Interesting Prison Facts That You Probably Have Never Heard

Adekunle Olanrewaju Jason
Nov 03, 2023 By Adekunle Olanrewaju Jason
Originally Published on Mar 31, 2022
There are many unknown prison facts that will shock you.

'Prison sentence' means sending a convict to prison in order to bring justice.

While earlier, a sentence to prison meant torture and abuse, now, prison sentences are mainly focused on reform. The ambiance and intent of prisons have changed significantly over time.

Prisons are also known as jails. These are places a person is confined to as part of their punishment for a crime. Did you know that one of the common reasons why people are arrested in the USA is for drug offenses?

The prison system of the United States has been put through a lot of scrutiny, because of problems like overcrowding, lack of safety, inhumane treatment of inmates, and high rate of arrests and pre-trial holdings. Studies say that the rate of incarceration in the United States rose steeply since the '70s.

Between then and now, the number of people arrested and imprisoned has increased five times!

History Of Prison

The idea of prison systems is very old. At every point in time, civilizations have had some way of confining people who they considered were not safe to be amidst the general public.

History suggests the Romans were the first group to officially sentence people to prison. They used confinement as a part of the punishment. Temporary confinement systems were created out of metal cages and prisoners were confined inside basements and quarries.

During most of the Middle Ages, the ability to confine and imprison someone was in the hands of a monarch. This led to a lot of unfair imprisonment practices during the early ages and prisoners were often treated like slaves, being forced to perform hard labor while tied up by metal chains.

The 18th century was a dreadful period for prisoners as public execution and all forms of torture were common practices. The death penalty was imposed even for the smallest of crimes.

Even during the 20th century, inhumane practices were allowed in jails. Arkansas prisons allowed whipping until 1967 while Texas allowed it until 1941.

Prison Architecture

Most of the modern-day prison systems in the United States follow the same setup. This is to ensure the criminal justice system is able to monitor these locations easily.

Some of the common aspects of today's prison setups are electrified fencing, multiple barriers to prevent prisoners from fleeing, secured outer gates, guard towers with armed guards 24 hours a day, motion sensors, and CCTV monitoring systems.

Nowadays, instead of a single large building with individual prison cells, the whole of the prison population is divided into smaller pods. Each pod will have its own prison staff and will contain anywhere from 16 to 50 prisoners. This makes it easy to monitor and control the inmates.

When an inmate is sentenced for a crime, they are divided into different risk categories. Minimum security prisons are for petty cases, one-time offenders, and people the system does not consider risky. On the other hand, maximum-security prisons are for serious, dangerous, and disruptive offenders and those the system assumes will try and escape.

Some states in the country also have a supermax prison system where people who are dangerous to national security or those with records of violent crime are housed. Such prisoners are kept locked for the most part of the day and night and are under continuous supervision.

The largest prison system in the USA is the Men's Central Jail located in Los Angeles. It can hold up to 22,000 prisoners at a time.

Jail Vs Prison

Though people commonly use both these terms interchangeably, according to the justice system, there are clear differences in meaning.

In the United States, a prison system is for inmates confined for a long term. Prisons are operated and maintained by the state or federal government.

Local jails are usually maintained by county sheriffs and are places inmates are confined for a shorter duration. These inmates could be confined for a few months or for pre-trial confinement before they are moved to larger prisons.

Jail is always a smaller unit when compared to federal prison.

Prison Inmates

In the USA, the prison population is called the prison muster. In the beginning, men and women were always confined in separate prisons. In recent times though, the number of co-ed prisons has increased in the United States.

According to justice statistics, there are more than 2.2 million prisoners in the USA. In 2012, the government apparently spent 37 billion USD to maintain these prisons and the inmates.

Did you know that there are about 800,000 people employed by the federal bureau to manage prisons and their inmates? There are also a lot of small industries that depend on prisons for their businesses.

Since 2000, the number of female prisons has slowly increased by about 50%. Out of all the prisoners who get released, about 77% of them go back are committed for another crime. Only 23% of individuals stay out of the prison system for the rest of their lives.

