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Encyclopedia > Prison system
Prison cell

A prison is a place in which people are confined and deprived of a range of liberties. Prisons conventionally are institutions authorized by governments and forming part of a country's criminal justice system, or as facilities for holding prisoners of war. A prison system is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons. Picture from http://hrc. ... Picture from http://hrc. ... Statue of Liberty - Liberty is one meaning of freedom. For proper-noun uses of Freedom, see Freedom (disambiguation). ... The study of criminal justice traditionally revolves around three main components of the criminal justice system: police courts corrections Nowadays, it is sometimes argued that psychiatry is also a central part of the criminal justice system. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...


There are a variety of other names for prisons, such as a prison-house, penitentiary or jail (in British English, sometimes spelled gaol although pronounced in the same fashion). There are, too, many colloquial terms for prisons - such as beantown, can, clink, cooler, hoosegow, lockup, lockdown and slammer—and imprisonment—doing time, bird, porridge. Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ... Slang is the non-standard use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ...


However, in the United States at least, jail is generally used for facilities where inmates are locked up for a relatively short time (either while awaiting trial or serving a sentence of one year or less upon conviction for a misdemeanor), while prison and penitentiary typically denote a place where inmates go to serve long terms after having been found guilty of a felony. In Massachusetts, some jails are known as houses of correction. In Washington some adult prisons are called reformatories, while in other states this is reserved as a term for a prison of the juvenile justice system. Misdemeanors are lesser criminal acts which are generally punished less severely than felonies; but more so than infractions. ... A felony, in many common law legal systems, is the term for a very serious crime; misdemeanors are considered to be less serious. ... State nickname: Bay State Other U.S. States Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney Official languages English Area 27,360 km² (44th)  - Land 20,317 km²  - Water 7,043 km² (25. ... State nickname: The Evergreen State Other U.S. States Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Governor Christine Gregoire Official languages None Area 184,824 km² (18th)  - Land 172,587 km²  - Water 12,237 km² (6. ...

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Prisons in the criminal justice system

In the domain of criminal justice, prisons are used to incarcerate convicted criminals, but also to house those charged with or likely to be charged with offences. Custodial sentences are sanctions authorised by law for a range of offences. A court may order the incarceration of an individual found guilty of such offences. Individuals may also be committed to prison by a court before a trial, verdict or sentence, generally because the court determines that there is a risk to society or a risk of absconding prior to a trial; such pre-trial imprisonment is known as remand. The possibility and maximal duration of remand vary between jurisdictions. for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ... A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard. ... In law, a verdict indicates the judgment of a case before a court of law. ... In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ... This article is about the concept of risk. ... Remand is the imprisonment of suspects awaiting trial or sentencing. ...


The availability of incarceration as a sanction is designed to mitigate against the likelihood of individuals committing offences: thus prisons are in part about the punishment of individuals who transgress statutory boundaries. Prisons also can serve to protect society, by removing individuals likely to pose a risk to others. Prisons also can have a rehabilitative role in seeking to change the nature of individuals so as to reduce the probability that they will reoffend upon release.


The nature of prisons and of prison systems varies from country to country. Common though by no means universal attributes are segregation by sex, and by category of risk.


Crime and punishment is a wide, very controversial and deeply politicised area, and so too are discussions of prisons, prison systems, the concepts and practices of imprisonment; and the sanction of custody set against other non-custodial sanctions and against the capital sanction, a death sentence. Some of these issues are discussed in the by country descriptions, below. Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ...


Military Prisons

Prisons form part of military systems, and are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime. See Military Prison. Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... Unlawful combatant (also illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant) describes a person who engages in combat without meeting the requirements for a lawful belligerent according to the laws of war as specified in the Third Geneva Convention. ... Almost every modern state-level military operates some type of military prison system. ...


Political prisons

Certain countries maintain or have in the past had a system of political prisons; arguably the gulags associated with Stalinism are best known. The definition of what is and is not a political crime and a political prison is, of course, highly controversial, and critics can be found to rebut the suggestion that any of the following are political prisons: Gulag (from the Russian ГУЛАГ: Главное Управление Исправительно— Трудовых Лагерей, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps) was the branch of the Soviet internal police and security service that operated the penal system of forced labour camps and associated detention and transit camps... Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ...

HM Prison Maze (known colloqually as The Maze) is a disused prison sited at the former RAF station at Long Kesh (it is still called Long Kesh by many Irish Republicans) near Lisburn, nine miles outside Belfast, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. ... The word internment is generally used to refer to the imprisonment or confinement of people without due process of law and a trial. ... Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... Map of Cuba with location of Guantánamo Bay indicated. ... The Taliban (Pashtun and Persian: طالبان; students of Islam), also transliterated as Taleban, is an Islamist movement which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, despite having diplomatic recognition from only three countries: the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. ... Al-Qaeda (Arabic: القاعدة, the foundation or the base) is the name given to a worldwide network of militant Islamist organizations under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. ... The War on terrorism or War on terror is a global effort by the governments of several countries (primarily the United States and its principal allies) to neutralize international groups it deems as terrorist (primarily radical Islamist terrorist groups, including al-Qaida) and insure rogue nations no longer support terrorist... Major controversy over U.S. presidential election, 2000 September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing over 3000 people. ...

