Summarize the distinction between jails and prisons, and indicate the importance of jails in the American correctional system

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In general, a prison is a facility designed to house people convicted of felonies
o for lengthy periods of time, while a jail is authorized to hold pretrial detainees and offenders who have committed misdemeanors.
Although jails still serve this purpose, they have evolved to play a number of
o different roles in the corrections system, including the following:

• Receiving individuals pending arraignment and holding them while awaiting trial (if they cannot post bail), conviction, and/or sentencing.
• Temporarily detaining juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities.
• Holding the mentally ill pending transfer to health facilities.
• Detaining those who have violated conditions of probation or parole and those
who have "jumped" bail.
• Operating community-based corrections programs such as home confinement and electronic monitoring.
• Housing inmates awaiting transfer to federal or state prisons.