Second, changes in federal and state sentencing laws require more offenders to serve longer periods. Third, there has been an increase in imprisonment for drug and violent offenses. Fourth, a prison industrial complex has emerged. The method that I believe is most important to controlling prison crowding is by reducing the number of people who go to prison by making more use of front-end strategies such as diversion, community corrections, and intermediate sanctions. I strongly believe that if you…
The article “Surge in jail population adds to strain on overstretched prison service” discusses the sharp increase in the number of individuals incarcerated in English and Welsh prisons and its repercussions on the criminal justice system. According to date collected by the Ministry of Justice, the number of individuals behind bars is higher by 1,900 than 2016 estimations which predicted that the numbers would actually decrease. Many of these prisons are severely understaffed and even lack the cells necessary to house the increased number of inmates, both of which have led to violence and riots. Although many individuals—former and current director-generals—who are working or have worked in prisons are speaking out about the issues of overpopulation,…
California’s overcrowded prisons are a result of one of the highest recidivism rates in the nation . In order to alleviate stress on correctional facilities and to make them efficient, public safety realignment was passed by the legislation in 2011. The act of the realignment is shifting responsibilities of most offenders from state facilities to county facilities, and the possible changing of the duration of sentences. In 2011, the courts found the overcrowding of the prisons to be unconstitutional because they were not able to fully accommodate the inmates . There is also the possibility that a new approach to addressing recidivism could yield different results.…
Haney 2006, found that overcrowding results in correctional administrators implementing policies and procedures that may enable instead of relieving problems that may occur within a prison environment. Unfortunately this trend is evident between mentally ill offenders, because they often face the difficult task of adjusting and conforming to correctional policies. Furthermore, when a prison is also facing overcrowding it can intensify these problems. Thus, considering that mentally disabled inmates tend to become irate and violent in overcrowded prisons, it has become routine to place these individuals in solitary confinement to separate them from others within the facility (Ball, 2014). But while the Supreme Court condemns long term solitary…
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.…
a. Why has the prison population of the BOP increased over the past few years? Increases in inmate prison population are due to federal court sentencing of offenders to longer terms of incarceration, the return of parole violators, and the effort to combat organized crime, drug trafficking, and illegal immigration. The majority of inmates are individuals who are serving sentences for drug law violations. In and effort to house and maintain all these inmates the BOP has opened at least 22 new correctional facilities since 2000, as well as four new medium-security facilities under construction plus two that are still in the design phase. b.…
America’s prison culture has been targeting minorities, underclass people, and drug addicts unfairly and for far too long. Mass incarceration is a system that captures people, then labels them as criminals and felons, keeping them locked up for extensive periods of times only to release them into the underclass where there is no hope to achieve higher living. Since the introduction of the War on Drugs in the 1970’s by Ronald Reagan, where “over four decades, the [Drug Policy Agency} says, American taxpayers have dished out $1 trillion on the drug war”, the influx of prisoners increased 700 percent. Black Men are singled out for imprisonment 5 times more than white males. On a global scale comparison, America accounts for 25% of incarceration…
Are certain laws and their punishments in the United States to strict and is it leading to overpopulation in our jails and prison system? This has been a popular subject for many years. Every one is entitled to there own beliefs , But I myself believe that certain laws along with there punishments are to strict. I also believe that this is a big cause for over population in our prison system. Our country has the most crowded prison system in the world.…
Fewer Americans are going to prison. First, the cost of conserving a prison is high. The text states, “...is the associated cost of maintaining prisons and the recession in the U.S. from December 2007 to June 2009. Between 2011 and 2012, prisons in a number of states had to shut their doors, and many prison building projects were abandoned due to rising cost, notes the Times.” Second, the prisons are crammed full of people.…
Why is overcrowding in prisons becoming such a huge problem? The overcrowding of prisons became problematic starting in the early 1980’s as the federal and state laws over sentencing policies shifted into having stricter punishments for criminal activities (BOOK, pg. #). The increase in the length of sentencing for prisoners are causing prisons to become dramatically overcrowded as prisoners are forced into remain in the prison system for a long period of time even though there are new prisoners continuing to enter through the system (article What can we do about prison overcrowding). The prison population as whole has rapidly increased to forty-one percent since 2000, even though the rate of correctional officers within the prison has only…
The prison conditions in the United States are appalling to the inmates who are currently serving their time. Prisons have become worse today due to a crumbling infrastructure and currently cannot handle the influx of prisoners coming in. I also disapprove of the current conditions inmates face. Some of these issues is the overcrowding that inmates are dealing with. Budget cuts have also caused Insufficient funds to services like health care, schooling and jobs for rehabilitation to be terminated, this in return is causing recidivism rates to increase.…
The judicial system was buckling down on different drug offenses such as crack-cocaine, marijuana and opium. In 1985 marijuana was marked as the nation’s “number one problem” when it came to drug abuse. More people started using excessive amounts of marijuana since there was a decriminalization law. Eventually, it reached a high of sixty-four percent; programs and treatments were brought upon such as D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and G.R.E.A.T (Gang Resistance Education and Training). These programs were not just for adults, these were mainly targeted towards the youth so they will be pushed in the right direction.…
In the United States, prison overcrowding has reached a crisis level as it becomes ubiquitous and continues to show no sign of abating within the foreseeable future. Courts in the country continue to sentence criminal offenders to serve various prison terms and fail to utilize various sentencing alternatives thus sustaining the problem. The problem has escalated in the last thirty years thus turning into a crisis. Between 1970 and 2005 for example, the inmate population in the country grew by 700% and has continued on an…
Prisoners may face misconduct and possible effects on prison management, psychological consequences, an effect on the jail population dynamics, as well as high rates of prison violence among inmates and staff. In order to help improve the overcrowding of prisons a development of a “10-point plan to reduce prison overcrowding” (Penal Reform International) was constructed. The plan was constructed in order to help provide direction to policy-makers on how they can address this situation and ease its harmful consequences. The steps include 1.…
One problem faced in the system of corrections is the overcrowding of prisons across the United States. Prison overcrowding is a very tough situation and is a huge concern throughout the United States. Stemming from the governments “war on drugs”, prisoners keep pilling up in prisons with no where to put them, thus creating a problem for the criminal justice system. More prisoners in a prison causes more problems for that facility. As well as increasing the needed cost to maintain and care for those prisoners.…