World prison populations

Over nine million people are imprisoned worldwide. The prison population in most countries increased significantly beginning in the 1990's.


By country, the United States prison population is the world's largest in absolute terms, at more than 2 million. It is second largest in relative numbers with 701 people per 100,000 incarcerated; only in Rwanda, where as of 2002, over 100,000 people were held on suspicion of participation in the 1994 genocide, is the relative figure larger. This article or section should be merged with Prisons in the United States The prison population of the United States is in a constant state of flux, increasing or decreasing based on a number of factors, including the number of arrests, length of prison sentences, parole, legislation to determine what... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The skulls of victims show gashes and signs of violence The Rwandan Genocide was the organized murder of up to one million Rwandans in 1994. ...


Both Russia and China (with population 5 times that of USA) also had prison populations of 1 million or more in 2002. No data are available for North Korea. [1]  (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r188.pdf), [2] (http://www.prisonstudies.org/)


The UK had 73,000 inmates in its facilities in 2003, with France and Germany having a similar number. Each of both countries has approximately 1/5 of the population of the United States.


Prisons in the United Kingdom

For information on prisons and related subjects in the United Kingdom, see articles on Her Majesty's Prison Service, on the United Kingdom prison population and the List of United Kingdom prisons. Also see house arrest. Her Majestys Prison Service is the British Executive Agency reporting to the Home Office tasked with managing many of the prisons within the United Kingdom. ... The United Kingdom has one of the highest rates of incarceration in western Europe: on average 109 people in every 100,000 are in prison, but far short of the 702 per 100,000 in the United States. ... This page lists all current and a number of historical prisons in the United Kingdom. ... In justice and law, house arrest is the situation where a person is confined (by the authorities) to his or her house, possibly with travel allowed but restricted. ...

Enlarge
Gatehouse of former 19th century St Albans prison

Gatehouse of former St Albans Prison. ... Gatehouse of former St Albans Prison. ... St Albans (thus spelt, no apostrophe or dot) is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in southern Hertfordshire, England, around 22 miles (35. ...

Prisons in the United States

See Prisons in the United States

The USA has the highest publicly-known incarceration rate in the world - though other nations (such as North Korea), which do not release incarceration statistics, may exceed it. ...

See also

This page provides a list of Prisons by country. ... Most prisons are operated by government agencies. ... A county jail is a place of detention for people awaiting trial, or for those who have been convicted of a misdemeanor and are serving a sentence of less than one year. ... Remand is the imprisonment of suspects awaiting trial or sentencing. ... A penal colony is a colony used to house prisoners. ... Penology (from the Latin poena, punishment) comprises penitentiary science: that concerned with the processes devised and adopted for the punishment, repression and prevention of crime. ... Prison abolition movement is a movement which goal is abolition of prison system either as it exists today or complete elimination of all freedom depriving institutions including prisons, jails, immigration detention centers, war camps, etc. ... In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away of a person against the persons will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment (confinement without legal authority) for ransom or in furtherance of another crime. ... This article or section should be merged with Prisons in the United States The prison population of the United States is in a constant state of flux, increasing or decreasing based on a number of factors, including the number of arrests, length of prison sentences, parole, legislation to determine what... Life imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. ... Panopticon blueprint by Jeremy Bentham, 1791 Morals reformed - health preserved - industry invigorated instruction diffused - public burthens lightened - Economy seated, as it were, upon a rock - the gordian knot of the Poor-Laws are not cut, but untied - all by a simple idea in Architecture!- Jeremy Bentham[1] The Panopticon is... Prison education involves vocational training or academic education supplied to prisoners as part of their rehabilitation and preparation for life outside prison. ... Anton Praetorius (Lippstadt 1560 – 6 December 1613 near Heidelberg in Laudenbach/Bergstrasse), Protestant pastor and fighter against the persecution of witches (witchhunts, witchcraft trials) and against torture. ...

Levels of imprisonment

  • Minimum security-Where very sincere inmates go, knowing they can be trusted
  • Supermax-The highest level of imprisonment

The highest level of imprisonment. ...

Further reading

Peter Kropotkin Prince Peter Alexeevich Kropotkin (In Russian Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин) (December 9, 1842 - February 8, 1921) was one of Russias foremost anarchists and one of the first advocates of what he called anarchist communism: the model of society he advocated for most of his life was that of... For the British politician of the same name, see: George Jackson (MP) George Jackson (September 23, 1941 - August 21, 1971) was a Black American radical who was a member of the Black Panther Party. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison Statistics (2019 words)
Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005, 5/06.
Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2004, 4/05.
Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2003, 5/04.
Prison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (3780 words)
Prisons are conventionally institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country, such that imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime.
Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and "enemies of the state", particularly by authoritarian regimes.
Prisons form part of military systems, and are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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