Jails vs. Prisons free essay sample

To start, this paper has been more than challenging for me. Never before has my eyes been more opened to such differences. And to warn you I may have more information than needed, but no surprise there. Here bellow is what I have come up with on the differences between jail systems and prisons systems. There is not a major difference between jail and prison for a common man, but in the eyes of a lawyer two of them are totally different. A common man considers that the two terms are interchangeable or synonyms. Both are the places, in which individuals are physically confined and deprived of a range of personal freedoms. But the fact is that a jail is used for short term stay whereas a prison is for a long term stays. Jail is used by local jurisdictions in countries and cities, whereas prison is administered by the state or federal government. People convicted for a short sentence or trials, detainees, suspicious people under trials are kept under jail. Jail has fewer amenities for its convicts as compared to a prison. It only provides the basic necessities of food, housing and safety to the prisoners. Jails operate camps, vocational trainings and other work release programs for the prisoners. Jails are within the country where the individual is arrested. Typically they are intended to hold persons for less than one year. Whereas the prison is for long term convicts who have been tried and convicted of crime. It is normally located away from the place of arrest. There are few prisons as compared to jails. Prison has a tight security and more amenities for the people. It provides the basic necessities as well as exercise areas, common areas for socializing and educational areas too. The area coverage is also more than the jail. Prison has a specially trained staff and a board of governor to oversee the prison management. A prison is divided on the basis of the type of crime, a person commits and he is placed accordingly, unlike in jail. Prison has work release centers, community restitution centers and other entertainment facilities for the prisoners. This prison system is a type of correction system arranged by the province or a state for the convicts. Although the terms â€Å"jail† and â€Å"prison† are sometimes used interchangeably, most members of law enforcement distinguish between the two. Primarily, the difference is that a jail is used by local jurisdictions such as counties and cities to confine people for short periods of time. A prison, or penitentiary, is administered by the state, and is used to house convicted criminals for periods of much longer duration. Both are part of a larger penal system which includes other aspects of criminal justice such as courts, law enforcement, and crime labs. Because a jail is designed for short time periods only, it tends to have less amenities than a prison. Individuals who are being housed in a jail have access to bathrooms and are provided with food and water, and in a low security jail, they may be able to socialize in common areas during certain periods of the day. Most jails are designed to hold a very small number of criminals, and have relatively lax security when compared to prisons, although in areas prone to violence, a jail may be run along very strict lines. A jail houses people who have been convicted to serve a short sentence, individuals awaiting trial, people who have not yet paid bail, and detainees who have just been picked up on suspicion of committing a crime. The criminals are processed through a booking procedure, and the criminal justice system decides what to do with them after that. Now I also research the differences between the definitions of correctional facilities, and other common names such as Penitentiaries etc. Jail vs. Detention Center Generally, it can be said that jails are smaller facilities that usually belongs to the local (county level) authorities even though there are still jails that are covered by state and federal control. Detention centers, in general, are larger facilities that are often regional to national in scope or coverage. Many say that the term ‘detention center’ is a really broad name that pertains to a facility or place where persons are confined. According to the BOP (Bureau of Prison, U. S. ), a detention center is a place where you confine individuals who are not yet declared convicts but are charged for something. These individuals have not qualified for bail. Nevertheless, if a person will be deemed a threat to others and even a ‘flight risk’ or somebody who might fly away just to escape the charges filed against him or her, then most likely he or she will be held captive inside the detention center prior conviction. Jails can also be described similarly. In the U. S. , detention centers can be a jail, a prison, a concentration camp, an internment camp and many other places where one or a group of people a re detained. These centers are classified as maximum, medium and minimum detention centers. Obviously the maximum security is the place where very violent criminals are housed like those who are sentenced for life imprisonment. Medium security detention centers are for those who’ll serve for middle range sentences. Compared to maximum, the prisoners in here have less criminal background. The minimum detention center, also known as a form of work camp, is meant for those who have offended a policy or law for the very first time. This is the place for those having the shortest sentences. Inmates are much more liberal in the sense that they can work around the expanse of the vicinity with little or no forceful intervention by the center’s security staff. There are many types of detention centers. Some are very large to the point that they are already actual institutions. They can pertain to many subspecialty correctional facilities like the juvenile detention centers for non-adult offenders, the ICE (immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention center for those who reside or come to the U. S. llegally and the (controversial) military detention center for housing prisoners of war, captured spies and the like. Jail vs. Penitentiary There are many crime and police terms that seem to have the same meaning. At first glance, most will immediately wonder what the differences are between the jail, prison, penitentiary and correction facilities; that is if there are any. Many people hear these words often and blindly accept all four as one and the same. Nevertheless, there are really differences between them and discerning a jail from a penitentiary comes first. Jail is probably the mildest detaining room of them all. It is the place where the convict is placed while waiting for his trial. It is also the detention unit for serving sentences that are only for less than one year. Often, those who incur the simplest misdemeanor and violation cases get themselves arrested and eventually land in here. The term penitentiary is where the tricky part comes in. In the old times and even up to this date, the federal prisons were widely accepted or recognized as penitentiaries. Everyone is probably just too concerned about using the most politically correct term that they ended up making the definition of penitentiary closer or the same as that of prison and correction facilities. That’s why nowadays; the term penitentiary is already likened to the said other two terms. A penitentiary is where felons land when they finally serve their seemingly longer sentences or when they are already found guilty. These facilities are primarily maintained by the federal government. It is assumed that every state has one. This is contrary to jails, which are usually maintained by smaller jurisdictions. A county or a city can have several jails for that matter. Being maintained by smaller units of the government, jails are obviously smaller in size that can house only a very limited number of detainees. There are also a very limited number of amenities in a jail, if any. 1. Jail is where the offender will be temporarily detained prior to receiving the final verdict of his case. It is also where offenders of minor crimes are placed. Most detainees are those who will serve detention for less than a year. 2. Penitentiary is a detention unit for more serious type of offenders. It is also a place where reformatory discipline and or punishment is done. 3. Jail is synonymous to shorter detention whereas penitentiary suggests longer detention. 4. Jail is maintained by smaller jurisdiction units like counties and cities while penitentiaries are maintained by the state or the federal government. 5. Jails have fewer amenities and are also smaller in size compared to penitentiaries.