in news that will shock no one, MS prisons are horrible

[dead0man]

link

The Mississippi prison under the most scrutiny is the state’s most notorious, the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, where since July 2019, seven prisoners have been killed by fellow inmates. In the prior eight years, there were four inmate killings.

The current violence comes after years of neglect by state officials, who allowed conditions at Parchman to deteriorate after federal courts ended oversight of the facility in 2011.

The prison’s descent has put at risk the safety of corrections officers, the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars of Mississippi taxpayer funds and the health of the inmates the state is charged with protecting, MCIR and ProPublica found.

Inmates described themselves as being prey to prison gangs who control the supply of contraband drugs and weapons, bedding, food and cellphones. Photographs and videos reviewed by the news organizations show the most dangerous inmates, identified by their red-and-white striped uniforms, walking freely outside their cells, with no guards in sight.

One video from an inmate shows a prisoner being strangled to death while other inmates cheered the killing. Another shows maximum-security detainees freely roamed hallways, beating and threatening others. In yet another video, inmates escape a dilapidated building by walking out an open door.

Corrections officials last year failed to fill hundreds of positions available for guards. In a Sept. 6 email obtained by MCIR, a correctional officer, Terrence Shaw, told state lawmakers how dangerous it had become working in Unit 29, Parchman’s maximum-security unit.

A building at Unit 29 that should have at least five officers had only two, and some buildings had only one, he wrote. “The National Guard army should have been called in several years ago.”

In the end, state police responded to this uprising at Parchman, and corrections officials responded by moving inmates to other prisons.

[PSOL]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

[Indy Texas]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

If that were true, then only people who had committed violent crimes would be in prison.

[PSOL]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

If that were true, then only people who had committed violent crimes would be in prison.

On that note, both deterrence theory and that anything handed out by our justice system is fair has been disproven further then expecting a dead horse to get up and run on its own.

[Santander]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

If that were true, then only people who had committed violent crimes would be in prison.

Um, it is true? How does it not protect people from the actions of drug dealers, fraudsters, thieves, corrupt officials, etc?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

If that were true, then only people who had committed violent crimes would be in prison.

On that note, both deterrence theory and that anything handed out by our justice system is fair has been disproven further then expecting a dead horse to get up and run on its own.

The lower crime rates we are experiencing, and have been experiencing since the 1990s have coincided with a time where we have been incarcerating people for longer terms, with more mandatory minimum sentences being imposed.  The push back against this comes from the fact that many states are now feeling the fiscal crunch of incarcerating people at greater rates and for longer periods, but the idea that this policy doesn't prevent crime is utterly ridiculous.  A robber in a penitentiary isn't an immediate threat to a law-abiding citizen.

None of the above should be construed as an endorsement of Draconian sentencing, but a key argument made by those who wish to maintain Draconian sentencing laws is that the crime rate has, indeed, gone down, and that fact needs to be addressed.  I certainly believe that there should be expenditures spent to affirmatively improve the employability of inmates, and have a better process to transition from prison to a job.  That assumes, however, that prisoners want a job, want stable employment, and are willing and able to do what is necessary to maintain stable employment once they are no longer incarcerated (although many do).

Mississippi's prisons likely need massive overhauls.  Overcrowding needs to be alleviated, and there's no reason many sentences could not be commuted to probation.  Prisons are not places where people "go to be punished"; prison confinement, itself, is the punishment.  Prisoners should be treated with a reasonable amount of dignity, but there are, indeed, many in prison who are beyond responding to such treatment.  We can humanely confine our prisoners, just as surely as we can confortably house children of illegal immigrants.  These things cost money, and these expenditures need to be made.  But we don't need to pretend that prisoners are victims in order to do this.  We ought to do this because it is the right thing to do.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

If that were true, then only people who had committed violent crimes would be in prison.

Um, it is true? How does it not protect people from the actions of drug dealers, fraudsters, thieves, corrupt officials, etc?

Indy Texas appears unconcerned with the welfare of law abiding citizens.  

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

I actually agree there are such people, but the irredeemable offenders are only a part of those sent to prison. If anything the way prisons are run are only serving as criminal schools for people who are getting there for relatively lesser stuff. So rehabilitation should get more priority than it's getting now. And there are lso other way to punish/control certain type of offenders than just locking them up.

