This course has helped me to develop a better understanding of what prison life is like and the obstacles that prisoners endure. My perceptions of prisons and prisoners have changed gradually over the course of the semester through my understanding of the texts, discussions, and videos that we have viewed. I have based my transformation on the various factors that have approached throughout the course, each of which has challenged me to question my opinions of the topic at hand. As I evaluate my opinions on the subject of prisons and prisoners, I want to express the range of feelings that I have encountered through the treatment of prisoners, the death penalty and the media portrayal.

Treatment of Prisoners

My initial perception of prisons and prisoners starts off with my simplistic belief of how prisons are run. Until this semester, I have never really sat down and contemplated how prisoners are treated or even thought about what prisons are like. My initial feelings concerning prisons and prisoners dealt with my simplistic belief that prisoners are not treated well in prisons. I initially felt that prisoners deserved every punishment that was handed to them. I felt as though prisoners needed to learn their lesson and that the best way to do this was to punish them to great lengths. My current perceptions have lead me to believe that prisoners should, to some extent, be treated strictly. As a society, I believe that there are boundaries to this aspect of punishment. There are restrictions that should be followed in order to maintain a culturally stable society.

There are always limitations to how prisoners should be dealt with concerning issues of punishment and disobedience. Under certain circumstances, I feel that these limitations need to be addressed. My initial belief of this matter is that prisoners should be dealt with in a manner that helps them understand that their behavior, which caused them to be arrested, is not acceptable to societies standards. When a prisoner commits a crime, they should understand the consequences and abide by them. However, this is where limitations come in. On the opposite hand of prisoners, are the guards. Guards are here to protect prisoners from the outside world. They are here to enforce laws upon the prisoners who have disrespected the initial laws.

After reading "Notes From The Country Club" by Adrian Lomax, I began to realize what the limitations are as to how prisoners should be treated. This is where we must draw the line. I believe that prisoners need to be dealt with in an appropriate manner. This reading has forced me to reconsider my evaluation of what is considered an 'appropriate manner.' A man who had hands on experiences of what it was like to be imprisoned wrote this article. After reading this first hand experience, it is hard for me to fully understand how prisons get away with all that they do. They treat prisoners like dogs. They allow unsanitary conditions, such as the environment that Lomax faced when his toilet overflowed. He was forced to live in 'shitwater' for hours on end. The sad part about it was that the disgust did not stop there. Prisoners of this particular instance drank the water that came from this "high concentration of fecal bacteria in the prison's drinking water."

First of all, I find this example of prisons to be horrendous and revolting. My opinions after reading this particular article left me outraged. It is hard for me to even comprehend what it must be like for prisoners to live under these conditions. I do not think that any one person should be forced to deal with these living conditions. It is absolutely absurd. Yes, prisons are made to not consist of the best quality of living standards, nor should they be. However, prisoners are people. They deserve to be handled with a little more respect than this article displays.

The Amnesty International Report delves into the treatment of prisoners, as well. This article actually refers to the treatment of women in prisons. First of all, my initial perceptions of prisoners did not even include women. At the beginning of the semester, I believed that the typical prisoner is a middle aged, Caucasian lower class male. Though this perception sounds naïve and immature, it is only a simple answer to a complex question of what type of people are prisoners. This article, among many, has proved to me that my idea of the typical prisoner is not always the case. Prisoners come in all different genders, ages, races and ethnicities. There is no set description of a prisoner, because if there were, we would all know which type of people to stay away from. However, since prisoners are individuals, that is what makes this world a complex society.

Focusing back on women and their impact in prisons is a huge issue. The article describes many graphic details of how women in prison are treated. My original feeling towards women in prison was that women were treated just like men. They were not treated with respect or dignity. Even though I have always believed that they are treated with some value, this article suggests otherwise. Yes, they have disobeyed the law, but do they deserve to be further harassed once they are in prison? This article leads me to believe that women do not deserve this "extra" punishment. Why should it be right that "sexual abuse against women inmates is so widespread that the violation has become an involuntary part of their sentence"? This quote alone has caused me to frequently question our prison system. Many extreme incidents are explained in the article concerning various incidents; among them include male inmates attacking and raping involuntary female inmates. In simple terms, I do not feel that the system is effective for female inmates. I feel that they should only be subjected to time in prison and not additional conditions, like those described in this article. I do not believe that women deserve this treatment while they are in prison or when they are out of prison. This harassment of women should not be taken lightly because it affects everyone as a whole.

The Death Penalty

This issue is a touchy topic for me to discuss and evaluate. I have thought about it on many occasions, even before taking this class. My initial feelings towards the death penalty have changed on a day-to-day basis. I cannot explain my exact feelings towards the death penalty at the beginning of the semester. I do recall that a part of me felt that it was a necessary component of our legal system to instill the death penalty. The main reason that it exists is to evoke a sense of fear in people. If a person in prison knows that they are going to die on a specific day at a specific time, it seems as though it would psychologically harm them into fear and resentment. The logic behind this is to scare others into not behaving in this manner. These prisoners who are put on death row serve as a model for society. They are the ones people think about when they contemplate committing a crime. Not only does this tactic scare future suspects, but it also scares the criminal. When a person knows that they are going to die, I can only imagine the things that race through their mind during the last days of their lives.

