What are the best strategies to prevent institutional violence in corrections and should this type of conduct negatively affect an offender ability to be granted parole? is parole a right or a privilege? what in your opinion would be important condition of supervision for an offender that was granted parole

 

Several strategies can be employed to prevent institutional violence in prisons and correctional institutions. Among them includes increasing both electronic and physical surveillance within these institutions to be able to prevent small forms of violence before they get out of hand.

Step-by-step explanation

Institutional violence is defined as any form of violence that is commonly present informal institutions, in this case, commonly within the criminal justice, including the corrections. It has commonly been accepted and tolerated as a common phenomenon within these institutions.  Institutional violence in correctional institutions has caused many deaths, injuries, and destruction of properties across many jurisdictions. It is also responsible for the ballooning budgets needed for running correctional institutions because it necessitates increased surveillance and additional staff to control and manage such eventualities (Casey et al., 2012).

Several strategies can be employed to prevent institutional violence in prisons and correctional institutions. Among them includes increasing both electronic and physical surveillance within these institutions to be able to prevent small forms of violence before they get out of hand (Seiter, 2012).

Prevention of institutional violence can also be achieved by collecting relevant and timely intelligence through the creation of intelligence networks within correctional institutions. This may enable the administration to obtain timely information from their informants and develop proactive measures for preventing violence.

Institutional Violence can also be prevented by training correctional staff on public relations and socialization skills, which may enable them to interact well with offenders in their duties. This may reduce cases of confrontation between the offenders and the corrections staff.

Institutional violence can also be prevented through the development of punitive measures to deter offenders including solitary confinement of violent offenders, denial of privileges offered including entertainment, access to sporting facilities, among many others.

Another strategy may also include putting the offender's violent acts on record to enable future reference in the course of the application for various programs, including parole. This may discourage offenders from engaging in any form of violence.

Correctional departments should liaise with law enforcement to facilitate the prosecution of any forms of violence in correctional institutions, thus making it possible for offenders to be criminally responsible for the criminal acts of violence they commit while in correctional institutions. This will result in both general and specific deterrence.

From my perspective, parole is a privilege rather than a right based on the fact that offenders are expected to serve their sentences to completion as a part of conforming to the retributive principles of the criminal justice system. There is no amendment within the constitution that supports parole as one of the rights that must be granted to offenders. Parole is simply considered as one of the mechanisms developed to de-congest prisons and at the same time, a cost-cutting strategy based on the fact that it is uneconomical to continue maintaining rehabilitated offenders behind bars. The parole board has exclusive rights to grant or deny offenders parole thus have discretionary powers to act based on the facts and the conditions presented by the correctional department. In my opinion, an important condition of supervision for an offender that was granted parole would be to seek gainful employment and refrain from any form of drug use since this two are considered as major motivational factors encouraging individuals to engage in crime (Bean, 2013).