Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2023, over five million people are under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.
Scared Straight! is a 1978 American documentary directed by Arnold Shapiro. Narrated by Peter Falk, the subject of the documentary is a group of juvenile delinquents and their three-hour session with actual convicts. Filmed at Rahway State Prison, a group of inmates known as the "lifers" berate, scream at, and terrify the young offenders in an attempt to "scare them straight", so that those teenagers will avoid prison life.
Prison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff. In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 4.3 million inmates had been raped while incarcerated in the United States. A United States Department of Justice report, Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, states that "In 2011–12, an estimated 4.0% of state and federal prison inmates and 3.2% of jail inmates reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff in the past 12 months or since admission to the facility, if less than 12 months." However, advocates dispute the accuracy of the numbers, saying they seem to under-report the real numbers of sexual assaults in prison, especially among juveniles.
Rehabilitation is the process of re-educating and preparing those who have committed a crime, to re-enter society. The goal is to address all of the underlying root causes of crime in order to ensure inmates will be able to live a crime-free lifestyle once they are released from prison. It generally involves psychological approaches which target the cognitive distortions associated with specific kinds of crime committed by individual offenders, but it may also entail more general education like reading skills and career training. The goal is to re-integrate offenders back into society.
The California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), previously known as the California Youth Authority (CYA), is a division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that provides education, training, and treatment services for California's most serious youth offenders. These youths are committed by the juvenile and criminal courts to DJJ's eleven correctional facilities, four conservation camps and two residential drug treatment programs. The DJJ provides services to juvenile offenders, ranging in age from twelve to 25, in facilities and on parole, and works closely with law enforcement, the courts, district attorneys, public defenders, probation offices and other public and private agencies involved with the problems of youth. The DJJ is undergoing reorganization as required by a court agreement and the California State Legislature after widespread criticisms of conditions at its youth prisons. The agency's headquarters are in Sacramento, California.
Roderrick Justin "Rod" Ferrell is an American murderer and cult leader. He was a member of a loose-knit gang of teenagers from Murray, Kentucky, known as the "Vampire Clan". Ferrell claimed to be a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago, a character he created for himself after becoming obsessed with the role playing game Vampire: The Masquerade. It was his mother, Sondra Gibson, who first introduced this game to Rod. In 1998, Ferrell pleaded guilty to the double slaying of a couple from Eustis, Florida, becoming the youngest person in Florida on Death Row at that time. Originally sentenced to death, Ferrell's penalty has since been reduced to life imprisonment.
WriteAPrisoner.com is an online Florida-based business. The business's goal is to reduce recidivism through a variety of methods that include positive correspondence with pen pals on the outside, educational opportunities, job placement avenues, resource guides, scholarships for children affected by crime, and advocacy. The site began primarily as a place to post pen-pal profiles and requests for legal assistance for inmates and has evolved to take a more comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges in the life of an inmate. Studies show many inmates have experienced trauma early in their lives that may have been the impetus for the actions that led to incarceration.
The Indiana Women's Prison was established in 1873 as the first adult female correctional facility in the country. The original location of the prison was one mile (1.6 km) east of downtown Indianapolis. It has since moved to 2596 Girls School Road, former location of the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility. As of 2005, it had an average daily population of 420 inmates, most of whom are members of special-needs populations, such as geriatric, mentally ill, pregnant, and juveniles sentenced as adults. By the end of 2015, the population increased to 599 inmates. Security levels range from medium to maximum. The prison holds Indiana's only death row for women; however, it currently has no death row inmates. The one woman under an Indiana death sentence, Debra Denise Brown, had her sentence commuted to 140 years imprisonment in 2018 and is being held in Ohio.
The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquartered in Baton Rouge. The agency comprises two major areas: Public Safety Services and Corrections Services. The secretary, who is appointed by the governor of Louisiana, serves as the department's chief executive officer. The Corrections Services deputy secretary, undersecretary, and assistant secretaries for the Office of Adult Services and the Office of Youth Development report directly to the secretary. Headquarters administration consists of centralized divisions that support the management and operations of the adult and juvenile institutions, adult and juvenile probation and parole district offices, and all other services provided by the department.
A prison, also known as a jail, gaolpenitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are confined against their will and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state, generally as punishment for various crimes. Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people face difficulties in prison such as increased vulnerability to sexual assault, other kinds of violence, and trouble accessing necessary medical care. While much of the available data on LGBTQ inmates comes from the United States, Amnesty International maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBTQ prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.
Prison rape or jail rape is sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff. It is a significant if controversial part of what is studied under the wider concept of prison sexuality.
Giddings State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department located in unincorporated Lee County, Texas, near Giddings. In 2004, the state school was Lee County's largest employer.
Beyond Scared Straight is a reality television series that aired on A&E from 2011 to 2015. The series follows troubled teenagers who spend one to three days in prison or jail to learn from the inmates about the realities of being incarcerated. The series was inspired by the 1978 American documentary Scared Straight!.
Orange Is the New Black is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010), about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison. Produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television, Orange Is the New Black premiered on Netflix on July 11, 2013. Its seventh and final season was released on July 26, 2019.
TheIncarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) is a prison-led section of the Industrial Workers of the World. Its purpose is 'a union for the incarcerated,' with the goal of abolishing prison slavery, as well as fighting to end the exploitation of working-class people around the world.
Sacred Lies is an American drama streaming television series based on the novel The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes that premiered on July 27, 2018 on Facebook Watch. The series was created by Raelle Tucker and stars Elena Kampouris, Kevin Carroll, Kiana Madeira, Toby Huss, and Ryan Robbins. Its second season premiered on February 20, 2020 under the title Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones. On June 15, 2020, the first two seasons were acquired by Peacock.
Young Royals is a Swedish teen drama romance streaming television series on Netflix. Set at the fictional elite boarding school Hillerska, the plot primarily follows the fictional Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, his romance with fellow student Simon Eriksson, and the drama which results.
Yvonne "Vee" Parker is a character in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, played by Lorraine Toussaint. The central antagonist of the second season, Vee is shown to exhibit sociopathic traits, being skilled at manipulation and emotional mimicry. Upon being incarcerated and returning to Litchfield Penitentiary, she works to further promote the race-based tribalistic system of the prison by uniting most of the black women into a gang under her leadership, maintaining power through coercive tactics and physical intimidation inflicted onto the other inmates. Vee is also highly intelligent and resourceful, successfully creating a black market for cigarettes and drugs without being caught by the guards of the penitentiary.
