Chapter 9 Jails Introduction n Jails house the

Chapter 9 Jails

Introduction n Jails house the “rabble” Distinguished from prisons and lockups Differences from prisons n n n Co-correctional County-run Urban Heterogeneous population Short term confinement

History of Jails n n Gaol – related to houses of correction Fee system John Howard History of Jails in America n n 1682 – Great Law of Philadelphia Walnut Street Jailing for debt Jailing juveniles (Houses of Refuge)

The Twentieth Century Jail (1 of 2) n n Mostly county (85%) Functions of Jails n n n Pretrial Detainees Misdemeanants Felons Others Juveniles

The Twentieth Century Jail (2 of 2) n Population Characteristics n n Architecture n n n About 53% are pre-trial detainees About 10% are women About 39% are Black Traditional Jails (linear) Second Generation Jails (remote design) New Generation Jails n Functional living units

Jail Operations and Administration (1 of 3) n Staffing and pay n n Less status than patrol deputies Legal Issues n Section 1983 Habeas corpus lawsuits Mandamus actions n Bell v. Wolfish n n

Jail Operations and Administration (2 of 3) n Jail Standards may be best defense against litigation n Concerns that standards cannot be met, especially by smaller jails n There are no mechanisms to enforce adherence to standards n

Jail Operations and Administration (3 of 3) n Overcrowding n n A lot of additional beds but national average still at 95% of capacity Special Needs Inmates n n n The Mentally Ill (Wyatt v. Stickney, 1971) Alcoholics Drug Addicts Sex Offenders Suicide: 35% of all deaths in local jails Juvenile suicides

Jail Socialization and Subculture n A Day In The Life Jail time is “dead time” n Prisoner subculture is less extreme than prison but still violent n