Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TANESHA - State and Federal Prison Systems
TANESHA - State and Federal Prison Systems
cc
TANESH BRENNO
2-27-11
LARRY DOYLE
c
cc
There are many differenced between state and Federal prison systems. One of the main
differences is that federal prison systems are for conviction under federal laws. State prisons are similar in
all concepts and applications but are for convictions under state statuses. According to the reading, state
prisons are owned and operated by the state. Mostly all of the inmates in state prisons are arrested,
charged, and convicted of crimes while in the state«state crimes. Federal prisons are owned and operated
by the federal government, Bureau of Prisons. People who are detained in federal prisons have either
committed a federal crime, native to America, or are ex-military. Inmates in federal prisons can be
transferred all over to other federal prisons. An example of what I mean is, let¶s say that a man gets
arrested, convicted, and charged with conspiracy of transporting and intent to distribute a controlled
State prisons were popular in the 16th and 17th century, but they were not used for the same thing
they are used for today. Back then, the prisons were used to hold people until their trials or hold them
until there was a punishment figured out for them. It was very rare that they would be punished by going
to prison. Children, women, and men were all detained in one building, together. The whole purpose of
state prisons is to classify offenders on levels 1-5. The higher the level is the severity of the crime they
committed. The levels of state prisons are: Close, Medium, medium I, medium II, and medium III. They
are assigned in order of public safety risks. Inmates in close custody present the highest risk, and inmates
in medium III present the least risk. Along with these are also control statuses, these include: Maximum,
death row, intensive, safe keeper, disciplinary, administrative, and protective. These further restrict the
The five state prison systems described in the text are North Dakota, Louisiana, Texas, California,
and Minnesota prison system. Each of these five state systems has adopted their own punishment than
another state. Commonality between the states is apparent, with all five states sharing the same objective
The Federal Bureau of Prisons was signed into law by President Herbert Hoover on May 14, 1930
(Foster 2006). This act of congress established an office within the federal justice department. But, before
the law was established there were federal prisons that operated without any direct management. The first
federal prison was opened in the early 1890¶s, where inmates were categorized. The categories in federal
prisons are:
Administrative- This houses the mentally ill and the mentally insane.
Maximum- This houses the criminals who present a serious risk of or pose serious threats to themselves,
Medium- Here the inmates still need secure environments, internally and externally.
Close- Here the inmates are too dangerous for low security but did not commit a crime worthy of being in
medium security.
Low- This level is more for inmates who are given another shot at proving themselves. The security level
is set at a more comfortable pace, while still providing the supervision and monitoring of the behavior.
The types of criminals that are detained in federal prisons have committed federal crimes such as
federal tax fraud or evading federal income taxes. People who violate state laws go to state prison, but
people who violate both state and federal laws such as selling narcotics and certain handgun violations are
convicted through state most of the time. However, some repeat offenders may be convicted and
In conclusion, State-controlled prison systems have traditionally been seen as more dangerous
than their federal counterparts as they house more dangerous criminals. States, such as New York, require
their prison inmates to spend the majority of their sentence in maximum-security prisons, while federal
prisons use lower-level security prisons for longer periods of incarceration, according to USA Today.
c
cc
REFRENCES
Foster,B (2006). Corrections: The Fundamentals. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall.