Free Essay: Tennessee Prison System

Around the time in which the penitentiary was constructed, it was by far considered the most humane and also modern prison in the United States of America. Its construction is from the most indigenous materials in the state of Tennessee where it would rest upon assisting the society that is in the area. From a glance, its view terms it as ginormous and as one of the European castles that have been in existence since the 19th century. The design proposed for the construction of a structure such as a prison which comes immediately after the construction of the penitentiary present in New York made it known for its prisoner uniforms, confinement that is for only nighttime in solitude, and its strictly enforced silence that was present during the day. The prison had 800 small cells with all being designed to house only a single convict the administration building also had in it tiny buildings for offices, some being used for factories and others being used for warehousing purposes a mandate separation was also issued leading to separation of young offenders from the older ones and the prisoners hardening.

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The prison was however constructed by Enoch Guy Elliott and then became the first-ever prison warden of the facility, and it was a matter of time before Enoch used prison labor in the construction of a new prison facility. Construction work for this second Tennessee State Penitentiary had its cost exceeding US$ 12.3 million with the exclusion of the price used in the purchase of land. The additional 800 prison cells were then opened to the reception of other prisoners. On February 12, 1898, it was officially opened with the admittance of 1,403 leading to immediate overcrowding of the facility. To a variance of a lesser or greater extent, the overcrowding persisted to the next century and the original penitentiary church was demolished the same year and the materials used in the construction of a new facility which leads to a physical connection to the one constructed at 1830 to the one still in existence to the present date. The security of the prison was at the moment, ranked at high security with its capacity being 1,400 inmates. As per Mc Cockle (1993), the maximum security for the facility was present for the adult male offenders with the Tennessee Constitution stating that there be the humane treatment of prisoners and also erection of prisons that may be safe and also comfortable and advocating for the same. However, according to Shelden (1979), there was race hatred and traditions that seemed to enslave them and necessities that are of the economy. Back at the prison that was opened at 1830, Governor William Carroll opened the prison and was then ready for reception of convicts and was responsible for the reformation of the criminal code, abolishment of whipping, branding, pillory as well as implementation of other punishments in accordance to the crimes in which one is executed for. At around 1961, the division of the probation for adults and parole was then established and in 1963, the Board that was involved in paroles appointed its first black member and also, in 1965 there was desegregation of the institutions that were for the juvenile in classification to age and a school in prison is established and also accredited with the corporal punishment being banished in 1966 and then the establishment of the women prison and it becoming fully functional. Statistics showed that in the women prison, around 13% of those whose mean age was 35 years suffered from anxiety disorders, with 12% suffering from schizophrenia and 5% suffering from dementia. (Regan, Alderson & Regan 2003)

The Tennessee Prison for Women is a correction department that is for females and is located in Nashville, Tennessee; it was first opened in 1966 and had a capacity of 760 inmates. The current warden who is in charge of the institution is Warden Gloria M. Gross. The State's rate of felony incarceration has been on the rapid increase from the year 1991-2018 has been around 68% with a variance in the types of offences committed. The women's prison is, however, classified as an institution with maximum security. In the same location, as the women's prisons are the men prison that is headed by Warden Tony Mays, the Riverbed Maximum Security Institutions was opened around 1989 and therefore acted as a replacement to the 100 years Tennessee State Penitentiary and can house 48 offenders.

References

Shelden, R. G., (1979). Tennessee Historical Quarterly From slave to caste society: Penal changes in Tennessee, 1830-1915.

Regan, J. J., Alderson, A., & Regan, W. M. (2003). Clinical Gerontologist Psychiatric disorders in ageing prisoners

McCorkle, R. C., (1993). Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Living on the edge: Fear in a maximum-security prison.