering from mental illness, and jails and prisons are struggling to provide for inmates with severe mental health needs. Los Angeles County is even exploring building a new jail specifically to house and provide treatment for mentally ill inmates. The proposal is estimated to cost more than $1 billion.
Web Resource
Chapter 14: The Death Penalty
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Video
What Happens on Execution Day? A Death Penalty Documentary
This is a short, 10 minute documentary outlining the events that occur on execution day for those sentenced with the death penalty. A doctor at the state prison walks viewers through the routine of preparing for and carrying out an execution from beginning to end.
Is Our Execution Method Cruel and Unusual?
For states that do enforce the death penalty, death by lethal injection is often considered the more "humane" method. But with news of secret drug cocktails, botched injections, and painful executions, that no longer seems the case. What's going on? Tara Long explains why it's crucially important we know the drug combinations used in our lethal injection cocktails.
CNN: The high cost of death row
Should states abolish death row to save money? CNN explores the controversy.
Inside Story Americas - How many innocent people has the US executed?
More than 20 years after Texas executed Carlos DeLuna, a study reveals he was innocent. Support for capital punishment in the US has been on the decline over the last two decades. We take a closer look at the DeLuna case and what it says about capital punishment in the country, and the flaws in its implementation
Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti
Audio
California's Death Penalty Declared Unconstitutional
Unlike many recent death penalty rulings, the decision wasn't focused on the method of execution, but on the fact that executions in California are so rarely carried out. The last was in 2006.
Death Penalty Expert On Why Lethal Injection Is So Problematic
In the wake of Arizona's botched execution, Steve Inskeep talks with Amherst professor Austin Sarat, author of the recent book Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty.
Web Resource
Chapter 15: The Growth of Privatization in Corrections
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Video
Prison Labor
US breeds a Chinese-style inmate labor scheme on its own soil. Both state and some of the biggest private companies are now enjoying the fruits of a cheap and readily available work force, with tens of millions of dollars spent by private prisons to keep their jails full.
Private Prisons
Today the US is home to 5% of the world's population but a quarter of the world's prisoners. It also has the highest rate of youth imprisonment and on any given day there are more than 70,000 youths in detention. And the biggest winners of this mass incarceration? The for-profit prison companies whose business models essentially depend on locking more and more people up.
This clip discusses how private industries run prison and the reasons this is problematic
Audio
Why For-Profit Prisons House More Inmates Of Color
A new study by a UC-Berkeley graduate student has surprised a number of experts in the criminology field. Its main finding: Private prisons are packed with young people of color.
Who Benefits When A Private Prison Comes To Town?
Federal and state officials are increasingly contracting private companies to run prisons and immigration detention centers. Critics have long questioned the quality of private prisons and the promises of economic benefits where they are built. But proponents say private prisons not only save taxpayers money, but they also generate income for the surrounding community.
Web Resource
Chapter 16: The Politics and Future of Mass Incarceration
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Video
Mass Incarceration in the US
America's 40-year policy of mass incarceration is deeply unethical, not very effective, and promotes the security of the few at the expense of the many.
21st Century Slavery: Mass Incarceration in America | Interview with Eugene Puryear
Abby Martin speaks with Eugene Puryear, author of 'Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America', about how the US became the country holding a quarter of the world's prisoners, the privatization of prisons, and the racial bias inherent in the criminal justice system.
Lawmakers Make Corrections Reform a Top Priority
Rep. Doyle Heffley discusses the work of the Legislature in instituting important corrections reform in Pennsylvania.
Audio
Freeing Up California's Prisons: A Massive Undertaking
California attempts to shift thousands of those convicted of "nonserious" crimes to county jails.
Is 'Tough On Crime' No Longer A Talking Point?
There's a growing bipartisan consensus that criminal justice policy needs to change, because of the costs and social consequences of keeping more than 2 million Americans behind bars. Host Michel Martin discusses the parties' platforms on criminal justice with the Sentencing Project's Marc Mauer and Marc Levin of the group Right On Crime.
Web Resource