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. Then recently in May, a Louisiana State

Penitentiary correctional officer was arrested after being caught

with drugs and cell phones. Currently she is under investigation

for “introduction of contraband into a penal institution,

malfeasance in office, one count of possession of Schedule 4

narcotics and two counts of possession of Schedule 1 narcotics.”

according to The Advocate. Incidents like this can put prisoners

at a risk or extending their sentence because they often are left

carrying the blame. The arrests of prison guards had increased

by up to 90% in 2012, this is once again only the percentage that

get reported. The United States prison system is corrupted by

abuse of power, inhumane treatment and procedures, and a

general disregard of basic human rights.

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 it 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 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.

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 according to the New York Times. Also according

to the New York Times “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.” This shows the

abuse of power in this case, the lieutenant has the ability to

lengthen the sentence of any prisoner by simply lying, this is

used against the inmates so that the lieutenant can get what he
wants and not worry about being caught because none of the

want to risk getting additional time. The overall issue with the

abuse of power is that the officials in charge can hold whatever

they want against an inmate to get what they want, they can also

punish an inmate however they want for any reason at all. Then

in the end it’s a criminal’s word against an official’s which is

why many cases are never reported.

In addition to the abuse of power, 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 according to

miamiherals.com 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.”

this quote from miamiherals.com shows the inhumanity and how

they might have gotten away with it before, they could have

been using it to keep the inmates with mental illnesses

responsive and cooperative.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. This hot

shower incident is common in many prisons, some prisons are

either too hot or too cold. Food is also an issue, prisoners are

supposed to be fed at least 3 meals a day that include all the food

groups. However, no one knows what the food is like until they

have actually been forced to eat it. Matthew, an inmate serving 4

years on false charges in East Jersey State prison had some

things to say about the food. “At first I didn’t want to eat cause

it looked like literal slop, just how you’d imagine prison food
faded colors and everything. When I refused to eat I was called

out by one of the guards and he told everyone I thought I was

too good for the food, then he took away my utensils and made

me eat the food with my hands...really embarrassing.” The food

description does not match what they claim they feed the

inmates, also this is an example of the degrading inmates face

during their time. Comments like that lead to talk amongst the

community within the prison and leads to problems. 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 most inhumane part is that the offender’s victim is allowed

to watch the execution take place. The death penalty has been

fought against over the years because people believe no crime is

worth someone’s life, also what if the person was innocent?

Others argue that murderers should be given the death penalty

because they owe a life. Overall, these inhumane treatments

make a prisoner’s time worse than it already is.

Lastly, 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 poor

quality according to The Huffington Post. Also according to The

Huffington Post, 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 being sanitary which can lead

to infections. Another example is the slave labor in prisons.

According to newsone.com federal prisoners make up to $1.25

an hour doing jobs that are worth up to 10 times that amount.

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. The inmates also don’t

have a choice when it comes to if they work or not, they’re often

threatened with solitary. Education is also a right that many

don’t have, in prisons the education systems often are poorly

funded or just not there at all.

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.

Citations

Bekiempis, Victoria. "Bedford Hills correctional officer admits

sexual assault on inmate." NY Daily News. N.p., 03 May 2017.
Web. 07 June 2017.

Loaded on Sept. 15, 2012 by Derek Gilna published in Prison

Legal News September, 2012, page 46 Filed under:
Misconduct/Corruption, Guard Misconduct, Statistics/Trends.
Location: United States of America. "Prison Legal News."
Arrests of Federal Prison Guards Soar 90% Over Past Decade;
Misconduct Cases Double | Prison Legal News. N.p., n.d. 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.