Prisons and Conflict perspective

Sociology
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Abstract
Social institutions serve the purpose of transforming the society through social values. Prisons, in particular, play a significant role in correcting behaviors that violate social norms. However, perspectives of the society to institutions such as prisons are proving the reality of various sociological theories in describing social diversity. In the last decade of the 20th-century, prison departments introduced significant changes that allowed most prisoners around the world to enjoy some freedom and privileges. However, the prison departments still face problems of inequality, insufficient resources, harassment of inmates, discrimination, and congestion. The recent increase in the number of prisoners also indicate that the society has a problem where problems in the society are the cause of prisoners’ high rate. (Drake, Earle & Sloan, 2015). This paper aims at elaborating the connection between the sociological perspective of conflict and the prison as a social institution. The discussion begins by explaining the relationship between the conflict theory and the perception of the society on prisons based on the theory. Thereafter, the paper also explains the perception of the society and the media about prisons, prisoners’ problems and provides possible solutions to the issues discussed.
Prisons and Conflict Perspective
Introduction
The social conflict perspective is a theoretical view of the society as a system of unequal groups, opportunities, and treatment resulting in conflicts and change (De Dreu, 2014).

The prison as a social institution is facing conflicts from all dimensions. The society and the media have tended to portray prisons in different ways and this has caused problems and difficulties for prison department, the inmates, and ex-convicts. The purpose of prisons is to enforce morals and reduce crime by correcting and educating the convicts on how to be respectable, reliable and productive members of the society. The theory of social conflict, however, perceives prison authorities and experiences as a product of the struggle for power and control. According to this perspective, powerful minority individuals formulate laws and enforce them for the purpose of outlawing behaviors that threaten their interests (Drake, Earle & Sloan, 2015). Powerless and poor individuals are most likely to find themselves in prisons for various crimes as compared to the powerful and wealthy.
How the Society and the Media Perceives Prisons
Prisoners occupy a strange place in media platforms as 70% of media coverage on prisons talk negativities of the institutions. Harassment, torture, and killings are common incidents being reported in prison. Most media coverage on prisons has had the agenda of advocating for prisoners’ right to standard life conditions. Prisons have, for a long time, faced problems of congestion and lack of enough basic facilities. The poor conditions witnessed in prisons are associated with the very unfortunate poor and powerless individuals who land in these places. Discrimination is an issue facing prisons today because the few wealthy and powerful individuals who happen to be in prisons are preferentially treated because of their status (Drake, Earle & Sloan, 2015). The conflict between the rich and the poor in the outside world is also being extended to these corrective institutions. The judgment for offenses of the same weight is not the same between the two classed of individuals because the rich can always buy their freedom for offenses that impose fines as an option for a sentence or both.
Economic and Prison Incompetency
The conflict perspective also implies that lack of opportunities in the outside world that are meant to improve living standards leads most poor individuals into crime and land them in jail. The conflicting scenario in the social and economic ways of life makes prisons a home for the less fortunate in the society. The issue of prisons being occupied by the less fortunate in the society cause more problems than solutions (De Dreu, 2014). Instead of reforming offenders, prisons simply model inmates to be hard-cores in the society. The harsh treatment of convicts only prepares them to be more criminal than before after their release. This perspective has made the separate itself from ex-convicts because they don’t believe that a prisoner can reform and associate with members of the society (De Dreu, 2014). Because most convicts come out even poorer than before and have to start the outside life from scratch, they have a high probability of committing other crimes that would take them back to the prison where they view life as better.
Solutions for Prisons
Prison institutions have failed to achieve the social balance in their role of reforming the society. Right away from the justice system, money and wealth contribute to the composition of inmates. The emphasis of this theory is first to reform the justice system if the prisons have to meet their intended purposes. The justice system should be at the forefront of ensuring justice for all and equal treatment. Income inequality is a factor that is making the judiciary appear as a commercial institution (Drake, Earle & Sloan, 2015). The wealth criminals seem to be providing revenues for the prison department while the poor provide free services to the prisons by serving jail sentences. Sentences are supposed to be avenues for education and acquisition of new skills that can economically sustain the released prisoners in the outside world. However, is so disappointing that serving jail terms in most world prisons comprise a period of wasted years in one’s life. The Governments and various stakeholders should be at the forefront in reforming prison institutions to reflect the actual meaning and purpose of their formation.
Conclusion
The relationship between the theory of conflict and the prison as a social institution have been elaborated in the discussion, and the results trigger the need for more reforms to be conducted in the department. Philosophical perspectives can secure and important place in resolving social issues like in this particular case. The problems experienced between the society, and the prison can be reflected more properly in the theoretical perspective than through legal perspectives. Since most measured to reform the judiciary and the prisons have failed, this theoretical perspective should be used as an alternative measure to deal with the problem. It is a time that the society should reason as one and minimizes the conflicts emerging from economic social, political and cultural diversities for the common good of the wealthy, the poor, the poor the powerful and the powerless.
References
De Dreu, C. K. (2014). Social conflict within and between groups. Psychology Press.
Drake, D. H., Earle, R., & Sloan, J. (2015). General introduction: What ethnography tells us
about prisons and what prisons tell us about ethnography. In The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Ethnography (pp. 1-16). Palgrave Macmillan UK.