• Research Paper on:
    U.S. Prison System/State, Federal

    Number of Pages: 4

     

    Summary of the research paper:

    A 4 page research paper that describes the state and federal prison systems in the US. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

    Name of Research Paper File: KL9_khuspris.rtf

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    Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
    History and purpose: State prison system are based on the paradigm of the nineteenth-century penitentiary, which was influenced by the "legal reform of the...Age of Enlightenment" (Foster, 2006, p. 121).  Penitentiaries were viewed as a "more humane" alternative to the death penalty, as well as the other corporal punishment prevalent at the time (Foster, 2006, p. 121). In the North  and Midwest, the "industrial prison" predominated, while in the South, the "agricultural prison" was more prevalent (Foster, 2006, pp. 121-122). The federal prison system became official in 1930, when the  Federal Bureau of Prisons was created. Before that date, there were federal prisons, but no central authority to manage them. The first federal prison was opened in the 1890s, but  federal prisoners were typically held within state and local facilities. A federal prison system was needed as overcrowding at the state level became a problem (Foster, 2006). Growth:  Both state and federal prisons have grossly overcrowded. In 2001, state prisons were "operating between 1 percent and 16 percent above capacity" and, on average, federal prisons were "31 percent  above their rated capacity" (Foster, 2006, p. 121). This overcrowding exists despite the vast expansion of the prison system at both the state and federal levels. The prison population is  largely attributable the "War on Drugs," which has tripled the number of inmates held since the 1980s (Foster, 2006). However, since 2000, the increase in inmates as slowed, as the  state increase in prison population for 2002 was 12,000 new inmates, for the year, which compares to the earlier growth rate of 1,000 to 1,500 new inmates every week (Foster,  2006). The federal system modernized under the administration of Norman Carlson throughout the 1960s and 70s and he oversaw the expansion of the system, which had been "stable in 

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