The United States has a problem with overcrowded prisons. This is a problem that has been getting worse every year. Between 1970 and 2010, the number of people incarcerated in the country grew by 700%. (ACLU, 2011) This increase is due to the change to the laws, federal and state, that were put in place to combat the rise of drug use here in the United States. When we look at the numbers of those in prisons, 25% of individuals are imprisoned on drug offenses. The majority of those incarcerated are in state prison or local jails. Over the last three decades of the 20th century, the United States engaged in an unprecedented prison-building boom that has given our nation the highest incarceration rate in the world. (Wagner, 2014) Now states,
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Apart of the management side is the fact that the prisons are understaffed. Consequently, over populated and understaffed is a receipt for disaster. There are those whom think that building new prisons is not the way to go and there are those that do. Those that don’t believe that the focus needs to be a look at the sentencing guidelines and what kind of changes can be made. Allow for more alternative sentences for marijuana possession, shoplifting, and smaller type crimes in nature. Still others point to a lack of funding for the existing prison system as the place to start. (The Gadsden Times, 2016) Yet those in favor of the new prisons feel that it would be beneficial in many ways. First, it would help address the overcrowding. Based on the proposed building designs of the four new prisons, it would add around 3,000 more beds. Second, the state would be able to address the understaffing problem. Consolidating down from 15 prisons to 5 or so prisons would help in the understaffing because they could combine staff. This proposal would also cut down on the over $30 million spent each year in overtime. There are other plans that have been brought to the table that would not spend as much money by only building one new women’s prison and refurbish the old prison to make it a new men’s prison. Two totally different plans with the end result is still the same, reduce the prison population, improve conditions, and keep people
Apart of the management side is the fact that the prisons are understaffed. Consequently, over populated and understaffed is a receipt for disaster. There are those whom think that building new prisons is not the way to go and there are those that do. Those that don’t believe that the focus needs to be a look at the sentencing guidelines and what kind of changes can be made. Allow for more alternative sentences for marijuana possession, shoplifting, and smaller type crimes in nature. Still others point to a lack of funding for the existing prison system as the place to start. (The Gadsden Times, 2016) Yet those in favor of the new prisons feel that it would be beneficial in many ways. First, it would help address the overcrowding. Based on the proposed building designs of the four new prisons, it would add around 3,000 more beds. Second, the state would be able to address the understaffing problem. Consolidating down from 15 prisons to 5 or so prisons would help in the understaffing because they could combine staff. This proposal would also cut down on the over $30 million spent each year in overtime. There are other plans that have been brought to the table that would not spend as much money by only building one new women’s prison and refurbish the old prison to make it a new men’s prison. Two totally different plans with the end result is still the same, reduce the prison population, improve conditions, and keep people