Out of all the young people arrested in the country, about 13 to 15% of the incarnated ones are from LGBTQ communities. In federal prisons across the country, every day, about 12 people die and most of them die due to health conditions. In local jail units though, one of the top causes of death is suicide.

FAQs

Q. What are most people in prison for?

A. Over one million people are arrested every year for possession of drugs.

Q. What are the four main purposes of prisons?

A. The four main purposes of prisons are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation.

Q. What was the first prison?

A. The first prison in the United States was built in York, Maine, in the year 1720.

Q. Why are prisons overcrowded in the US?

A. One of the main reasons prisons are overcrowded in the USA is the overuse of imprisonment. Studies show that the United States prisoner incarceration is more than in any other country in the world.

Q. What is the current prison population?

A. The current US prison population according to justice statistics is 2.1 million, as of 2021. Oklahoma is considered to have the highest incarceration rate in the country, with 1079 out of 100,000 people in prisons and jails.

Q. Why are American prisons so brutal?

A. Understaffing and overcrowding are two reasons why people serving time go through such brutality in American prisons. Prisoner-prisoner crimes are high.

Did you know about the fire incident that happened in the Ohio State Penn in 1930? A fire broke out in the prison and the guards apparently did not let inmates out of the cell, causing the death of 322 prisoners.

Q. How many prisoners are in an average prison?

A. There are a total of 1719 state prisons, 901 juvenile correction centers, 102 federal prisons, and 3163 local jails all through the country. The 2.1 million inmates are divided amongst these locations. The average prisoner number varies depending on the size of the unit.

Q. How many inmates are there in US correctional facilities?

A. The correctional facilities in the USA include prison and jail institutions. As of 2021, there are more than 2.1 million inmates confined in these correctional facilities.

Q. Why is America's prison system failing?

A. According to statistics, one in five prisons in the USA are overcrowded or maxed out and lack basic supervision or support. Mass incarceration has created inmates who have become regular offenders and who keep going back to prison. Some experts are of the opinion that inmates are not well prepared to succeed once released from prison.

Q. How many new prisons are built each year?

A. In the last ten years, about 110 prisons have either been newly built or renovated to handle excess inmate population.

Q. Who created mass incarceration

A. Mass incarceration is the mass arrest and imprisonment of people in a country. Though America has only 5% of the world's population, it is home to 20% of total prison inmates who serve sentences. This is considered mass incarceration.

According to history, mass incarceration is a result of the criminal justice system trying to fight the war against drugs. Experts in this field say that President Nixon, President Kennedy, and President Johnson are three people who laid policies against drug offenses, creating the base for mass incarceration.

Q. What is the difference between prison and jail?

A. A prison is usually a larger establishment meant to confine inmates who are sentenced for a longer time. A prison in the USA is maintained by the federal government. A jail is run by local sheriffs and is used to confine inmates temporarily.

Q. How is food in prison?

A. The food sent to prison quarters is made using a process called the blast-chill method.

In this method, large amounts of food can be prepared in advance and heated whenever needed. Some prisons cook in-house while others hire catering companies to cook their prison food.

The food typically is low in sugar and salt and there are enough options to cater to the religious and dietary concerns of inmates. A typical meal will include 2-3 ounces of meat, some vegetables, a cup of starchy carbohydrates, and some salad and dressing.

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Written by Adekunle Olanrewaju Jason

Bachelor of Science specializing in Mass Communication.

Adekunle Olanrewaju Jason picture

Adekunle Olanrewaju JasonBachelor of Science specializing in Mass Communication.

With over 3+ years of professional experience, Olanrewaju is a certified SEO Specialist and Content Writer. He holds a BSc in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos. Throughout his dynamic career, Olanrewaju has successfully taken on various roles with startups and established organizations. He has served as a Technical Writer, Blogger, SEO Specialist, Social Media Manager, and Digital Marketing Manager. Known for his hardworking nature and insightful approach, Olanrewaju is dedicated to continuous learning and improvement.
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