U.S.

Prison Corruption

Enlightenment on Injustices within Prisons that are Disregarded

Karina Rosario

12th AP English Literature 1

Mr.Janosch

11/30/18
 U.S. Prison Corruption

On February 15th 2016, police arrested Jeffrey Green, a former correctional officer at a

Westchester County Prison for “violating the constitutional civil rights of an inmate, through

cruel and unusual punishment and abusive sexual contact” according to the Manhattan U.S

Attorney's office. Green pleaded guilty and will do up to one year in a federal prison. Green's

case is just one of the few that actually get reported, many times sexual assault and abuse within

prisons goes ignored or is buried. (Bekiempis) Incidents like this can put prisoners at a risk

where they are afraid to speak up or report anything because they would be going against a

person who overpowers them. The United States prison system is corrupted by abuse of power,

inhumane treatment and procedures, and a general disregard of basic human rights, therefore as a

society we must shed light on the events that go ignored where people aren't being treated like

people.

First and foremost, one of the key problems that contributes to the corruption of US

prisons is an abuse of power. Many times, incidents involving abuse of power that happen out in

public are recorded and posted all over social media and gain attention from all corners of the

country.These abusers often are lightly if even punished which can lead to the encouragement of

abuse. However, in prisons there is no one to record or report the abuse of power. Officials

within a prison are allowed to punish inmates for breaking any rules. But some consequences do

not match up to the rules broken. In April 2016, Terrill Thomas was found dead in his cell from

dehydration after being held in solitary confinement for seven days, he was deprived of water

and a mattress by the jail staff according to Journal Sentinel. Thomas also suffered from bipolar

disorder, a disorder which causes a person so have episodes of drastic mood swings, in Terrill

Thomas’ case he was required to take medications in order to reduce his symptoms. While being
held in solitary, they neglected his disorder and didn’t provide him with his medications, when

he needed medical attention he was ignored.(Carpenter) Solitary confinement is a form of

punishment within prisons, if an official feels that an inmate is a danger to others or if they for

some reason “deserve” a punishment, they are put in a single cell and lose all of their privileges

like recreational time, visiting, phone calls etc. This is an abuse of power because officials use it

as a way to scare inmates, because they can throw them in solitary for any reason, with Terrill

Thomas no rule was worth his life.

Women’s prisons also suffer when it comes down to the abuse of power. Many of the

guards within these prisons are male which gives them full power over the female inmates, this

has led to multiple rape cases reported and many unknown. On May 18th, three Brooklyn prison

supervisors were charged with sexually assaulting female inmates. Prosecutors say that one was

charged for repeatedly raping an inmate before she was going to be deported, the second was

charged for reportedly sexually abusing inmates secretly by making them “clean his office” the

third man was charged for receiving oral sex from three inmates. (Goldstein). “the defendant

warned Jane Doe not to tell anyone what had happened, telling her that she could receive

additional time in prison if anyone found out.” (Goldstein) “Local jail authorities reported 2,042

allegations, of which 284 were substantiated. About half (51%) involved allegations of

nonconsensual sexual acts or abusive sexual contacts of inmates with other inmates, and half

(49%) involved staff sexual misconduct or sexual harassment directed toward inmates.”

(Rantala,Rexroat, Beck) The officials in charge can hold whatever they want against an inmate

to get what they want. Prison Systems need to be more attentive to who they hire, and should be

monitoring their actions as heavily as they monitor those of the inmates.

 In addition, another factor of corruption are the inhumane treatments and procedures. In

June 2012, guards forced Darren Rainey, a 50 year old schizophrenic man into a boiling shower

for nearly two whole hours. They claimed that it was an accident but witnesses reported Rainey

screaming that the water was burning him and was too hot, they also reported seeing steam

coming from the shower. “Some inmates said the shower was used to punish prisoners with

mental illnesses by exposing them to brutally hot conditions in an enclosed space.”(Brown) this

quote from an interview implies that this might be a common thing to do with inmates.This

procedure is similar to when someone sprays their dog with water or shakes a can of coins to

frighten the dog so that they become obedient, the inmates with illnesses are treated as animals

that need to be tamed. The government should have trained officials check in on prisons often

and make sure incidents like this are being avoided.

Execution, also known as death row is a major controversial punishment, it is the penalty

where a person is sentenced to death based on the crime they commit. The death penalty has

been fought against over the years because people believe no crime is worth someone’s life.

Often times innocent people are put on death row and it is a mistake that cannot be undone.

