Inhumane Prisons?

Paper Summary:

The paper reveals the incredibly harsh prison conditions that include extreme isolation, no privacy and a significant reduction in stimulation. The paper questions the ethical aspect of these facilities, whether the conditions of the supermax prison are justified and whether such environments encourage the inadequacies of prison guards and supervisors. The paper then claims that the United States is living with the lack of morals and value for human life that is prevalent in Third World Countries.

From the Paper:

"In the 1990's there was a conservative push to build supermax prisons that would house the most dangerous criminals. These inmates would require extraordinary security and the location of their incarceration would be based on their behavior rather than their crime. Two supermax prisons were constructed in Virginia. These identical prisons housed 1200 extremely dangerous inmates each. The supermax prisons represented a government that was tough on crime--during the 1990's parole is nearly abolished and prison sentences were made longer. Virginia is used here as an example of a national trend of isolating disruptive prisoners. There are actually thirty-six supermax prisons open currently in the United States (Lynd, 1996)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Abramsky, S. (2002). Return of the Madhouse: Supermax prisons are becoming the high-tech equivalent of the nineteenth-century snake pit. The American Prospect Magazine. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Return_Madhouse.html
• Lynd, A. (1996). What is a Supermax prison? Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.spunk.org/texts/prison/sp001611.txt
• "Super-Maximum Security Confinement in Virginia". (1999). RED ONION STATE PRISON. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/redonion/index.htm#TopOfPage
• "Supermax Prisons: Overview and General Considerations". (1999). National Institute of Corrections. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from http://www.nicic.org/pubs/1999/014937.pdf
• "Virginia-Wallens Ridge & Red Onion". (2007). Supermaxed. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from http://www.supermaxed.com/

More papers on Inhumane Prisons?:

• Argumentative Essay # 134294 : "Dangers of Supermax Prisons"
• Argumentative Essay # 111595 : "Society's Prisons"
• Analytical Essay # 110478 : "The Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq"

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