Federal Prison Comparison Paper
Federal Prison Comparison Paper
John T. Marchbanks
CJA/234
02 August 2011
Robert Major
Federal Prison Comparison Paper Each individual prison, whether it is at the state or federal level, portrays a set of specific characteristics. Traits such as an individual’s social standing, crime record, and severity of offense have played a role in assigning these characteristics for centuries. A prime example of this ideal can be seen in the sentencing’s of such offenders as Martha Stewart, Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, Manual Noriega, Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Al Capone, and John Gotti. The conditions under which Stewart, Boesky, Milken, and Noriega were incarcerated could be called luxurious in comparison to those in which McVeigh, Nichols, Capone, and Gotti were held. It is easily noticed that the people placed into these two groups bare several similarities in not only there social standing, but in the nature of their offense as well.
Martha Stewart spent five months at a minimum security federal prison camp in West Virginia known as FPC Alderson. In the year of 1927, Alderson opened as the first federal women’s prison in the United States (Foster, 2006). Today, as in the past, Alderson’s inmates spend the bulk of their time conducting a variety of work details and self-betterment programs. The aim of these details is set towards vocational training, drug prevention, and personal growth. Many refer to FPC Alderson and its distinct environment as “Camp Cupcake”. This nickname is no surprise as the facility uses no barbed wire, no barred cells, and boasts a college like campus. Inmates are housed in 2 person cubicles built within the camp’s 500 person dormitory and several small cottages. While Stewart was hoping to be sent to a facility closer to family, she was pleased with her assignment to the first women’s federal prison camp in the United States (Learmonth, 2004). Ivan Boesky was sentenced to a low security federal correctional
John T. Marchbanks
CJA/234
02 August 2011
Robert Major
Federal Prison Comparison Paper Each individual prison, whether it is at the state or federal level, portrays a set of specific characteristics. Traits such as an individual’s social standing, crime record, and severity of offense have played a role in assigning these characteristics for centuries. A prime example of this ideal can be seen in the sentencing’s of such offenders as Martha Stewart, Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, Manual Noriega, Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Al Capone, and John Gotti. The conditions under which Stewart, Boesky, Milken, and Noriega were incarcerated could be called luxurious in comparison to those in which McVeigh, Nichols, Capone, and Gotti were held. It is easily noticed that the people placed into these two groups bare several similarities in not only there social standing, but in the nature of their offense as well.
Martha Stewart spent five months at a minimum security federal prison camp in West Virginia known as FPC Alderson. In the year of 1927, Alderson opened as the first federal women’s prison in the United States (Foster, 2006). Today, as in the past, Alderson’s inmates spend the bulk of their time conducting a variety of work details and self-betterment programs. The aim of these details is set towards vocational training, drug prevention, and personal growth. Many refer to FPC Alderson and its distinct environment as “Camp Cupcake”. This nickname is no surprise as the facility uses no barbed wire, no barred cells, and boasts a college like campus. Inmates are housed in 2 person cubicles built within the camp’s 500 person dormitory and several small cottages. While Stewart was hoping to be sent to a facility closer to family, she was pleased with her assignment to the first women’s federal prison camp in the United States (Learmonth, 2004). Ivan Boesky was sentenced to a low security federal correctional