What Do You Need to Know About Prisons?

As an abstract word, prison is very basic: it’s a location where your independence, movements, and access to anything and everything is essentially constrained, generally as punishment for committing a crime. However, for anyone who’s ever had a tough time, prison is even more: an area where dignity, confidentiality, and control are handed over to guards and prison officials, where seclusion and loneliness can drive someone crazy, and where the tiniest of basic needs seem like extravagances.

Prison has traditionally been used for a variety of reasons. They’re more often used to detain offenders, but they’ve also been enough to shut out political opponents, mentally disabled, captives, and even individuals who couldn’t repay their loans.

The cultural roles of jail are more nuanced. A prison sentence is a penalty. In this sense, it acts both as a means of justice and also as a deterrent. Prisons also act as a barrier, holding dangerous criminals shut away from civilization so that no further serious offenses can be committed. In some instances, jails are used to rehabilitate inmates and set them up for a better life with better schooling, work, social abilities, and a fresh perspective.

U.S. prison security levels are classified into three general tiers: maximum, medium, and minimum security prison. Maximum security jails also mimic campuses or university campuses. They are designated for non-violent inmates with comparatively straightforward criminal histories or criminals who have spent much of their time in a higher-security jail and shown exceptional conduct. The medium security prisons limit prisoners’ everyday movements to a larger degree, but rather than cells, they generally have dorms, and the facility is usually surrounded by razor-wire fencing.

High-security jails are what more people say of prison. However, about one percent of the inmates in the United States are held in a maximum-security prison. These types of prisons are intended for violent criminals, prisoners who have escaped (or attempted to escape), or prisoners who may have issues in minimum security jails. They are protected by high walls covered with razor wire, and armed security in observation towers fire at anybody who makes them “over the wall.”

When an occurrence happens in a high-security jail, the prisoners are restricted to their cells for a few days, with almost no liberty available. Many of the high-security prisons have a SuperMax jail unit with a mandatory lockout status. Formally known as the Security Housing Unit (SHU), prisoners name it The Hole.