Jails Are Not Prisons
Understanding why it's important to distinguish the differences between jails and prisons, including those who are housed in both.
Throughout U.S. society, the terms jail and prison are often used interchangeably, without much regard to the actual differences that exist along with the confusion of what constitutes a criminal. In my hometown of Fort Wayne, IN the decision was made to shut down the county jail due to numerous human rights violations that brought on a federal court order to address said issues and spend the funds to build a brand-new facility. It’s safe to say, the reaction by the city residents was less than stellar. Caring for criminal justice topics and reform, I often would bring up this decision in conversations to see how many felt about the new jail along with reading the various Facebook comments.
“Why should we have to pay for prisoners to live comfortably?”
“Criminals don’t need a new jail, the old one is fine.”
“The convicts in there are there for a reason.”
The list goes on and on. Looking at news articles by the local TV station, there were frequent protests by city residents against the proposition of building a new jail. And once a spot was chosen, even more protests by those who will be living near it. One person who lived in the neighborhood near by stated they’re “not liking it at all because if somebody gets loose, they’ll be running right through the neighborhood.”1 The consensus is that those in jails and prisons are criminals and deserve to be there.
Media outlets and figures often get the two terms comingled without much attention to the differences. This is a problem not only in the mainstream media but also in independent media organizations – it is an issue that is common throughout the country. So why is it important to bring up?
Prison is the most commonly used term when referring to a facility where an individual who is convicted of a felony (criminal) to spend their sentence. Typically sentences from one year to life are served in prisons. Jails, normally operated at the county level, are the facilities where generally those who are accused of a crime are housed until after their trial is decided (pretrial detainee). The main difference between the two institutions is that of who and why. Those in prisons have been convicted of a crime and will serve their sentence, and this again is often what people mean when they casually bring up criminals. That is not true of jails, whereas those inside jails are typically not convicted of any crime – they are not criminals. The vast majority of those inside a jail are awaiting trial, such as in Indiana where in 2017 around 70% of those in jails were unconvicted.2 They are deemed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law (unfortunately often in the process of plea bargains but that’s for another article). There is a significant difference between a convicted criminal and a pretrial detainee.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that many in the U.S. public and media do not understand this, or just don’t know the differences. Historically in the U.S. jails were primarily used to house those serving a short sentence. Yet since the rise of mass incarceration in the 1980s, the use of jails to house the ever-increasing pre-trial detainees has skyrocketed to unprecedented numbers. The chart below by the Prison Policy Initiative shows the trend of the jail population. It may be that many in the public, and especially older media figureheads, still think that jails are still primarily used to house convicted short-term inmates but that is not the case and hasn’t been for quite some time. Further, many who are arrested without a warrant must be released unless charges are filed within a certain timeline. For many states, this is usually within 72 hours and for Indiana, 48 hours. So within this time, many are locked away inside a jail without a warrant nor charges filed against them and are not awaiting any trial. Society cannot hold the stigma that anyone inside a jail (while many calling it a prison) is guilty of a crime knowing that many inside may be there without the future of a criminal sentence.
When the local residents of Fort Wayne mentioned to me that “criminals” shouldn’t get housed in a comfortable new jail or that those who are in jail are there for a reason, these distinctions become extremely relevant. While prisons should never be home to human rights violations, it is even more extreme in the case of jails with such issues. As mentioned, many inside jails are there as they cannot make bail or are only being held and will be released within 2-3 days. Those awaiting trial may wait months before their hearing dates which during that time they are at risk of losing their jobs, children, and will now have an arrest on their record even if they are found to be not guilty. Most people housed in jails are still citizens and are not criminals, they should not be forced to live in inhumane conditions just because they must await trial. And this is an important distinction that many in the U.S. do not seem to understand when it comes to the criminal justice system.
There is a stigma that if someone is arrested, they are guilty. If someone is in jail, they are there for a reason and are a criminal. This is just not the case and the more people who use the term jail and prison interchangeable, the more those awaiting trial will be discriminated against in their community.
https://www.wane.com/top-stories/allen-county-council-approves-purchase-of-land-for-new-jail/
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/pretrial_by_state.html
I'm in favor of building a new jail or remodeling the old one. I've spent quite a few nights there to get away from my wife. Nice article.