Jails, Prisons, and Security Levels
Scenario: Imagine you are a corrections professional and have been asked to select a case study and present it to a high school class to explain the different types of correctional facilities in the United States.
Choose 1 of the following people to research:
El Chapo
Felicity Huffman
Andrea Yates
Mike Tyson
Create an 8- to 10-slide presentation that covers the following:
Explain the individual’s crimes. In what type of correctional institution did they serve or are they serving their sentence? Which factors about their specific crimes determined what type of facility they were sent to?
Based on your textbook readings, discuss the effectiveness of the type of correctional institution in this case.
Compare and contrast the correctional facility with another type of correctional facility, for example, the difference between a jail and a prison.
Explain a hypothetical situation where this individual’s crimes would send them to an alternative type of correctional institution. Provide details to support your assertion.
Sample Solution
For this presentation I have chosen to focus on Mike Tyson, a former heavyweight champion boxer who was convicted of rape in 1992. Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison but served only three of those years before being released on parole (Ruhl 2009). He served his sentence at the Indiana Youth Center, a minimum security facility for non-violent offenders located in Plainfield, Indiana (Indiana Department Of Correction 2019).
The type of correctional facility that an individual is sent to can depend on numerous factors including the severity and nature of their crime as well as any potential safety risks posed by their presence in specific types of facilities. In Tyson’s case he was deemed low risk due to his nonviolent offense and so he was placed in a minimum security prison which offered more lenient conditions than other types of prisons do (Ruhl 2009). Additionally, because he had no prior criminal history, it likely played a role in determining where he would be placed (Indiana Department Of Correction 2019).
Overall, it is important to note that placement within a correctional system is based on many different factors such as the severity or nature of an offense, any prior criminal record, age or mental health status. By understanding how these elements interact we can gain insight into why certain individuals are sent to certain facilities which ultimately helps us better understand the criminal justice system as whole.