This document discusses and compares American jails and prisons. Jails are run by local governments and hold those awaiting trial or serving sentences less than one year. Prisons are run by state or federal governments and incarcerate those convicted of felonies serving over one year. In recent decades, privatized prisons owned by corporations have emerged, though there is debate around their impact and incentives. The document also describes a specific county's plans to replace an overcrowded jail with a new larger facility.

1. LOCKUP Inside American jails And prisons Steven Severt

2. LOCKUP: Inside American Jails and Prisons Here, we will take a look inside American jails and prisons. And, discuss the roles and explain the differences between the two.

3. Jails in the United States

4. Arrest & Booking After a suspect or criminal is arrested they are brought to a local jail, which is where they will spend their time before trial. The first step in this process is “booking”.

5. Booking When an inmate goes through booking they are fingerprinted and photographed before they are placed in a cell. In 2005 local jails in the U.S. Had booked over 800,000 inmates. (Jail, n.d.)

6. JAILS in the U.S. Jails in the U.S. Are operated by city or county governments. They generally house prisoners who are awaiting trial or serving a sentence shorter than one year.

7. Percentage of detainees being held before trial and conviction A 2005 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that 62% of inmates In U.S. Jails have not yet been convicted. (Jail, n.d.) The other 38% would have Been convicted, but they Are serving less than 1 year.

8. Alternative programs provided by jails in the United States Rather than house all of our inmates in our jails inmates are often offered alternative programs. This saves space in our overcrowded facilities and helps to integrate the inmates into society.

9. Alternative programs provided by jails in the United States These programs include: Community service Work release Weekend reporting Electronic monitoring And other programs. Burke County jail inmates Keeping their streets clean

10. Can I get a room? Not all local jails are overcrowded, however, and many lease space when it is available to house inmates from federal prisons, state prisons, and from other counties for a profit.

11. Prisons in the United States

12. Prisons: a brief history Imprisonment has been mentioned as far back as the Old Testament, but their use was more like our current jails: a holding facility to house the condemned until punishment was administered.

13. Prisons: a brief history Imprisonment didn't become an actual punishment until the 19 th century in Britain. These prisons, using the incarceration as the punishment, became the model for the U.S. Prison system. (Prison, n.d.)

14. Prisons in the United States Incarceration in a prison, or “penitentiary” is the most common form of punishment for criminals that commit felonies in the United States.

15. Prisons in the United States Unlike jails, where most misdemeanor offenders are housed for sentences of one year or less, prison inmates have usually committed serious offenses and are serving sentences longer than one year.

16. Prisons in the United States U.S. Prisons are operated by the federal government as well as by state governments. The U.S. Has the highest incarceration rate in the world. “More than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008.” (Incarceration, n.d.)

17. Prisons in the United States Prison facilities have varying levels of security that range from: Minimum-security Medium-security Maximum-security And lastly “super max” facilities that house our most dangerous criminals. (Incarceration, n.d.) Zacarias Moussaoui is one of the Conspirators of the September 11 Attacks, he is being held at the Federal ADX Supermax prison in Colorado.

18. Duration of Incarceration An inmate serves a sentence that is handed down by a judge after the felon has been tried and convicted, or has agreed to a plea bargain set up between the court and the prosecuting attorney.

19. Duration of Incarceration Once convicted, based on the charges, the offender can serve: A set number of years behind bars Life behind bars with parole Life behind bars without parole And, some states allow the death penalty in capital cases where the offender would serve his time until his execution on death row, which is in a maximum-security prison.

20. Privatized Prisons

21. Privatized Prisons In the last three decades, prisons owned by corporations, rather than the government, have sprung up across the United States.

22. Privatized Prisons Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is one of the largest privatized prison corporations in the United States.

23. Privatized Prisons Privatized prisons have been in constant debate since their inception, but supporters say it is much cheaper to house inmates in privatized prisons than it is in public ones. (Incarceration, n.d.)

24. Privatized Prisons Advocates against privatized prisons usually argue that you can not guarantee the quality of the services in a privately owned facility They also bring the corporation's motives into question as making profit off of housing inmates might make for some to lobby to keep inmates in their cells as to keep profits high. (Incarceration, n.d.)

25. New Mercer County Jail project

26. New Mercer County jail project Our current Mercer County jail was built in 1939 and houses fifteen inmates. It is located on West Livingston street in my hometown of Celina, Ohio.

27. New Mercer County jail project Due to overcrowding in our current facility, our sheriff has considered building a new jail for many years. In 2003, after someone broke out of our current jail, the decision was made to begin planning the new facility (Jail Facts and Figures, n.d.). Groundbreaking for the new Mercer County jail

28. New Mercer County jail project The new facility would house 100 inmates. It would help in offering programs such as work release, drug rehabilitation, and other community oriented programs, which our current jail has trouble offering because it's basement had been converted into work release cells, and the basement frequently floods (Jail facts and figures, n.d.)

29. New Mercer County jail project The project was estimated to cost tax payers 12 million dollars to build. In 2007, Mercer County voters voted for a .5% tax increase to pay for the new facility (Cox, 2007) Sheriff Jeff Grey goes over the Outcome of the 2007 vote That allowed him to build our new jail.

30. New Mercer County jail project The new jail is currently under construction and is slated to open late 2009 or early 2010.

31. References

32. References Cox, T. (2007). Mercer County jail tax barely passes. Retrieved from http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/story_single.php?rec_id=4504 On 12/14/08. Incarceration in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States On 12/14/08. Jails. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jail On 12/13/08. Jail Facts and Figures. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://userpages.bright.net/~wkki/outlook/jail.htm On 12/13/08. Prison. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison On 12/14/08.