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Prison Security

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course

Professor’s Name

Date
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Prison Security

Once a court convicts a person for being a criminal, they receive a sentence from serving

their punishment regarding the number of offences committed. When the government constructs

prison or rehabilitation centers, they aim to reform lawbreakers into responsible people once they

go back to society. In those centers, the prisoners are assigned prison wardens accountable for

ensuring peace and order are maintained. Managing prisoners is challenging since most of them

tend to be rebellious and unruly as they have a background in being criminals. As criminal cases

are on the rise, the prisons centers seem to be overpopulating, challenging the running of the

facilities. It has led to prisoners being cramped in one place, especially in the American jail,

resulting in poor living conditions. The health of prisoners has been deteriorating as they are

congested, and accessing medical services is challenging. As much as jail is more of changing

the ways of a criminal to a reformed person, they should be given a fair environment as at the

end of it all; they are still human. The poor condition in jail has caused Leann Bertsch, a prison

officer in Dakota Rehabilitation center, to travel to Norway to learn about how the prisons are

more accommodating than North Dakota in America. The prison systems in Norway were good

compared to how they run their facilities by putting people into a cage-like structure, making her

emotional. America is regarded as a superpower nation due to tremendous growth; it is still

lagging in providing for its citizens; thus, the prison centers need better upgrading to match

Norway.

During her trip to Norway, Bertsch discovered that the prison facilities did not possess

the guard towers or barbed and electric fences acting as barriers. Prisons had access to private

rooms where they could have their bathrooms which is important in prison. They have the

privilege of cooking for themselves in an equipped kitchen. The relationship between the
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wardens and prisons was good as they could socialize by eating and playing even sports together,

which made violence or riots end. Those prisons acted more of a haven than a prison known to

be heavily guarded in America as prisoners are heavily guarded. When a convict commits an

offence, it is placed in an isolation room, affecting their mental health as they experience

suffering twice. Congestion in prisons increased, causing prisoners to share beds that were

unhygienic. After visiting, Bertsch decided to add an impact by correcting how detainees were

treated (Thordson 2018). They ensure no mistreating of recidivists, involving them in activities

that helped them acquire skills like participating in games. With new policies enforced to bring

sanity in rehabilitation centers, violence and threats from inmates or workers have decreased,

making the environment conducive. As much as the government was to change criminals'

behaviour and aim to commit an offence, prisons should emphasize reforming, not entry to

misery.
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Reference

Thordson, E. (2018). Designing for Humanity. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/211310531.pdf