Grave injustices and Gaping Faults in Prison Setups

Prison is a segregated setting where criminals are detained in isolation while they await the end of their sentences or the completion of the rehabilitation process. Mr. Smith is a notable person who unfortunately suffers at the hands of the jail administration. He is known to have a productive personality, be a three-sport captain, and graduate from high school as covaledictorian. By chance, he was named a National Merit Scholar. In addition to earning a doctorate in philosophy, he collaborated with others to cofound a charter school. He nearly managed to get to Congress but that was to be crowned with the opportunity that he was endowed with when he represented his populace in the State Senate at the tender age of thirty-two. The various aspects of the prison system will be revisited and the negative externalities of the same are determined in order to create awareness on the measures that need to be direly embraced in a bid to rectify the situation before things go haywire (Gilson, Erinn).

The jailbirds face myriad challenges in their moments behind the bars. The individuals are held in different secluded places depending on the varied factors that the prison authorities hold in high esteem. Such conditions present immense challenges to the inmates such that they fail to have the peace of mind to conduct themselves with decorum and some sense of self-esteem because of the fact that they feel marginalized and suppressed in their operation. The social structure of the inmates was stratified based on the environment where one lived. There was the section that was upstairs that was predominantly occupied by young blacks and it was ever noisy for the better part of the time. It was chiefly termed as the “ghetto penthouse” or the “projects”. The first-floor area was fairly whiter, older, and much tranquil in most cases. It was often called the “suburbs”. That kind of segregation acted as one of the debilitating factors that enhanced further strive and fuss within the prison facility due to the rift that keeps widening as a result of poor integration among the inmates. The differences that arise between the inmates worsens when the individuals are shifted from one area to the other and that notion is superimposed by the sour relationship that broods between Smith and Mr. Red. This culminates into the point where they cannot agree as in the time when Red gangs up with his fellows in a bid to block Smith from accessing his picture and other personal effects (Banfield, Jillian C. et al.).

The inmates have the inalienable right to access accessories that help them in their physical exercises. This, in turn, helps them keep fit and avoid them developing some element of laxity. The most unfortunate aspect is that the majority of the prison authorities attempt to deprive the inmates of that opportunity by ensuring that the facilities are kept at bay. Despite that, the inmates try to devise ways and means on how they can maneuver their ways in striving to keep fit. They use rudimentary materials in the process so that they can suffice for the inadequacy. The weight-lifting feats that they undertake enable them to achieve their various aspirations especially for those who crave to impress ladies after the completion of their jail terms. The move to deny the inmates the chance to get facilitation for their recreational activities is a grand violation of the law and the fundamental human rights since that contravenes the normal course of the law (Bosio, Alberto). Deprivation of the capacity to access facilitation equipment to the prisoners is a clear indicator that the prisoner facilities are not up to the task to rehabilitate the inmates fully.

The visiting sessions are in direct and stringent and strict control of the prison facilities. The inmates are faced with gross grievous challenges in trying to get to in contacts with their kith and kin because of the restrictions and restraints from the authorities. The inmates are not supposed to mention a word to anyone concerning any visit from the relatives. Failure to that attracts dire penalties from the administration. The individual who happens to pass the word of any such visit is bound to be taken to SHU and then denied the ability to get in touch with the outside world. That is the gross violation of the fundamental human rights. The inmates should be given the freedom to interact and intimate with their relatives for a good deal of time. That is geared towards trying to enable them to recover fully from their misdemeanor and hence be rehabilitated. The full interaction with their people enables them to eradicate some deleterious characteristics in them which emerge as vices (Hamrouni, Naïma). The exchange of niceties and intimacies enables them to lead a normal life just like other people who are living in freedom. They get to assume a position that makes them avoid the probability of one becoming social misfits and hence integrates well with both the human and physical environment. The situation whereby the children are not offered the opportunity to spend enough time with their incarcerated parents is a great injustice and violation of the rights of children. The physical manhandling of the children by the prison wardens (COs) is a great abuse of the rights of children since they have the right to get parental care despite the prevailing circumstances. There are conditions when the inmates are forced to bribe the authorities so that they can allow the inmates to get some favors such as cigars or rather the increment of the time that is required for a given visit. The kickbacks have become the major undoing in the authorities in charge of the welfare of the inmates (Gilliat-Ray, Sophie).

Some individuals preferred not receive visitors because of the trauma and challenges that they were subjected to whenever they find themselves in such situations. They dreaded the idea of the prison systems locking them up in isolated and secluded places like brutes. The inhumane way that the authorities dealt with them unleashed a good deal of terror and fear on them such that they avoided any aspect that could expose them to such unfortunate situations. The hostile environment that exists in the place makes the process of rehabilitation a pipe dream since the conditions prevailing are not enabling. The prisoners keep jostling in the prison facilities in throngs and throngs whereby the substandard facilities available prove to be insufficient for the prison population. The funds that are allocated and released to the authorities are misappropriated or embezzled such that the services that are accorded to inmates tend to be shoddy and far below par (Vanderhoff, Holly et al.). Such situations tend to raise numerous queries as to how the prison conditions could be improved given the debilitating and appalling state that transpire in the prison systems. The poor sanitation and hygiene that occur in the prisons jeopardize the life of inmates since that environmental condition encourages the proliferation of pathogens and parasites that act as the paratenic hosts and source of diseases. The inmates incur a lot of losses as a result of the cost that they incur in providing the medical care and other health sectors.

The mode of confinement in cells is taken to be the most brutal and ill-advised by the majority of the stakeholders. It is said that the availability of technology should help in avoiding solitary confinement in cells. That is because the parents are physically withdrawn from their children and hence the children are denied to opportunity to bask in the parental care. The children tend to grow in an environment that has poor nurturing and that makes them grow into irresponsible and heartless individuals of the society because of lack of sufficient love and care from parents. The children sometimes become delinquents and then shift from their homes to the streets where they lead a vagabond life. They adopt weird and bad characters that break out of the norms and ethics. The children eventually join their parents behind bars in situations where they find themselves in bad books. The fact that the world is a cycle ensures that the vicious cycle of challenges such as poverty is propagated with time (Nweke, Joshua O., and Benjamine Okorie Ajah). The society finds itself in a murky business where it is faced with the challenge of trying to rehabilitate individuals who are the very product of neglect as a result of their parents getting themselves into cells. The entire fabric of the society is marred due to the poor social integration of the members. The government encounters with challenges of how to arrest the situation before the situations get out of hand. The cost incurred in trying to control the menace should have been channeled into developing other sectors of the economy. The prison authorities should embrace the home confinement which is electronically monitored or the application of work release for the offenders who have been indicted for the first time. That will help offset the congested cells and also help reduce the numerous cases of indiscipline that are exacerbated by the children who are reared by either a single parent or without parents.

Conclusion

There are the majority of inmates who are faced with challenges where they happen to have incompetent lawyers who portray traits that are discouraging. They are said to be sleeping during the sessions and some of them have little or no knowledge of their profession. They only feign working for their clients while they do so with a view to mint money from their clients while offering substandard services. They work with a good deal of recklessness since they act as if their core function is to entertain the prosecutors (Ferreira, S et al.). The lawyers do not represent their clients well since they do not give the task the gravity and seriousness it deserves. The massive numbers of inmates in the cells is the culmination of the lazy habits of the lawyers. The efficient mastery of the dynamics of the law and the tasks that pertain to the legal process is a boon in trying to wipe out the issues that have impacted the increment in the cases of congestion in jails. There should be measures that should be put in place to ensure that the injustices and faults found in prisons are eradicated.

























Works Cited

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