In class we discussed many aspects of the death penalty: both for and against it. One concept is that sometimes the court of law decides to bestow the death penalty upon a person who is innocent. My initial feelings about this concept are the same as my feelings about it now. I do not think that it is right for a person to be put to death when they are innocent. In that respect, I think it is necessary to take every precaution possible to inhibit this from happening; which means that I do not think that the death penalty is always necessary. I think that all evidence should be examined numerous times in order to accurately accuse someone of committing a crime. Even then, I do not think that the death penalty should come into play.

There are many other aspects that we discussed that have enlightened me and more importantly swayed me into believing that the death penalty is not necessary the majority of the time. For religious reasons, I think that the death penalty is inhumane and unjust. I do not think that an eye for an eye is appropriate justice under this circumstance. In actuality, it is a hypocritical condition for the criminal justice system to put a criminal to death because they have murdered someone else. From our discussion and from my own personal stance, I believe that it does not teach the offender anything about life when they do not have to suffer in prison. If they are put to death, they do not have to agonize about spending the rest of their life in prison and suffering from confinement.

The Media Portrayal

From a different standpoint is the impact of how the media portrays prisons. I initially believed that films depicted prisons the way they really are. I know that the media can be a corrupt industry, but my initial understanding of this aspect led me to believe that the media does some good in our society. I have seen many films and television shows that involve prisons and prisoners and the way that crimes have been solved. However, before this class I never stopped to think about whether or not these films have been telling the truth or not. In my day, I have not come across any moment where I have experienced a crime or a prisoner up close and personal. To gain knowledge of the subject, I have completely depended upon the media to inform me. Most of the information that I have about prisons and prisoners has come from my reliance on the media to educate me on the subject.

After viewing various films concerning prisons and prisoners, as well as discussing them in class, I have developed a better perception of how the media portray prisons and prisoners. The class discussion on the film, The Farm, had quite an influence on me as we analyzed it. I felt that my perception of how I gain information from the media was jeopardized before my eyes. I was clued into the fact that the media does certain things to manipulate our understanding of how we see certain issues. For instance, the film, The Farm, was taken from Angola prison, the bloodiest prison in the world. However, while viewing this film, the prisoners seemed serene and calm. This initially questioned me to wonder why Angola is known as the bloodiest prison in the world. Obviously, somewhere in the video things were left out. At this point I initially realized that the media has a powerful effect over its viewers. The media has the power to change the way people see the world. In this situation, I think that the media felt that they could make something look better than it actually is. It depicted these prisoners as good, wholesome individuals whose behavior was composed and presentable.

After discussing this film, I feel slightly violated by the media. Most individuals across the world put trust in the media. However, if the media takes something like prisons out of perspective of what they are truly like, then people lose their faith and confidence in the media. Simply, it does not influence me to want to put my trust in the media. I believe that people need something to turn to, to get the facts about an issue or an event that happens around the world. However, when the media abuses the system, it hurts everyone.

In relation to The Farm, I believe that prisons often take part in this act by the media. For obvious reasons, they do not want their prison to look bad on national television. However, I think that it is necessary for people to believe in the criminal justice system. It is something that stands for our societies standards and needs to be followed. If prisons are portrayed more accurately, I think that people will be less likely to commit a crime because they will know exactly what their punishment will be. If they do not hear and see all of the horror stories of prison life, people are going to go on living their lives as though prison is a walk in the clouds. I find it absolutely necessary to instill this knowledge into the media system to further benefit the future of our youth.

In my analysis of Law and Order, I was able to investigate the way that the media captured a typical criminal justice case on television. This show was filmed specifically for a 60-minute time slot, therefore, only including specific portions to emphasize the important segments of the investigation. Once again, this example illustrates the way the media manipulates the viewer. My initial understanding of the media was that it represents stories as they happen.

In this situation, the film crew specifically captures particular parts of the show allowing the audience to see the episode from the producer's perspective. The way in which the film crew puts more weight on one character versus another character allows the viewer to focus their attention more on that particular character. By focusing more attention on specific characters in a television show, the audience begins to believe that this is the way the criminal justice system works. For instance, the show focuses on Megan Parnell and her emotional state throughout the episode. Finally, when the show concludes, she admits that she was the one that caused the fire in her apartment, essentially murdering her son. Not only is her character given more weight to show her as a positive representation of the ideal parent figure, other characters, such as her ex-husband are given less weight to show the negative image of that character. This is all done to psychologically influence the viewer.

I think that the majority of people are easy to manipulate and control. The media has this power over the audience, which can cause overall problems in our society. It manipulates the way that people understand crime and the effects of committing a crime. If people see prisoners being treated the way that they are treated on television, they are going to come to an understanding that that is how all prisoners are treated. The only difference is that it is a made up story on television, but in real life it's real. In real life, people pay for their consequences; and on television, certain characters evoke sympathy from the audience.

My initial conception of what media does for our society has changed throughout the semester. I feel as though it is imperative to not always believe what you hear from the start. Every aspect in our society, such as the news and advertising, should not be taken lightly. These different aspects allow us to make up our own minds about what we feel is right and what we disagree with. I have always felt that I could trust the media. But after reading and viewing various portrayals of the media in respect to prisons and prisoners, I have found that the media can be malicious and deceptive. I know now that I will always take each piece of information that I read in the paper or see on television and disect it even further. I have found that the information found under the surface is what counts.