[GP270watch]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

 Most prisoners will be released so if we're actually trying to "protect the public" the current system makes no sense.

 Prisons in America are poor because they reflect some of America's most weak and glaring faults such as racism, lack of healthcare, the failed War on Drugs, and profiteering in areas that is not only inadvisable but certainly unethical.

 It's not a coincidence that one of the most historically racist and brutal states to Black Americans has one of the worst and brutal prison systems.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Prisons aren’t run for the betterment of people charged with a crime, so unless that changes, we will continue to see further barbarism behind bars.

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

That, of course, doesn't mean that Mississippi ought to up its spending on its prisons to ensure humane confinement.  If the Federal Government needs to take over Mississippi's prisons, so be it.  

 Most prisoners will be released so if we're actually trying to "protect the public" the current system makes no sense.

 Prisons in America are poor because they reflect some of America's most weak and glaring faults such as racism, lack of healthcare, the failed War on Drugs, and profiteering in areas that is not only inadvisable but certainly unethical.

 It's not a coincidence that one of the most historically racist and brutal states to Black Americans has one of the worst and brutal prison systems.

So how do we protect the public from people who commit felonious crimes?  That's a serious question. 

I'm not defending Mississippi's prison system.  They've done things on the cheap, simply because it's all too OK not to care about the basic human condition of it's prisoners.  Indeed, I very much subscribe to Fyodor Dostoyevsky's statement:  "You can judge a society by how well it treats its prisoners."  And I certainly believe in ending the existence of privatized prisons, which Mississippi utilizes.  I'm not a fan of the war on drugs, and I certainly believe that there is a degree of racial bias in the criminal justice system. 

But how do we protect law-abiding citizens from criminals.  How do we punish them in a way where society is protected while their "rehabilitation" is a work in progress?  I'm all ears on this, but there are some people that ought to go to prison for what they've done.  And not every criminal is a good candidate for probation or other community sanctions.

When I was a new substance abuse counselor in the early 1990s, I worked in a program where the clientele was sent to us from their probation and parole officers.  I thought this represented a chance to help people get sober, deal with their problems, and stay out of jail/prison.  I'll never forget this one client who told me he wasn't going to do treatment.  He wanted to go to prison and get it over with.  I thought that ridiculous, and I thought he was kidding.  I wanted to help.  He didn't want help.  He went back to court and got a short prison sentence with no probation to follow.  He was happy as a hog in slop.  I was in Court the day he was sentenced.  As the bailiff led him away after sentencing, he smiled at me.  He was genuinely happy; he got what he wanted.  He was going to suck it up for a relatively short time, and then go back to his previous life with no one looking over his shoulder. 

So how do you protect law-abiding people from felonious criminals who are not willing to take responsibility for what they do beyond taking their punishment?  What should Mississippi do to balance these two considerations? 

[Santander]

Most prisoners will be released so if we're actually trying to "protect the public" the current system makes no sense.

Of 1.3 million prisoners in state prisons, 950,000 of them are there for violent or property crimes. That isn't even including the large number of people involved in the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs. You can make arguments for all sorts of criminal justice reforms that most people would broadly agree with, but there is no argument to be made that the vast majority of inmates in prison have committed crimes that are far from victimless, and the public is, at least ostensibly, being protected.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Prisons are run, first and foremost, to protect the public from the actions of the people imprisoned, secondly, to deter others from criminal acts, and thirdly, to punish the offender and provide a degree of retribution to the victim(s) of the crime(s).  Rehabilitation is the fourth purpose of a correctional system, but that purpose is subordinate to the other three purposes.  As it should be.  Some people cannot be fitted to live law-abiding lives, but those that have deserve protection from those that won't.

I actually agree there are such people, but the irredeemable offenders are only a part of those sent to prison. If anything the way prisons are run are only serving as criminal schools for people who are getting there for relatively lesser stuff. So rehabilitation should get more priority than it's getting now. And there are lso other way to punish/control certain type of offenders than just locking them up.

What do you think those other ways are?