Supermax Prisons - Problem or Solution Research Paper

Supermax Prisons - Problem or Solution - Research Paper Example Supermax prisons assist in general protection of prison staff members and inmate populations. Jurisdictions using Supermax Instituions During the past two decades Super-max prisons were rare in the United States. This is contrary to current situation where two-thirds of states have implemented the use of supermax facilities with capacity of housing as many inmates as possible. According to King (1999), supermax prisons accommodated approximately 20,000 inmates a figure estimated to be close to 2% of total federal and state inmates with different service sentences. By the year 1999, almost two-thirds of states adopted supermax prisons. However, survey by National Institute of Corrections (NIC) in 1996, indicated that in 1984, a single prison was used as supermax facility. The constitution provided for legislative branch which formed the first part of the Constitution indicating the existence of Congress consisting of House of Representatives and Senate. The two branches performed diff erent tasks. Congress performed tasks such as collection of taxes, regulation of Commerce, defense amongst others (Lowi et al, 2010). There was the Executive, Legislature and the judicial branches of government. The executive comprises of the President, while the judicial branch was endowed with the responsibility of checking for democracy and guarding against interference with liberty and property. The constitution at the same time provided for national Unity and power amongst American citizens and all states. The process of amending the constitution was provided for in Article V with article VII providing for rules for ratification of the document (Lowi et al, 2010). Arguments for and against Proponents of supermax institutions argue that the rate of toughness as exhibited by the inmate population, increased gang activities as well as various difficulties government encounter in the process of maintaining order within severely crowded prisons encourages the use of supermax facilit ies. Further, proponents of supermax facilities view the kind of harshness within the facility from positive perspective since such conditions prevents other inmates from indulging in further criminal activities within prisons. At the same time, they support order and safety as crucial part in management of prisons (Riveland, 1999). The modern-day supermax prisons is a replica for concentration model, which promotes creation of specific units capable of managing specified hardcore inmates, Alcatraz was one of such institution. However, it was closed by Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and replaced with new, specialized high-security prison located in Marion, IIIinois. The levels of violence and assaults against prison staff and other inmates increased in early 1970s (King, 1999). Due such cases, opponents argue on the presence of so many negative elements resulting from such institutions. However, such agreement ignored the nature of cooperation on the ground at the presence of all organizat ions making any meetings on the political and security domain informal. From economic perspective, building and operations of supermax prisons costs higher compared to traditional maximum security prisons. At the same time, there is less evidence on whether the institutions lead towards improvement of in-mate behavior throughout prison systems. There is also no evidence on wheth