Federal prisons hold persons incarcerated for violating the federal law. The federal law consists of, for example, espionage, aircraft hijacking, bank robbery, and kidnapping. Federal prisons also hold persons charged with white-collar crimes such as money laundering and racketeering. These are usually non-violent offenders. The state prison houses violent offenders who are gun-related cases, rape, and murder convicts are serving time in the state prisons.
Federal prisons have higher security than the state prisons; hence are they deemed to be safer, or are they? The state prisons house convicts of a violent nature, thus considered volatile. Convicts in the federal prisons enjoy better services and facilities than the state prisons, mainly attributed to the more significant budgets allocations. Under the federal prisons, convicts are mostly rehabilitated as opposed to the state prisons whose main aim is to stop the convicts held from getting back to society.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons manages federal prisons, whereas the state runs the state prisons. Under the federal prison, prisoners can be moved within any federal facility in the country, whereas there is no movement of prisoners in state prisons. Federal prison sentences tend to be longer than the state prisons. The sentences in federal prisons are served to serve almost or to their full periods while in state-run prisons, parole can be given hence a shorter sentence.
The types of prison-based programs allowed in correctional facilities are probation and parole. Probation is a period of supervision by a probation officer when out of prison. The program requires the offenders to maintain a law-abiding behavior and maybe incarcerated if found breaking the law when still in probation. There are rules regarding the behavior of a person in probation as one may be restrained from potential endangering people’s lives, depending on the charge convicted with. For some, possession of firearms is prohibited while others’ possession of drugs or alcohol is restricted and may be advised to take a drug test. Parole refers to the temporary release of a convict after he or she has shown signs of been reintegrated back to society. The Parolee has to follow certain laid out guidelines and has a supervising officer to monitor him or her and whom the Parolee is supposed to report to. The Parolee has to follow the guidelines, or there is a risk that the parole officer may petition the court for the Parolee to be sent back to prison if found breaking the law.
There are pros and cons to the program being rolled out in correctional facilities. The advantages of the programs are that it helps convicts reintegrate into the community as the convicts are taught how to be law-abiding citizens again. This leads to the decongestion of the prisons; hence better services are offered to the remaining convicts. The convicts are provided with fresh opportunities in the community hence can become dependable citizens to the society. Probation and parole also reduce the cost of expenses to taxpayers as it is cheaper to have a supervising officer to convicts on parole than when incarcerated.
There are, however, cons to the programs being rolled out in correctional facilities. There is a chance that the convict may become a repeat offender and commit the same crimes or different crimes. This poses a risk to the society as it means close supervision should be done on each of the parolees, which is a strain to the justice system financially.
There is also the risk that the parolees will not be able to fend for themselves as they find getting employment opportunities hard to come by. This magnifies the risk of repeat offense as some struggle from substance abuse and also homelessness. There is also the infringement of individual liberty of the paroles due to being subjected to close supervision by the parole officers due to close supervision.
