After reading both articles, what do you believe can be done about prison conditions, overcrowding, and lack of effective rehabilitation programs in the United States as well as in the countries we’ve studied?

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I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please do not include any outside information or statistics in your post (quotes, citations, or websites).

Your submission to this discussion will include one (1) original discussion post and one (1) response post to another student’s post. Discussion post format uses well-written and concise sentences and demonstrates what you have learned from the course materials. The discussion is worth 10 total points. Be sure to submit an original post to the discussion and also respond to a classmate’s post for full credit. Posting additional posts or responding to multiple discussion posts is encouraged but not required. Finally, please respect your classmates’ opinions and be mindful of your choice of words. Abusive language or bullying should be avoided. Thank you.

The Telegraph

By Press Association (Links to an external site.)

18 February 2018 • 12:57am

https:// (Links to an external site.)

Rioting prisoners at Strangeways Prison in Manchester Credit: PA

Conditions in British prisons ‘worst in a generation’

A former lord chief justice of England and Wales said he feared conditions in British prisons were among the worst in a generation – and compared it to the state of jails before the notorious Manchester Strangeways riot of 1990.

Lord Woolf, speaking to the Observer (Links to an external site.), referenced the longest prison riot in British history, which began on April 1 and lasted until April 25, resulting in deaths of two people and scores were injured.

Lord Woolf, who led the inquiry into the riot, was speaking after a scathing report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons found drugs were readily available, communal areas were in a “decrepit” state and there was a significant problem with cockroaches and rats at Liverpool jail.

He told the newspaper: “[If] you ask me whether we have gone back to where we were pre-Strangeways, I think we are there in that sort of territory.

“It is not confined to one of our prison establishments. It is across the board.

“There has been a complete breakdown in recognizing the fact that serious action is needed, and recognizing that the only way to do it is to have a long-term plan, with somebody in charge of it throughout the term.”

Writing in the Observer, prisons minister Rory Stewart said prison “remains a deeply disturbing place”, citing the prevalence of sophisticated criminal gangs behind bars, drug use and “horrifying rates of self-harm”.

He added: “But my instinct is that with focus and pragmatism, we can begin to make a real difference to the lives of those inside, and ultimately to protecting the public outside the prison walls.”

The Observer said analysis of 118 prisons inspection reports found more than two-thirds (68%) provided unsatisfactory standards in at least one respect, with two in five jails deemed to be unacceptably unsafe, according to the newspaper.

Protesters swarm Brooklyn jail that endured polar vortex with no heat

By Amy B Wang (Links to an external site.) 

Feb. 3, 2019 at 4:04 p.m. EST

https:// (Links to an external site.)

For several days, crowds have gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to protest reports of freezing and dark conditions inside the jail after it partially lost power nearly a week ago.

The protesters have included relatives of inmates who said they haven’t been able to visit their kin inside for days (Links to an external site.), as well as activists and elected officials. They’ve chanted “Move them out!” and demanded answers from jail officials accused of “radio silence (Links to an external site.).” Some have remained at the site overnight, shivering and indignant, in solidarity with inmates.

Through it all, one thing remained constant: the relentless sound of inmates banging against the jail windows, some of them waving lights inside pitch-black cells in an attempt to be seen.

“All we hear are the inmates banging on the windows to get our attention,” New York City Council member Justin Brannan (D) said in a video (Links to an external site.) posted to Twitter after he visited the jail Friday. “And when they see that we’re here, they bang louder.”

I am outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center where prisoners are without heat. The banging noise is them protesting for all of us to hear. They are without heat for days. This is in BROOKLYN.

For almost a week, many of those inside the jail, which houses more than 1,600 inmates (Links to an external site.), had no heat, hot meals, hot water for showers or light in their cells, according to the New York Times (Links to an external site.), which first reported on the conditions.

For security reasons, inmates were placed on lockdown Thursday — coinciding with a polar vortex that brought record-low temperatures to parts of the country. On Wednesday and Thursday, temperatures in New York City ranged from lows in the single digits to highs in the teens.

Those with connections to inmates described deteriorating conditions inside the jail, with inmates stuck inside dark, freezing cells, getting sick and “frantic,” according to the Times.

“They’re really, really scared,” Rachel Bass, a paralegal at the Brooklyn federal defenders office, told the newspaper Thursday (Links to an external site.) after she had taken calls from about 15 inmates. “They don’t have extra blankets. They don’t have access to the commissary to buy an extra sweatshirt.”

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail near Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, has denied that conditions are so dire. In a statement Sunday, officials said inmates had hot water for showers and in their cells’ sinks, and they estimated that power would be fully restored by Monday.

Late Sunday night, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) tweeted, “A federal official confirmed to me the power is back on at MDC. Make no mistake: this took people power. Thank you to the families, activists and officials who fought for the dignity of people inside.” Heartbreaking stories from family members of prisoners inside the #SunsetParkGulag (Links to an external site.) who have not been able to communicate with their loved ones in a week, with no knowledge of conditions.

Several lawmakers who were able to tour the jail Saturday said conditions were unacceptable and accused jail officials of not understanding the urgency of the situation.

“After visiting MDC again today it is clear the officials there have disregarded the basic human rights of inmates,” Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.) tweeted (Links to an external site.). “This appalling situation needs to be fixed and I will continue pressuring [the Federal Bureau of Prisons] for immediate action.”

Velázquez said one prison guard reported (Links to an external site.) needing to wear fleece over a down vest to stay warm overnight.

Late Saturday night, de Blasio said the city’s emergency management agency would be sending blankets, hand warmers and generators to the federal facility “whether they like it or not.”

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who also toured the jail, tweeted Saturday (Links to an external site.) that it was clear officials “have been callously placing the health & safety of the inmates at this facility at risk.”

He returned Sunday and reported things had improved. “Conditions are much better. It’s much warmer,” Nadler tweeted Sunday (Links to an external site.). “And the electrical power will be back tomorrow morning. We will remain vigilant to insure that the health and safety of the inmates and correction officers are taken care of properly.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler toured the Metropolitan Detention Center and says “it’s much warmer” after outrage over the inmate conditions.

The updates Sunday did little to stem the anger outside the prison, where protesters once again gathered. New York Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) reported that (Links to an external site.), although prison officials had accepted the blankets from the city the night before, they had not distributed them to inmates.

Other visitors said (Links to an external site.) conditions remained poor.

“Those who … were told heat and hot water are on, we can assure you, this is not true,” the nonprofit Justice League NYC said Sunday. “We continue to doubt their claims as elected officials and lawyers who have recently been inside the facility have seen the problems for themselves.”

The nonprofit Legal Aid Society said that it had written to the MDC warden on Jan. 22, demanding that a lack of heat at the jail be addressed amid forecasts of temperatures “dangerous to human life.”

“The Bureau of Prisons’ response? Radio silence,” the society said Sunday. “Now they claim they have ‘submitted a work ticket’ to ‘schedule’ repairs to a dark, freezing, virtually incommunicado prison. Too little, too late.”

Tensions outside the jail reached a boil Sunday afternoon when protesters approached the prison entrance and were pepper-sprayed by guards (Links to an external site.).

In other harrowing scenes, family members shouted through megaphones to try to communicate with inmates.

“I love you!” one prisoner could be heard yelling (Links to an external site.) from a window.

A woman outside screamed a name (Links to an external site.) in an attempt to pass on a message: “Tell him I’m out here and I love him, and I’m not leaving” until the inmates get heat, she called through a megaphone. “I’ve been here for two days, and I’m not leaving!”