Arguments Against Overcrowding Prisons

As of today the United States has a total of 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in the U.S. Territories. Overcrowding prisons and not enough staff are becoming a serious issue in America. Everyday more citizens are committing crimes that lead them in either prison or jails. And overcrowding prisons lead to having four to five inmates to a cell, which being that close to other criminals can cause violent behavior. It can also cause lack of privacy, which can cause mental health problems and possibly even increase suicide rates and self-harm. Inmates experience overcrowded bathroom facilities, reduction in shower times, and shortened meal times. Overcrowding in prisons means fewer opportunites to engage in …show more content…
In Furman V. Georgia, the court issued its most significant ruling regarding the death penalty. Rather than focus on the physical and emotional pain of the prisoner as the grounds for capital punishment to be considered cruel and unusable, Furman 's defense argued that the death penalty was arbitrary and capricious. This argument presented evidence that a person convicted of a capital punishment may or may not be executed because the law and the state courts did not systematically apply the death penalty. But in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court issued another landmark decision in Gregg V. Georgia, which required bifurcated trail structure. This required that trails for capital offenses had to be conducted in two separate parts. The first part of the trail, the jury determines the guilt of the defendant. And in the second part, after the defendant has been convicted, additional evidence can be an be introduced relevant to the punishment appropriate for the