Others argue that murderers should be given the death penalty because they owe a life. “Only 20

people were executed in 2016 and only 31 people were sentenced to death. Yet serious claims of

innocence and unreliable evidence persist.” (Jackman). To avoid the disputes over the wrongness

of the death penalty, courts should be thorough with investigations and making sure all of their

evidence and facts are correct.

The general disregard of basic human rights is an immense factor in corruption. In most

prisons, they are not supplied with basic necessities like deodorant, especially in women’s

prisons. The availability of sanitary supplies like tampons is limited, and when they are given,
they are of the cheapest most ineffective quality. It is up to the guards if they want to allow

women the access to sanitary supplies furthering the risks of abuse, therefore depriving them of

something as simple being sanitary which can lead to infections (Jeltsen). The argument that

women’s sanitation items should be free goes on everywhere not just in prisons, big companies

take advantage of the needs of women and it needs to stop. People need to be more aware of

what women have control over, and women in prisons especially should be offered free products,

after all they can’t really afford them.

Big companies take much advantage and are the top reason for is the slave labor in

prisons. Federal prisoners make up to $1.25 an hour doing jobs that are worth up to 10 times that

amount.(NewsOne Staff). Big companies like Microsoft and Nintendo at one point have used

prisoners to save money because they didn’t have to pay them as much to make their products.

These companies absorb an abundance of profit, while their workers struggle to make any. The

inmates also don’t have a choice when it comes to if they work or not, they’re often threatened

with solitary. What doesn’t add up is that despite all the profits being made, many prisons are

underfunded in areas such as programs for education, nutrition and overall health.”proposed

reducing the minimum number of meals down to two per day, and prison officials are

increasingly outsourcing food service to private contractors to slash food costs.”(Santo, Iaboni).

There is not enough money to give the increasing number of prisoners quality meals daily, an

improper diet can be a problem for anyone. “We’re losing 57 percent of our hires within three

years, so it’s impossible to be effective when the turnover rate is that high.”(Pederson). The lack

of money in the prison system affects wages of officers too, they aren’t paid enough to do a job

as rough as being in charge of prisoners. This leads to a less controlled environment as they

cannot afford to hire enough officers. “Until you get the jails properly manned, inmates aren’t
going to get what they need,”(Pederson). To solve the underfunding issues, the big companies

that make million off of prisons should contribute enough money to help the system remain

organized and fully functional while also tending to the needs of inmates.

In conclusion The United States prison system is corrupted by abuse of power, inhumane

treatment and procedures, and a general disregard of basic human rights. Many incidents that

violate procedures and laws are not reported, and even if they are caught the charges and

punishment if even given are light. Also many United State Prisons are extremely underfunded

in important areas like education and nutrition, it doesn’t help that inmates are a part of a

nationwide slave labor scandal run by companies as big as Nintendo. Inmates are constantly

treated like animals, degraded, threatened, abused and blackmailed making their time harder to

serve. This is just a small window of what really goes on behind prison walls. It is the

government's responsibility to make sure prisons are funded and ethical. It is society’s

responsibility to shed more light on these issues to make progress and fix them.

Works Cited

Bekiempis, Victoria. "Bedford Hills correctional officer admits sexual assault on inmate." NY
Daily News. N.p., 03 May 2017. Web. 07 June 2017.

Report, Advocate Staff. "Angola corrections officer arrested after caught with drugs, cell phones
at prison, DOC says." The Advocate. N.p., 13 May 2017. Web. 07 June 2017.
Carpenter, Jacob. "Inmate's dehydration death came after litany of errors, policy violations, ex-
2nd-in-command says." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. N.p., 26 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 June 2017.

Goldstein, Joseph. "Brooklyn Prison Supervisors Charged With Sexually Assaulting Inmates."
The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 May 2017. Web. 15 June 2017.

Brownjbrown@MiamiHerald.com, Julie K. "Was Rainey burned or wasn't he? County blocks

independent review." Miamiherald. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2017.

Jeltsen, Melissa. "Providing Free Pads And Tampons To Incarcerated Women Is About More
Than Hygiene." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 June 2016. Web. 15 June
2017.

Staff, Newsone. "Big Business Or Slave Labor? What Prisoners Make In Jail." News One. News
One, 10 May 2012. Web. 15 June 2017.

Jackman, Tom. “Essay: The Problem of Innocence in Death Penalty Cases.” The Washington
Post, WP Company, 28 Aug. 2017.
“What's in a Prison Meal?” The Marshall Project, 5 Jan. 2018,
www.themarshallproject.org/2015/07/07/what-s-in-a-prison-meal.