Therefore increased prison spending is one of the corresponding problems that are brought by the issue of prison overcrowding in the United States. Generally, the increase in prison and jail populations in the United States contributes to the need for extra bed space and provision of additional services. Moreover, prison overcrowding in the American correctional system results in corresponding rise in alternative ways of correctional supervision. Since the prison and jail populations have increased significantly in the recent past and accompanied by increase in probation and parole services, the U.S. correctional system has experienced a recent increase in prison …show more content…
Actually, issues relating to healthcare have been some of the major concerns for administrators and staffs of correctional facilities. These concerns have also been accompanied by ethical concerns that are somehow linked to the health and wellbeing of inmates. The major health and wellbeing concern is associated with the mental health of prisoners given that the conditions in correctional facilities have considerable mental health effects on inmates. Given the severity of psychological effects of prison conditions, many observers and experts in the criminal justice field have been wondering whether imprisonment is the best solution for various reasons (Winters, par, 2). One of these reasons is that incarcerating mentally ill offenders is regarded as an immoral and unethical practice, especially from a financial point of view. Secondly, there are concerns that prison overcrowding could result in mental health issues or generate some form of considerable mental illness because of the psychological impact of the severe conditions prisoners are subjected to in such