Learning target: I can construct complex sentences that express complex ideas

Are prisons really helping?

What are the purpose of prisons? Prisons are there to protect people from those
who have broken the laws that we have created to keep a safe community. Imprison
ment is, of course, only one element in a larger process designed to deal with o
ffenders (arrest, detention, trial, conviction, imprisonment etc. and then rel
ease). With such a large process that is involved in putting a single person in
prison, why are they just sitting in a cell with little to no attention? prison
serves as a constant threat against all who would oppose the government. The fun
ction of prison is said to be a form of correction. When individuals break laws
that uphold the common good, they need to be punished or otherwise taught to be
more socially cooperative. The first goal of the prison is to isolate people fro
m the community to create a safe environment . Safe confinement is their goal. W
hen I looked into whether the U.S prison system is effective or not I learned th
at our current prison system is faulty in many ways. First, our prisons are over
crowded and understaffed. According to the U.K.-based International Centre for P
rison Studies, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world at 756 p
er 100,000 prisoners, including juveniles as well as adults. The U.S. accounts f
or roughly a quarter of its prison population.
Prisons get too much tax money that goes into the system, which is corrupt, and
does not get spent wisely. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, the avera
ge cost of housing an inmate in the U.S. was $31,286 in 2012. We incarcerate too
many people for petty crimes and then let people who have single-handedly destr
oyed our economy walk free. For example some of the world's major banks were ch
arged for cheating out the foreign-exchange markets. The fines announced a total
of $2.8 billion dollars and none of the bankers went to jail even though this
destroyed our economy. Not only do prisons affect the community outside of priso
n, but the Prisoner also become dehumanized. They no longer have names or person
alities they are just numbers that either obey or disobey the rules. The prisone
rs not longer have a human life style. They are taught to respond to bells, whis
tles and people yelling, they do not get to form opinions or thoughts on things
other than what that go on in the prison. People are isolated into their sectio
n of the world with people of their kind, being criminals.
When I think of a prison I think that it is there to serve a form of separation,
separation between those who are good and those who are bad. This may seem like
a sort of balance because people are placed where they belong. However, how can
just one or more actions define what kind of person you are? If you say you went
to prison people are going to react out of their normal character but there rea
ction comes before they begin to ask for the reason why. I think that prisons ca
tegorize people as not normal or inhuman because they committed a crime no matte
r how severe it was. I do think that prison are necessary but the way the approa
ch the idea of punishment is all wrong. What prisons want to do is give people t
he ideals of what is okay and what isn't but they can't just imprison someone be
cause they acted out of the laws of what is socially acceptable and is not. Prison
s are there to give you a punishment for your actions, a punishment so severe th
at every little thing you do wrong makes you question yourself. That let alone
is something very difficult to deal with but then when the prisoner gets out of
jail to go and live a regular life they can't just go and pick their life back u
p and carry on doing what they were doing before. When someone gets out of priso
n there is nothing there to support them they tend to lose their community suppo
rt and it is super hard for them to get a job to support themselves. According
to a recent study by urban institute Two months after being released, 43 percent
of respondents had been employed at some point since leaving prison, but only 31
percent were currently employed. Only half of those who reported having a job l
ined up before release had worked at any point since returning to the community.
Those who had found employment had, on average, worked for about 60 percent of
the time since their release. The most common types of jobs were construction or
general manual labor (27 percent), maintenance (12 percent), and assembly line

or factory jobs (12 percent). Seventy-two percent of those employed had a full-t
ime job, and hourly wages for all jobs ranged from $2 to $80 with a median wage
of $8 per hour. Prisons create a sense of protection for the outside world this i
s essential and the only reason prisons serve a purpose.
Us prisons expect prisoners to follow their rules and regulations constructed by
the institutions but they also have to obey the laws the prisoners create thems
elves. The inmate subculture is comprised of a sort of language and a set of nor
ms, attitudes, beliefs, values, and roles that give prisoners a different perspe
ctive from people on the outside. Prisoners have a set of values and beliefs dis
tinctive to prisons that create this sub culture and define a prisoner as a pris
oner . This code creates the main laws prisoners have to follow. The code create
s a chaotic and violent image for the prisoners. The code prevents newcomers to
prison from entanglements and disputes with other prisoners. Weaker inmates who
ignore this advice often become mules for powerful predators by doing deeds for
them or tasks.
Prisons overall create this label that prisoners cannot get rid of and its benef
its are not for the prisoners but instead for the outside world. Prison could b
e very helpful for prisoners if there weren't so many people imprisoned. The pri
soners need individual time for people to help them become better people. At the
moment prison is not very successful but we still do need it, but it needs to c
hange because they need to focus on making the crime rate change overall rather
than just locking the criminals away. Prisons need to focus on helping the priso
ners and preventing further crime by supporting them rathers than outcasting the
m. If a prisoner is treated as criminal they are going the take on that stereoty
pe they are given but if a community accepts them, it encourages them to become
a better person. Overall with the amount of money it takes to house a person in
jail and the lack of individual prisoner support creates a dysfunctional system
and does not benefit the government nor the prisoners.

Learning Targets
Areas for Growth (1-3 points)
(5 points)

Meets Criteria (4 points)

Excels

Identify Latent/Manifest Functions, using evidence

I believe that I have excelled in this category because I made it very c
lear that prisons have flaws along with benefit and deeply explain how to fix th
e flaws

Analyze and logically explain whether the institution leads to balance o

r conflict
I think that I accomplished this target because I went into a very speci
fic paragraph with evidence on why prisons are leading to conflict
Identify Institutions values, norms, and sanctions, using specific evide
nce.
Meets criteria--can you find specific evidence for this?

I went over how a prison treats their prisoners and how the prisoners ar
e expected to live inside the jail with very specific detail
Clearly explains whether the institution contributes or detracts from so
ciety
Meets criteria

TEA Paragraphs
Areas for Growth (1-3 points)
(5 points)

Meets Criteria (4 points)

Excels

Topic Sentences
*States the main topic of paragraph
*Is broad and general
I stated a question with an opinionated answer at the beginning of my es
say with encourages the reader to go on
Evidence
*Are specific quotes, statistic, or example from a text or film
*Are relevant and related to the topic sentence
I used at least two pieces of ev
Analysis
*Explains why the evidence is significant
*Relates the evidence to the idea of the topic sentence
*Answers the question: So what?

Personal Writing Target

Areas for Growth (1-3 points)
(5 points)
(Copy/Paste target here)
EXCELS
FIRST DRAFT GRADE: 32/40

Meets Criteria (4 points)

Excels