Justice, Crime, and Ethics by Braswell et al.--Chapter 16 Prison Ethics

PRISON ETHICSChapter 16 JCE

From last class…. to this classPrisoners interact with corrupt practices in prison: both systemic (solitary) and personal (guards).

Prisons themselves have significant disconcerting conditions and aspects

Prison Ethics: The Who and What

Most incarcerated are non-violent offenders (<9% inmates in Federal)

Disproportionate minorities (5 to 7 times more likely for African Americans.)

Prisoners deprived of “safe, lawful, industrious, and hopeful conditions (305).”

Poor treatment for mental illness. Slave labor (Chain gangs in Alabama are

~80% African American) Elderly prisoners (55+) constitute ~10% Women prisoners constitute ~7% “For profit” prisons rising to ~16% Overcrowded prisons (15 states at or above

capacity)

“For profit” prisons rising to ~16%

For-Profit Prisons: Theoretically problematic

Like any profit-driven business, prisons invest in efficient means of incarceration rather than “correction” or even “retribution.”

For-Profit Prisons: Theoretically problematic

1) Ethically, prisons are either for retribution (deontology), correction (utilitarian), incarceration (police sub-culture), or restoration (care ethics).

2) For-profit prisons are for profit.3) Thus, for-profit prisons are not ethical.

For-Profit Prisons: Theoretical Response

~2) For-profit prisons are for incarceration.

Public prisons are woefully overcrowded and expensive. Private prisons provide a system for warehousing prisoners (e.g. private storage).

For-Profit Prisons: Theoretically problematic?

Rebuttals to the “incarceration” response???

Do “for-profit” prisons fit police sub-culture ethics?