Study Guide Sunday October 12 2014 3 55 PM Super Max Movie Is solitary confinement rehabilitation or torture Super max inmates are sent to them through a disciplinary group within the prison system not a court No education or work opportunities 3 times a week 1 hour for a shower and a recreation area surrounded by concrete and caged roof Always escorted by at least two guards Strip searched any time they leave their cell No social interactions makes inmates question their existence Inmates become involved with gangs in order to gain protection can get you sent to super max through affiliation Validated inmate will get an indeterminate sentence that could last the entire sentence or some Few prisoners receive visits Visitation is important for inmates the facility is meant to deter visitations to keep them in a type of solitary confinement The only way you can get out is if you debrief and give out the names of every gang member you know if that s why you ve been put in If you re named then you get an indeterminate sentence Prisoners have complained about oppressive conditions lack of psychological care medical care and recourses Solitary confinement has given many inmates psychological problems some cannot control their impulses become uncontrollably angry and mutilate themselves The design of the prison caused psychological damage Many inmates get themselves put in because they don t feel safe outside them Juveniles in Arizona can be put in super max not mixed given solitary schooling These are most at risk for developing psychological problems because their emotional states are frozen at that time Many of these inmates are being directly released from super max into society Sometimes when people are released they put themselves into isolation or try and keep people at bay because they don t know how to handle it People are not used to interacting with others and it s a tremendous adjustment after being in super max Growth of Super Max Prisons Early supermax prisons included Federal Bureau of Prisons BOP US Penitentiary Marion June 1963 ADX Florence 1994 States usage of supermax Increased sharply since the 1980s In 1996 only 34 states had one or more supermax prison By 2004 the number of states using supermax prisons had grown to 44 Current estimate is over 25 000 inmates in supermax prisons in the US Super Max Inmates who we want to incarcerate and who we are incarcerating The worst of the worst The purpose of a supermax prison is to provide the extended control of inmates known to be S G Page 1 The purpose of a supermax prison is to provide the extended control of inmates known to be violent assaultive major escape risks or likely to promote disturbances in the general prison population To this end the types of inmates in supermax prisons include The mentally ill inmates subject to frequent segregation inmates in need of protective custody inmates requiring observation because of unacceptable or problematic adjustment Theory of Super Max Prisons Book The notion is increasing order by targeting the most disruptive inmates is an approach generally consonant with what some scholars have characterized as the new penology s emphasis on managing risks Jesenia Pizarro and Vanja Stenius s theoretical analyses suggest that they do not and cannot It is unlikely that supermax facilities serve as a genera deterrent because of the certainty of punishment given that placement in these facilities is relatively rare and often based on administrative decisions using risk factors over which inmates have little control The seven casual pathways should eventually contribute to increased systemwide order Specific Deterrence upon release into general population housing inmates should be afraid to commit further disruption or violence General Deterrence inmates should be afraid to be placed in supermax housing Specific Incapacitation most disruptive and violent inmates are prevented by dint of placement in supermax housing from being disruptive or violent General Incapacitation most disruptive and violent inmates are prevented by dint of placement in supermax housing from causing others to be disruptive or violent Normalization via Opportunities Normalization of the prison environment by freeing up staff time to provide more and better programming opportunities for inmates Normalization via Greater Staff Influence Normalization of the prison environment by allowing staff to focus their energies on controlling and helping a greater number of the general population inmates Normalization via Reduced Peer Influence Normalization of the prison environment by reducing the negative peer influence of the most disruptive inmates Pathways rest on unreasonably strong assumptions The worst of the worst may not be among the least likely to be influenced by severe sanctions and that evidence for a consistently strong deterrent effect of sanctions has not been found Analyses suggest that supermax prisons may if anything increase disorder The failure to follow through with threats to place inmates in supermax confinement increases misconduct and via inmate perceptions that such confinement is illegitimate and unfair Other goals such as reducing prison violence and escapes and improving public safety and similar theoretical assessments have yet to be rendered that examine the credibility of the causal logic for how supermaxes contribute to these goals Supermax facilities may enable prison systems to gain control when riots or extreme amounts of violence or disruptions occur but that would not mean that they necessarily nor even likely are effective over the long term for managing inmates General Supermax incarceration is so severe as to inspire fear among general population inmates and so induce order Specific Housing especially unruly and violent inmates in isolation should prevent them from committing violent acts or from inciting others to commit them and it may inspire fear and S G Page 2 Class Deterrence committing violent acts or from inciting others to commit them and it may inspire fear and lead them to refrain from such acts after release Incapacitation General Supermax prisons create greater order by preventing instigators from causing others to engage in disorderly behaviors Specific The isolation of recalcitrant inmates from the general inmate population Empirical Evidence Unintended Consequences The rage hypothesis states that when prisoners are transferred back to regular confinement they will be so