A Pre-Christmas Journey to America, or Getting to Know the US Penitentiary System

I received an invitation to visit America within the framework of the International Visitor Leadership Programme from the Press, Education and Culture Office of the US Embassy in Ukraine. This programme was founded in 1940. It seeks to build bridges of mutual understanding between the USA and other countries, thanks to carefully developed professional visits to the United States for current and future leaders from foreign countries. In particular, the US State Department (an analogue of the domestic Ministry of Foreign Affairs) acts as a sponsor for a sub-programme called 'US Correctional System', which is implemented by the American non-governmental international centre, 'Meridian'.
The visit included Oleg Yanchuk, Head of the Criminal-Executive Inspection Department of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments (DDUPSP); Petro Kochergan, Head of the Department for Ensuring Interaction with the DDUPSP of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine; Oleg Veremienko, an advocate; Veronika Rogozhkina, a psychologist from the 'Aibolit' public organisation; and myself, Olena Asotska, Head of the Sector for Control over the Execution of Court Decisions of the DDUPSP administration in the Kharkiv region.
The aforementioned programme was conducted from 20 November to 11 December 2010. In the United States, they were preparing for Christmas at that time. However, despite the pre-holiday mood, all our interlocutors paid us great attention and shared their experience in the field of the US penitentiary system in detail.
In the course of this project, we studied the following issues regarding the activity of this system:
1. Management of correctional institutions at the federal, state, and local levels, including pre-trial detention.
2. Serving of sentences by female convicts and minors.
3. The role of non-governmental organisations, individual citizens, and religious organisations in the matter of improving ethics, standards, and procedures in judicial and criminal instances.
4. Rehabilitation programmes for former prisoners.
5. Alternative types of punishment execution.
6. Provision of medical and psychological assistance to convicts in correctional institutions.
7. Vocational training in correctional institutions.
8. Bringing law enforcement and correctional staff to justice against whom accusations of committing violations have been filed.
We were lucky enough to visit Washington D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; San Francisco, California; Sacramento, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Orlando, Florida; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The programme of the visit was very intensive. Thus, in Washington, we held meetings at the Federal Bureau of Prisons of the US Department of Justice, in the Senate, and at the US State Department; with the American Correctional Association (the oldest and largest international non-profit organisation in the world that deals with the work of correctional institutions); with the American Civil Liberties Union (a non-governmental organisation that protects constitutional rights and civil liberties); and with well-known professors and lecturers from leading US universities.
The programme also provided for a visit to the district (local) remand prison in Baltimore, the Capitol in Sacramento, the Northern California correctional centre for minors, meetings with employees of the Internal Affairs Service and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of Sacramento, with a judge of the Supreme Court in Minneapolis, with a district attorney working with crimes committed by adults, and with the District Office for the State of Minnesota for parole and pre-trial services (the American Probation Service).
Proceeding from the fact that non-governmental public organisations play a very significant role in the system of resocialisation and rehabilitation of convicts in the USA, we were given the opportunity to meet with representatives of a number of leading American NGOs working in this sphere.
Thus, in Philadelphia, we had a meeting with the director of the local Mural Arts Programme. This initiative uses art as a means for the rehabilitation of convicts and their entry into a new life. In particular, wall painting is used, which is carried out... as an alternative to deprivation of liberty, in the form of correctional labour. For many former prisoners, this subsequently becomes a job. By the way, mural art pleased the eyes of our entire group in many US cities. I believe that it would be very interesting and useful to introduce such a method of resocialisation of convicts in the territory of Ukraine as well.
In general, we received a mass of knowledge and impressions that it is simply impossible to fit into the framework of an article. Therefore, I will share with the readers of 'Law and Duty' the most significant theses about the US penitentiary system:
1. The Federal Bureau of Prisons exists under the US Department of Justice. The Ministry of Justice acts as an advocate for American citizens and carries out functions regarding crime prevention, crime detection, prosecution, and the correction of offenders and criminals. It represents the interests of the government in general legal matters, providing legal consultations and advice to the President and ministers. The Minister of Justice (and simultaneously Attorney General) controls and directs these actions, and he is assisted by other prosecutors and marshals in various judicial districts throughout the country.
