Jail and prison riots are very much real and a huge issue
when comes to the safety of the inmates and the staff. However, they are not as
common of an occurrence as they once were. In earlier times and up until the
1980’s jail and prison riots happened frequently and lasted days at a time,
taking a large number of lives (Burkenstien, 1). There were a few major riots
that took the lives of a lot of people, one in New Mexico killed 33, one in New
York killed 43, and the last major riot in West Virginia took 3 peoples lives’,
which was in 1986. Since then, the amount of riots a year has gone down
significantly. In 2003 alone there were less than 3 riots that occurred that
year. The assaults on staff members also dropped during the same time period.
That is quite impressive being that the incarceration rates have increased
since then.
One of
the few reasons there has been a decline in riots or violence within
correctional facilities is that the number inmates in there due to violent
crimes has gone down. Those who are in there because of a violent crime, tend
to be in some form of higher security facility. The management of these
facilities has improved, there has also implementation of security squads. The
squads are called Correctional Emergency Response Teams, and they have been
incredibly beneficial when it comes to violence among the inmates (Birkenstein,
1). These teams have really impacted the severity of riots that have occurred
since their inception, because they stop the riots before too much harm is
done. However, riots still occur even though they are less frequent.
There
are many reason as to why inmates become violent. Racial issues are one of the
major reasons that there is violence in correction facilities. Different races
correlate with different gangs, and if a member of a certain gang so much as
talks to a member of a different gang, said member will be punished. Therefore,
not only is there violence within each gang but also between the different
gangs. The main way to get by in jails and prisons is to stick with your own
race and always be willing and able to defend them or help them when need be.
For example, when a riot does occur each member of the gang must get involved
to help their fellow members (Lichten, 1). If a person from the gang that is
being a part of the riot does not help, they risk the chance of getting beat
after the fact.
The main
ways to try and prevent riots or prevent them from getting out of hand, is
staff. Having a decent number of staff on hand to be able to keep the inmates
in check is crucial to maintaining order. If there is not enough staff then
correction facilities have high chances of getting overthrown by the inmates,
even if just for a few days. When guards are able to patrol, and keep a
constant watch on all sections of the facilities, inmates become too
intimidated to attempt to revolt. Therefore, the more staff is around, they are
able to detect tensions between the inmates. Less staff means less opportunity for
catching any kind of tension or potential threats to the facility.
There have been many huge jail and
prison riots in the United States but, there have only been a few notoriously
bad ones. One of them being the one at
Alcatraz in 1946, where an inmate and few others were able to disarm the guards
and tried to escape, but accidently jammed the door and were stopped before
anything too bad could happen. Another one was in Montana in 1959, two inmates
were able to disarm all the guards and release all the inmates. They killed the
Deputy warden, but no one else’s life was taken. One of the culprits ended up surrendering
by killing his partner and himself. There have been many terrible riots in the
United States, and even more gruesome ones in other countries where many more
people lost their lives.
Fortunately, now riots in the
United States have gone down significantly. This is due to various reason, one of
the major ones being that staff is now more prepared to handle these kinds of
situations, and they have team dedicated to diffuse possible riots. However,
they are still very possible and can get really horrible if not managed
properly.
Sources:
http://www.policeandjailprocedures.com/live/jail-and-prison-riots.html
No comments:
Post a Comment