SOC 1500 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Millhaven Institution, Regional Reception Centre, Sex Offender
1 Jun 2018
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SOC 1500
CHAPTER 12
INSTITUTIONAL CORRECTIONS
Introduction
• Prison misconduct
o Violation of the rules of a correctional facility that are often classified as major or minor
misconduct
• Many inmates have problems with addictions, mental, and physical health disorders, histories of
unemployment, a lack of stability in their lives, and unhealthy family relationships
A Short History of Institutional Corrections
• Most minor offences were fined or subject to physical or corporal punishments
o Being whipped or bonded or put in stocks or pillories
• Stocks
o Woode oards that are used to restrai a perso’s legs, leaig a idiidual i a
sitting position on the ground
• Pillories
o Woode oards that ere used to ioilize a perso’s ek ad ars, forig the
individual to stand for hours or days
• Floggings
o Public whippings of offenders who committed more serious offences
• Policy makers experimented with different forms of non-capital punishments
o Banishing offenders to penal colonies
▪ Australia
• Harsh conditions
• Inmates were forced to engage in hard labour
• Penitentiaries
o Castle like structures surrounded with stone walls nine meters high
o Most expensive structure in the nation
o Inside the prison
▪ Living units
• Where prisoners live in a facility, featuring cells that surround an area
used for dining and recreation
o Silent system
▪ Prisoners were held in solitary confinement and were forbidden to talk to other
prisoners or guards outside their cells
▪ Prisoners were expected to reform themselves through silent reflection
o Isolation and living conditions caused many prisoners to development mental health
problems
o Big house prisons
▪ A style of high-seurity prisos that eerged i the ’s ad featured large
stone buildings surrounded by high stone fences
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Early Jails and Detention Faculties in Canada
• Gaols
o Historic term for jails
• Police lock-ups
o Police cells, which temporarily hold arrestees until their next court appearance
• Makeshift structures
o Originally intended for something else
• Workhouses
o Places where poor and persons with mental illnesses were given basic necessities in
return for work
• Psychiatric hospitals
o For those with mental illnesses who had been held in correctional facilities
Provincial and Territorial Corrections
• 177 provincial and territorial correctional facilities in Canada
• Majority of inmates served less than a month behind bars
• Correctional centre activities are based on keeping inmates constructively occupied
o Supervised work programs
o Institutional chores
o Building maintenance
o Preparing meals
• Longer sentences
o Literary courses
o Addiction education
o Employment
o Vocational training
o Life skills courses
• Sexual offenders
o Placed in specialized treatment programs
Characteristics of Provincial Correctional Centre Inmates
• Most inmates held on minor offences
o Impaired driving, trespassing, wilful damage, common assaults, or public intoxication
o Often poor and had substance abuse problems
• Increased number of persons accused of committing serious and violent crimes
• Increase in number of gang-involved inmates
• Increase in misconduct and violence
• 15-20% of individuals police encounter are persons with mental illnesses
• Over 2/3 were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when arrested
• Individuals first admission to a correctional facility is stressful
o Can worsen existing mental health problems
o Many are suffering from depression, borderline personality disorders, and schizophrenia
• Can suffer from physical health-related problems at a higher rate than the general population
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o HIV, AIDS, hepatitis
• Women have a greater need for mental health services
o Stress of being arrested
o Mother being separated from their families
o Pregnant or have recently given birth
The Establishment of Canadian Penitentiaries
• First prison was the Kingston Penitentiary
o Used the silent system of imprisonment
• Closed systems
o A type of prison administration where there was little interaction with the community
o Most self-sufficient
▪ Prisoners grew crops, raised animals for food, built furniture and fixtures
needed for the institutions
▪ Power was often generated on site
▪ Reduced interactions with outsiders ad lowered operating costs
▪ Downside
• Activities occurring within these facilities lacked external scrutiny or
oversight and this lead to abusive treatment of prisoners
• Report of the Royal Commission to Investigate the Penal System of Canada
o Changes to the federal prison system
o Prisoners be administered centrally
o Prisoners receive better access to education, recreation, and materials for hygiene
o Separating persons with mental illness from those in the general prison population
• Archambault Commission
o Protection of society
o Safe custody of inmates
o Strict but humane discipline
o Reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners
Prisoner Characteristics
• In order to respond to the divers needs of the institutional population, they operate in 5 regions
o Atlantic, Ontario, Quebec, Prairies, and Pacific
o Include 4 aboriginal healing lodges
o One high security special handling unit to manage the most dangerous offenders in a
super-maximum security setting
• Most federal offenders are males
• Most federal offenders have at least 1 violent offence in their sentence
• Rest are split between drug and all other offences
• Housing so many violent offenders may contribute to higher numbers of prison homicides
Institutional Safety and Security Through Facility Design
• Big house model
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Inmates were forced to engage in hard labour: penitentiaries, castle like structures surrounded with stone walls nine meters high, most expensive structure in the nation. Isolation and living conditions caused many prisoners to development mental health problems: big house prisons, a style of high-se(cid:272)urity priso(cid:374)s that e(cid:373)erged i(cid:374) the (cid:1005)(cid:1012)(cid:1004)(cid:1004)"s a(cid:374)d featured large stone buildings surrounded by high stone fences. Provincial and territorial corrections: 177 provincial and territorial correctional facilities in canada, majority of inmates served less than a month behind bars, correctional centre activities are based on keeping inmates constructively occupied, supervised work programs. Longer sentences: literary courses, addiction education, employment, vocational training, life skills courses, sexual offenders, placed in specialized treatment programs. Characteristics of provincial correctional centre inmates: most inmates held on minor offences. Impaired driving, trespassing, wilful damage, common assaults, or public intoxication: often poor and had substance abuse problems. Increased number of persons accused of committing serious and violent crimes.
