week 10 (test #3) Flashcards
What was the first prison constructed in Canada?
Kingston Penitentiary was the first (1835-2013)
- large fence line with gun towers - very linear design
> Royal Commission (1848) - to investigate the state and management of the prison
> Prison Inspectors (1880)
What was the post WW2 shift in prison tactics?
Shift toward treatment and away from containment
- also shift in design structure (shifting away from the linear design from before)
- vocational training, education, therapeutic strategies, etc.
- more rehabilitative focus
- peaked in the 1960s
- now we’re kind of starting to shift back towards this simple and secure linear block style from before WW2
How many federal and provincial custody centres are there in Canada?
More than 50 federal penitentiaries/facilities and 100 provincial custody centres
What are the 3 different general designs of the prison?
Pennsylvania
- full separation
- based on isolation because of the data showing recidivism is connected to criminal associations in custody
Auburn
- group interaction during the day, separation at night
Moral
- order and morality (routine/structure)
- discipline and punish
- more militaristic routines - trying to fix them through high discipline
*grains of truth / things that work in each of these models
Explain the static and dynamic models of prisons (pros and cons?)
Static (Remote Podular)
- officers observe at a distance, using containment and technology to control movement and access
- could manage the population from one control centre/pod
- remote pod so that you don’t even see them surveilling you
- static because of minimal movement
- US is kind of moving back to this style
- Advantage - cheap - can have only a few officers
Dynamic (Direct Supervision)
- officers observe and interact closely with inmates, usually accompanied by centralized observation
- still have control pods but there would be officers living among the prisoners
- Advantage - more nuanced - have a more holistic idea of what’s going on, idea is that you see issues before they happen, can react faster
- Cons: risk and cost go up
What are the physical designs often reflected with Static and Dynamic prison models?
Static: linear/block
Dynamic: wheels/panoptics and dorms
What is Unit based management in prisons?
*Continuity of supervision - a relatively consistent group of staff implementing case management strategies with a relatively consistent group of inmates
- hard because you need a stable inmate population, can’t have officers taking off work all the time
What is the Panopticon design? Who developed it and what was the goal?
It consists of a central tower for guards, surrounded by a ring-shaped building of prison cells
Panopticon design was developed by Jeremy Bentham (1785) in England
Goal: self-regulation (mirrored cells)
- Utilitarian > maximizing surveillance with minimal resources
What is the extreme remote podular prison example?
Extreme example = Presidio Modelo, in Cuba
- panopticon design with the officers in a middle lighthouse column
- could house a huge amount of prisoners
- each cell is mirrored - don’t know who is watching so the idea is that prisoners will self-regulate their own behaviour
What is an example of direct supervision to the extreme?
Some jails put officer’s work spaces directly into the open living areas in the jails - epitome of direct supervision
What are the 2 sure signs of a general population inmate cell?
- porcelain toilet > sign of low security because inmates could easily break it and use the pieces
- 2 bunks in a cell > roommates suggest low security
What are some cell characteristics of a linear block prison design?
- long, straight layered rows of cells > easy to walk by and monitor the row
- barred cells so that officers can see floor to ceiling when walking by
What are the Guiding Principles of correctional centres
- The Rule of Law:
- Correctional Service of Canada and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) - Regional Leadership
- Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA - 12-17)
- Prison and Reformatories Act (PRA)
- Provincial legislation (ex. correctional services act & regulation) - Fair Treatment
- A sentence of imprisonment is used AS punishment, not FOR punishment
- jail itself is the punishment - not going to get punished
Difference between an Act vs. Regulation?
Act = highest level guide
Regulation = specific direction - more operational
What do Federal Penitentiaries include? What are some specific characteristics of them?
- for sentences of 2 years or more
Includes: Penitentiaries, halfway houses, healing lodges, treatment centres, parole offices, psychiatric hospitals, assessment centres, health care centres, palliative units, and addiction units
*greater use of strict risk separation (minimum, medium, maximum) > and with more resources they’re able to partition the population differently and more distinctly
*integration with private service providers like John Howard Society, Elizabeth Fry Society, etc.
What do Provincial Custody Centres include?
- for sentence of 2 years, less a day (+ remand - pretrial - custody)
- most house remand, sentenced, and dual status inmates - subject to diverse and integrated security levels
> specialized units/sub-units for risk separation with blended and transitional housing
Approximately ___% of custody sentences are provincial
___% spend less than a week in confinement
___% spend less than a month in confinement
96%
30%
60%
What are some of the unique problems with Provincial Custody Centres?
- overcrowding and staffing shortages
- churn of inmates > difficult to do meaningful casework, unit based management, and direct supervision
- mostly can’t separate risk levels - everyone blended in a dynamic way
- mixed risk means you don’t want them to be on break at the same time which means prisoners spending more time locked in their cells - inmates now suing province for segregating them unnecessarily
What is the Total Institution idea?
Total Institution - a place of residence and work, where a group is mostly severed from wider society and domestic life, leading to an enclosed and formally administered round of life > all aspects of daily life occur in the same place
- can be jails, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, etc.
What are some examples of prison culture from a total institution perspective?
(which model is best at cutting through these cultures)
Underlife > including undercover communications (argot), gestural language, currencies, hierarchies, and codes (unspoken norms)
ex. “skinner” = sexual assaulters
Using materials at hand through the standard vulnerabilities of the prison environment (ex. tattooing)
Status Degradation Ceremonies > stripping possessions and identity symbols which initially lowers status > status can be regained through new situated roles and the unofficial claims on others (ex. muscling - forcing your way to power)
*Direct supervision can kind of cut through these aspects better than remote podular
What is meant by pains of imprisonment?
Deprivations involving the loss of privacy, autonomy, and other freedoms (relate to a total institution idea)
- more intense in federal than provincial - federal has way less privacy
Define the Incarcerated Person Subculture
Patterns of interaction and relationships among incarcerated persons
Define Prisonization
Socialization into the norms, values, and culture of the prison
Define Institutionalization
What are two cases where this is more likely to happen?
Prisonization that leads to the inability to transition to external community life
- Talking about independence with prisoners who have been under supervision their whole lives can be really difficult
> state-raised - incarcerated persons who have spent most of their youth and adult lives in confinement
long terms of incarcerations (ex. lifers)
