The criminal justice system in this country orders crime and punishment in a very organized manner to ensure-to the best of its ability-that justice is served, and the guilty pay for their crimes committed. One of the main means of community punishment for serious crimes is incarceration, otherwise known as doing time. While there are set state and federal regulations for the sentencing of prison terms and how long each term should be, according to criminal history, jurisdiction, and the nature of the crime committed; few people know that there are also different types of prisons, or ways in which criminal proceed with doing time. In the following discussion, we review the different kinds of correctional facilities that inmates can serve their terms in, as well as how their crimes relate to standard and alternative means of doing time.
When most people think of doing time, they think of the standard prison found in most movies; when in actuality, there are a number of different types of jails and prisons, based on security, the nature of the crime, and also any extenuating circumstances specific to the particular case. There are three basic ways in which means of incarceration can vary: by security measures, jurisdiction, and specialized purposes. Depending on what crime the convicted criminal has committed and the nature of this crime, will most often determine in what sort of U.S. correctional facility they will be housed for fulfilling their appropriate sentence.
The first means that orders what sort of doing time facility a criminal may be sent to is dependent upon jurisdiction. The way the criminal justice system works is that for every classification of crime, there is a minimum and maximum federally-regulated sentence that a court can extend punishment between. Depending on the severity of a crime determines how the defendant will be sentenced in the court system. Felonies and serious misdemeanors are most often handled at the state and county court levels; misdemeanors and minor infractions are processed at the municipal levels, and federal offenses are heard at the federal district court levels. The classification of crime determines not only the court in which the case should be handled, but also the incarceration facility that a guilty party should serve their term in. For example, a defendant convicted of murder, will most probably serve their prison term in a state or county prison, as these are the jurisdictions that handle crimes of this nature. Conversely, while jail terms are not usually extended for minor crimes or infractions, some courts will send offenders to serve terms in the local jail.
Secondly, doing time can also vary according to the security level required to house the inmates that will serve their terms there. As regards security, there are four basic levels of security prisons: minimum, low, medium, and high security. As one would assume, inmates that have committed more serious crimes are placed at higher security prisons-complete with stricter enforced monitoring and more security officers per inmate. Those convicted of lesser crimes are-on the other hand-placed in prisons with lesser security measures.
Lastly, besides the standard prisons so typical of housing inmates of every criminal nature and security level; there are also more specialized and alternative correctional facilities that criminals will end up doing timeat. While there are a wide array of these centers and camps, the most commonly used are: boot camps, juvenile detention centers, mental health facilities, podular jails, and administrative prisons. All of these alternatives to the standard environments of doing time; offer staff, service, and rehabilitation programs that are specifically geared to certain types of criminals, and fostering the optimum means of punishment and rehabilitation for the type of crime committed.