2. There is a very complex system for imposing and executing criminal punishment.
In each of the 50 states, there is its own Constitution, its own criminal code, and dual sovereignty — state court, federal court. There are 3 systems of criminal justice and execution of punishment:
- federal — punishes for kidnapping, terrorism, bank crimes, and human trafficking committed on the territory of different states;
- state — for violations of the legislation of the corresponding state;
- municipal (district) — for committing minor crimes (for which approximately up to 3 years of deprivation of liberty are provided), and pre-trial detention.
The laws of one state may differ greatly from the legislation of another state.
2. The most common term of stay in a temporary detention facility is 24 hours, but no more than 48 hours. There is a jury trial — 12 citizens who determine what the verdict should be, acquittal or conviction; sometimes they can recommend the term of punishment. The jury considers a criminal case upon the application of the convict and is mandatory for serious crimes.
Terms of detention at the pre-trial investigation stage are, as a rule, 1–2 years (not established by law). When taking a minor into custody, an assessment by a social worker is required.
The age of criminal liability is not clearly specified; it is established by precedent law: approximately 12–14 years; there was a case involving 7 years. Bail is applied for the commission of any crimes (both minor and serious). This issue is decided by the court in each specific case, and the bail amount can be very large.
3. In the USA, there are a total of 115 federal institutions (prisons) and 6 regional offices that coordinate the work in the institutions. 37,800 employees work in federal institutions.
On average, approximately 24,000 dollars is spent on one convict per year. Funding is budgetary (citizens' taxes). There are 210,000 convicts (of whom 22,000 are held in private prisons, in which persons who have committed minor crimes serve their sentences).
Correctional institutions in the USA are divided into the following security levels: minimum, medium, high. Different security levels of an institution are located on the same territory. Convicts are held in cells by blocks. Daily routine of convicts: 5 counts, 6.00 – wake-up, 22.00 – lights out.
Work is a duty of the convicts; there is liability for not showing up for work. Production: they produce military uniforms, furniture, textile, and leather products. The salary is divided into 4 categories and ranges from 12 to 40 cents per hour. Parole: for 1 year of imprisonment, there is a possibility to 'earn' 54 days of freedom.
A very significant role in penitentiary institutions is assigned to the work of a psychologist, who communicates with convicts daily. On average, there is 1 psychologist for every 20 convicts. In children's institutions — 2 times a day for 30 minutes — a one-on-one conversation with a psychologist.
4. The most complex problem is the overcrowding of the prison population in the country (out of 300 million Americans, almost every hundredth is in prison). This is explained by the dominance in the minds of Americans of the idea of the need to isolate criminals from society behind bars. The majority of the prison 'population' are African-Americans. The largest prison populations are in the states of California and Pennsylvania.
The most common crimes are theft and drugs. 20–30% of crimes are committed by minors. There is a very high percentage of committing repeat crimes (2 out of 3 people return behind bars).
5. Guards do not have firearms, only an alarm and special means — canisters with tear gas (firearms are provided only as a last resort: in the event of an attack by convicts on other persons, an attempt to commit suicide, or self-mutilation). The maximum age for working in the system is 57 years; to receive a pension, it is necessary to have worked for 20 years. 70,000 dollars is the average annual salary of a security guard. There is also a social package, which includes medical and dental insurance. Employees have the opportunity to receive free psychological assistance.
Thus, one can be happy for our American colleagues. They primarily work in modern, technically equipped prisons, furnished with the latest means of surveillance over convicts and scanners in receiving departments; they have a database of operational information on all persons who have ever been brought to criminal responsibility, including the 'Interpol' database. For their work, employees of the US penal system receive a decent salary and have proper social protection from the state.
At the same time, some comparisons, in my opinion, speak in favour of the domestic penitentiary system: in Ukraine, a single Criminal Code and Penal Code are in force throughout the entire state; there are no such insane durations for terms of serving punishment, and there is no death penalty. For convicts in America, cell-based detention is practised, which increases a person's isolation, whereas in Ukraine, block-based detention is used; in the USA, there is no such concept as 'amnesty', and a pardon is a very rare phenomenon.
Therefore, I believe that not only do we have something to learn from the Americans, but our overseas friends should also adopt our experience in building a European-type penitentiary system.