CRIM 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Juvenile Court, Brain Damage, Argot
6 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 10: Corrections & Correctional Institutions Monday 26th
March
Chapter 11: Correctional Facilities
•Over the past 150 years, correctional use has shown no decline
•Canada’s first penitentiary emerged in 1830’s (KINGSTON PENITENTIARY— closed in 2013)
○overcrowding
○lack of classification
○limited programming
○inadequate provisions for inmate safety
Influenced by:
developments in the US
overcrowding in the local jails because of lack of classification
view that corporal punishment was improper and degrading
Goals:
eradication of the underlying causes of crime
intemperance
laziness
lack of moral values
•Symbol of moral architecture- term to describe structure of first penitentiary in Canada, intent
of which was to reflect themes of order and morality
•Hard labour and strong emphasis on religion were focus of reformation process
Brown commission- an investigation into the operation of the Kingston Penitentiary that
condemned the use of corporal punishment against inmates and emphasized the need for
rehabilitation
•Penitentiaries hold a significantly high amount of people from marginalized groups in society—
Aboriginals, poor, and persons with mental illness
•Challenges to provide needs of inmates and prepare them for community reentry
Before Correctional Institutions
•Pre-confederation
○public sanctions
○frequent use of death penalty (before classical school ideology— outlandish
punishment don’t do much to detain criminality. Predominant view was spiritualism)
•Reform Movement
•Shift from torture and capital punishment toward reform (example: decapitations and
hangings in public, elephant justice, etc.)
•Enlightenment era: realization that personal punishment did very little
•Sinners should do penance
○Penitentiaries
•1st prisons in North America (early 1800s)
•2 models of prisons
The Creation of Canadian Penitentiary
•First correctional built in response to how changes in the response of crime and criminal
offenders can be influence by social, economic, and political forces
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•Before Kingston, there where local jails/ lockups
•Based on the US model, influenced Canada a lot
○Auburn system
○Separation by gender and offence type
○Nowadays, it is less likely that penitentiaries are separated by offence types
•Cornerstones: labour (token economy), silence, relation
•Complaints
○Began in 1840s, continue to this day
○Violations of human rights due to segregation
○Abuse of power by officers
○Lack of regulations
Prison Models
Corrections in Canada
•Incarceration rate: 117 per 100,000
•$2.4 billion per year
•Prisons take up approximately 75% of correctional spending
•Approximately 5% of sentenced offenders are incarcerated
•100% of provincial offenders and 95% of federal offenders will be released
○Return to community
○Used by very few people
○Temporary strategy
○Debate that there should be increased spending in rehabilitation
Local Jails and Provincial Prisons
•Before conditions were deplorable (prisoners had to pay for basic needs such as meals, liquor,
and rent)
•On release, they had to pay a service fee to jailers
Pennsylvania Model
Auburn Model
•Basically solitary confinement for offenders
•First model in the US
•Cells isolated (1 level, in cell at all times, no
intimate interaction, silent reflection)
•Goal: turn criminals into hard-working, law
abiding individuals
•Removal of temptation & evil influences
•Philosophy: if you give enough time to the
offender silent reflection to think about
what they did, they will deviate from they’re
bad behaviour
•People were driven crazy
•Majority of North American prisons
•Built it tiers
•Panopticon (Bentham, constant
surveillance)
•If you believe that you are being watched
even if you aren’t, you will not act the same
way
•Strict silence
•Work & eat together during the day
(increased socialization and decrease
lurking feelings of insanity)
•In cells alone at night
!38
○Inability to pay could lead to extended confinement
•Efforts were made to improve prison operations in the 1880s
•Federal legislations: appointment for federal prison inspectors and outlined their duties and
powers; use of solitary confinement; and the need for classification and separation of prison
population
•Post WWII: shift towards treatment model of corrections (1960’s)
○Vocational training, education, and therapeutic techniques
•20th and 21st century: shift towards a more conservative correctional practice
Types of Correctional Institutions
•Wide variety of facilities
correctional institutions and centres
jail and detention centers for short-term offenders on remand
remand centres
community residencies
•Federal Correctional Institutions categorized in terms of security level
○Minimum Security (unrestricted prisoner movement during the day & locked at night,
no perimeter fencing. Low-risk offenders or people who have worked their way into
these facilities.)
○Medium Security (surrounded by high security perimeter fencing, but have more
freedom of movement inside)
○Maximum Security (tightly controlled institutions, high security perimeter fencing,
movement is strictly controlled, video surveillance. Let out of their cells often for an
hour or two per day)
○Special Handling Units— SHU (high level of risk to staff and other inmates like special
needs inmates that can’t be housed in maximum-security facilities)
○Multilevel units (e.g. Kent— handles all three levels of security. Incorporates one or
more of these.)
•Two types of security
The Challenges of Correctional Institutions
1. Total institutions (highly structured environment in which all activity of inmate is controlled 24/7,
this may prevent inmates from developing the adequate skills needed once they reenter the
community)
2. Pursuing of specific goals (split personality of corrections— balance between protection
society by imprisoning offenders and preparing offenders for when they are released back
into the community)
Static
Dynamic
Fixed security apparatus in a correctional
institution, including fixed security posts
wherein correctional officers are assigned to
and remain in a specific are, EXAMPLE: court
room
Variety of ongoing and minimal interactions
between staff and inmates
!39
Document Summary
Lecture 10: corrections & correctional institutions monday 26th. Chapter 11: correctional facilities: over the past 150 years, correctional use has shown no decline, canada"s first penitentiary emerged in 1830"s (kingston penitentiary closed in 2013) Influenced by: developments in the us overcrowding in the local jails because of lack of classification view that corporal punishment was improper and degrading. Aboriginals, poor, and persons with mental illness: challenges to provide needs of inmates and prepare them for community reentry. Frequent use of death penalty (before classical school ideology outlandish punishment don"t do much to detain criminality. Predominant view was spiritualism: reform movement, shift from torture and capital punishment toward reform (example: decapitations and hangings in public, elephant justice, etc. , enlightenment era: realization that personal punishment did very little, sinners should do penance. Penitentiaries: 1st prisons in north america (early 1800s, 2 models of prisons.
