Before I had begun my research over the prison systems and social justice, I had my own ideas and concepts that I had generated based on assumptions and stereotypes. Nonetheless, I had a much kinder idea of what prison systems were like. I had envisioned cruel and ruthless prisons that mocked the justice system for everything it attempted to stand for, but to my surprise that didn’t even scrape the surface of the horrid and barbaric nature that we have only built upon for years, I myself had my own ideas of social justice and inheritably believed that ajust system we all contribute to will be the fruits of our labor. My beliefs that the interaction we have with one another is not based on a factual standard preconditioned into us as if we were robots set with a one track mission, but the roots of the political and justice system mimic what I chose to ignore.
Before I began my research, I was more hopeful; before I began my research for answers, for a truth, for a solution, 1 honestly sought to break away from hearsay and dive deeper into a more intelligent standpoint. But I was further from it, and as I descended into the fathomless abyss of knowledge, I found my ideas becoming more and more spurious compared to my findings 1 wish that what I believed was the reality of the situation, but the prison system was simply in a much worse condition than I wanted to imagine. Coming to terms with what this research needed to mean for me was an interesting conducted self-analysis. I have always valued justice and it is stained so deep into me that I become incredibly disgusted when it is disregarded This is shown highly in my youth as I was bullied time and time again, only to seek justice when none was present It sparked a transition to become the type of person that stands up for others when they or no one else would stand for them.
This research was notjust conducted to explain the prison and justice system, but to elaborate on the work I have in store for myself as I cultivate and polish the skill and knowledge I need to get the job done. My findings meant to me that I would one day have to approach every single situation from and educated and well-rounded angle and start the arguments that have only dreamt of coming to light. On a personal level, doing this type of research, while depressing and often emotionally grueling, it is my absolute passion to be doing so In order to approach this topic from an effective standpoint I decided to start from a psychological perspective to collect data. I did this by approaching the mindset of the prisoners compared to people admitted to other non-criminal institutions From the information I gathered, people that are voluntary or involuntarily admitted to institutions have a strong possibility of developing what is known as Institutional syndrome.
The Wikipedia explanation of Institutional syndrome is simply when “individuals in institutions are deprived (whether unintentionally or not) of independence and of responsibility, to the point that once they return to ‘outside life‘ they are often unable to manage many of its demands; it has also been argued that institutionalized individuals become psychologically more prone to mental health problems” (Wikipedia, Institutional syndrome), This led to a direct connection between both sets of individuals, but I needed to know how far this syndrome reaches, According to The Addiction Web Site of Terence T. Gotski, Gorski explains that prisoners go through a similar side effect of being institutionalized called Post Incarceration Syndrome and Relapse or PICS, He says that “Currently 60% of prisoners have been in prison before and there is growing evidence that the Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a contributing factor to this high rate of recidivism” (TAWSTTG, PICS Operational Definition).
While the 60% of prisoners likely to relapse only accounts for the data collected in the US, it is still hard to ignore such a significant relapse percentage. I began to thoroughly question the effectiveness of the US. prison system if most prisoners with a violent record were highly likely to relapse once released. This in turn shifted my focus towards the release rate of prisoners, I found that in 2005, The National Institute of Justice conducted research over 30 states that showed “within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested” and then “of those prisoners who were rearrested, more than half (56.7 percent) were arrested again by the end of the first year” (NIJ, National Statistics on Recidivism). I found this fascinating because not only did these statistics broaden the range of my research, but it also supported the relapse rate and brought the conclusion that there is a vicious cycle that is not being addressed.
Before I was able to make such a direct observation, I needed to figure out the rate at which people are incarcerated, for exactly how long, as well as determinates of one’s sentence. I soon realized that this was not cut and dry; laws enacted in the 90’s accounted for majority of the arrests that happen today. During the 90’s, the justice system in the Us. attempted to stop the criminal activity that was plaguing the nation; in Jennifer Robison’s, Decades of Drug Use: The ‘805 and ‘905, she explains how the introduction of cocaine disrupted the youth and caused a somewhat sense of hysteria as gang violence became more frequent (Robison, Decades of Drug Use: The ‘80s and ‘QOs). This bit of information relates to the incarceration rate, and the determinates of one’s sentence because while drug activity and criminals were once the prime focus of arrests, the laws never changed as time went forward, and so the incarceration rate only increased.
For example, The California Courts: Judicial Branch of California, had the most livid law that was just recently amended in 2012, This law enacted in 1994, stated that “If the defendant was convicted of any felony with two or more prior strikes, the law mandated a state prison term of at least 25 years to life” (TCC:]BC, California’s Three Strikes Sentencing Law). An example of this in the words of Paul Waldman, senior writer for The American Prospect, says that “In practice, this policy meant that people received life sentences for things like stealing a piece of pizza,” which brings forth the harsh reality of people being arrested for minor charges (Waldman, Six charts that Explain Why Our Prison System Is So Insane). The worst part about this bit of information is that many states in the US, were trying to practice this three strikes law, but it only took a couple thousands of people incarcerated for twentyfive to life to realize that this law was garbage.
