Prison, in a broad sense, refers to places where all prisoners are held, including prisons, detention centers and detention centers. In a narrow sense, it refers to a prison that carries out punishment on criminals sentenced to death with a two-year suspension, life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment according to the provisions of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law. The competent department of a prison is the Prison Administration, and the highest administrative department is the Ministry of Justice.
function
1. The punishment function of a prison refers to the sum of the psychological pain effects caused by the state's putting the criminal's body and mind under the condition of punishment and restricting his spiritual and material life.
2. The reform function of prison refers to the sum of educational effects of changing criminals' criminal concepts and cultivating them to abide by the law according to the purpose of punishment.
3. The defense function of a prison refers to the sum of the effects of preventing criminals from committing crimes again by executing penalties, and at the same time, warning, deterring and educating other people who may commit crimes in society so that they will not embark on the road of crime.
4. Special prevention means that by executing the penalty, the prison isolates the criminals from the society and loses the conditions for committing crimes again, thus depriving the criminals of their personal freedom and preventing them from committing crimes again while serving their sentences.
5. General prevention means that the prison punishes criminals to deter those who have not committed crimes and prevent them from committing crimes.
General attribute
Prison has a distinct class nature. The class nature of prison is the fundamental attribute of prison.
Prison is a severe punishment. Prisons in any country have the function of suppressing the resistance and destruction of hostile classes and forces, cracking down on crimes and punishing crimes. Penalty is the inherent attribute of penalty, and it is one of the tools for dictatorship to safeguard its own class interests and ruling order.
Prisons in different periods
Prisons have a history of thousands of years. Historically, slave countries, feudal countries, capitalist countries and socialist countries all had prisons. Its characteristics are as follows:
Slavery National Prison: The concept and execution of punishment is aimed at revenge. The main punishment methods are life imprisonment and corporal punishment, and prisons are used for detention.
Feudal state prisons: the concept and execution of punishment are aimed at intimidation, and the prison system and prison management are cruel and dark.
Prisons in capitalist countries: In early capitalist countries, the purpose of prisons was retribution. In the 1920s of 19, with the development of penalty theory, it gradually changed into correction and education.
Prisons in socialist countries: aimed at transforming criminal citizens into law-abiding citizens.
In the later period of prisons in capitalist countries, prisons gradually moved closer to legality, adaptation of crimes and punishments, and humanization of punishments.
The current prison in China belongs to the prison system of socialist countries, and the policy is "combining punishment with reform, aiming at reforming people". This embodies the characteristics of the socialist legal system.