Does the prison exacerbate or improve the mental health of those it Essay

Does the prison exacerbate or improve the mental health of those it contains Consider with reference to contemporary data on the social backgrounds of prisoners and the inherent harms of incarceration - Essay Example Crime and criminality is as old as the history of man. The society’s way of dealing with criminals, however, has changed over the ages and varies from society to society. Crime is recognized as an integral part of the social fabric of the society. French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that crime is normal and is necessary for society. According to Durkheim one of the benefits of crime is that it ‘establishes and clarifies the moral boundaries of a society’ (Henry & Lainer, 2001). From a historical point of view imprisonment was designed not only as a form of punishment but to separate those guilty of criminal acts from the general population. In ancient societies and in some parts of contemporary societies the guilty is locked away for life or is rewarded by death. Imprisonment, therefore, is not a new phenomenon. In ancient Egypt and as recorded in the Bible, Joseph the Hebrew slave was placed in prison by the pharaoh of the day and was ordered to work while incarcerated. Many stories are also told of prisoners in Ancient Rome and in more recent times with the persecution of Christians and other religious activists. Different methods of imprisonments have been used. In some ancient societies, for example, prisoners used to be locked up in dungeons. In modern society a considerable part of the general population is locked up in penal institutions. Worldwide there are ten million persons who are under imprisonment with the majority being in the United States, China and Russia (Maeyer, 2005). Prison reform, however, came under the microscope when the prison population increased dramatically as a result of many social changes in society. Countries enacted new bills and policies that influenced the prison system. Some of those policies fuelled the increase of the prison population. Sentencing reforms in the United States led to a great increase in the rates of incarceration (Morris & Rothman, 1998). One of the problems that contributes to the

MGM604-0802B-01 Organizational Behavior - Phase 3 Individual Project Essay

MGM604-0802B-01 Organizational Behavior - Phase 3 Individual Project - Essay Example Human Relationship Management (Armstrong, Michael 2006) is a strategic function of the management, and diagnosis reveals how and why people react under given circumstances and the ways and means of bringing about affinity in the workplace. Having decided to change to a new vision and mission statements, the organization faces the crucial stage of managing the change in terms of human resources. However, prior to taking any step in this direction, there is a need for organizational diagnosis, which has been described by Posma and Kok (1999) as being the research of the functioning of an organization. This is relevant as it highlights the holistic nature of the current status and helps in developing a model for affecting the change required. During such diagnosis, many components such as organizational structure, leadership, and motivation are examined to determine the culture of the organization. It is argued that such a diagnosis should be done for the whole organization and not just the individual components, as otherwise the larger picture will remain incomplete (Nadler & Tushman 1980). An organization can be examined from different perspectives. There are a number of diagnostic models that provide many different views, emphasizing a variety of aspects, but in the end a complete picture emerges. It is prudent to use more than one model in order that the culture and sub-culture of the organization are disclosed for the change managers to decide on which course of action should be taken to bring about the changes and to implement change plans. The most commonly used diagnostics are the PEST and SWOT analysis. They examine how the internal and external environments affect the performance of an organization. There is also a third model called the Evolutionary Cycle of Competitive Behaviour evolved by Strebel (1966). PEST stands for Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural and Technological