Examining my research, I wanted to go in-depth about the connection of incarcerated prisoners, the rate at which prisoners were incarcerated, and their relapse rate to show fault within the systemmfonunately 1 don’t have to do that because that lackluster nature of the justice system displays the each of its rooted faults by its arrogant and stubborn nature to evolve with the world around it The warrant for change was not even fully recognized in the previous detailed law; the 3 strikes law was not completely changed, removed, reformed or even sustained the idea of making something new to go parallel with the time we live in. Instead it was changed from “If the defendant was convicted of any felony with two or more prior strikes, the law mandated a state prison term of at least 25 years to life” to “If the defendant was convicted of any violent felony with two or more prior strikes, the law mandated a state prison term of at least 25 years to life” (TCC: JBC, California‘s Three Strikes Sentencing Law).
Feeling dissatisfied with the research I had gathered, I decided to dive deeper into the prison system and look at everything from the perspective of an inmate. This in turn enabled me to gather resources that weren’t solely dependent on the research I gathered so fart I began looking at letters to family from inmates, experiences of inmates currently out of prison, and inmates on death row. The first letter I read was submitted by a KConnerSG, who uses this name on a message board, He recounts his experience in a California prison as such: I was in one of the large 68 man tanksi As always we had our selection of kids Dope fiends, speed freaks, whatever is the slang of the day. A group of 5-6 scandalous little creeps, who weren‘t about nothing. Little jailhouse thieves, As dumb as they were, they were smart enough not to screw with anyone who would fight back. One day we get this old man (In his 60’s) rolling in on a DUI working on number 4 or 5 or 6 or whatever.
The guy had money, or at least people taking care of him, because at canteen he got a big bag, & made no secret of all he got. Not wanting to be leached to death, he decided to not kick anybody down, He wasn’t going to share anything with anyone. That’s fine with me, 1 had my stuff This however didn’t sit well with our little gang. So they tried to pressure him to get some of his stuff. That not working, they decided to just out right take his stuff. The guy didn’t stand a chance against a bunch of 20 something kids. He started to scream, when one guy clocked him good Knocked the guy out, He hit the ground, doing the fish. The other guys freaked, 8t they all proceeded to beat, 81 kick this guy into a bloody mess. We all sat there in shock as we watched these guys beat this old man nearly to death,“ (KConnerSG, Orange County Prison).
The experience Conner expresses is a prime and true animalistic feat witnessed firsthand inside a prison. Personally I was shocked by the brutality of this information, and even more so that no one came to help the victimized old man These types of stories only grew darker and more horrible as I continued my research At this moment, I began looking into the condition of inmates; when someone is sent to jail or prison, they are all grouped together, This supports the experiences and interactions of many of the inmates I read about. In conducting this research, I was able to dig deeper into the social justice system, and look at the political and social impacts on not only the community of people outside of prison, but as well as the inmates incarcerated. After I felt fully comfortable with presenting this information to an audience, I then formulated my information into a direct attack towards the way prison systems were handled.
The personal experiences helped gather falsities within the justice system and also helped me account for where the truth actually lies. This became an important factor in evaluating the research that I would put forth and the information that I would seek further on. I found many outliers that posed as cracks in what was believed to promote the security and well-being of criminals. Overall my research had taken a major shift in what was supposed to be the gathering of inmate personal, but now ended up tying to the corruption within the justice system. In conclusion, I learned that the prison system in the US. is much worse than what we’re made to believe. The media portrays the arrest of inmates as the primordial solution, when in fact, it is just part of a much bigger problem, I imagined that there were people within the social justice system that would put more care into rehabilitating inmates, but that is just not the case.
These inmates undergo a change so drastic when they are locked up with other inmates, that some would be safer on the streets. I wanted to get a face-to-face conversation with an inmate so that I may interview them and get a detailed account of what goes on inside a prison I also imagined that doing this research would provide me with many answers, but in the end I‘m left with more questions and frustration then I know what to do with As years have gone by, we have only added more to the fire which burns at the very roots of the prison systems; the laws put into place and the stubborn nature to change gives me little hope. This is something that should matter to all of us, because while we say “I don’t plan on going to jail or prison” or “I’m not going to commit a crime,” it is impossible to ignore laws put into place that could just as easily have you serving 25 to life in prison for something you probably didn’t even do. This is a system that decides the punishment of all Americans and it is up to you, as the individual to stand up and have a voice in what you believe is right or just.
