Prison Overcrowding Data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics show a rapid growth of inmates in the country. Prisons are being forced to exceed their prisoner capacity. The growth of inmates is taking a toll on everyone including staff, prisons, inmates, and the country itself. Research shows that the increase of prisoners is because of longer prison terms, higher conviction rates, increased enforcement efforts, and a lower chance of early release. There seems to be more emphasis on keeping criminals in jail instead of helping them to stay out of prison without causing any harm to others. (Prison)
The number of offenders going to prison has increased. In 2010 correction facilities held over 1.6 million prisoners, …show more content…
One way of helping the problem would be to build more prisons and making current ones bigger. More prisons won’t solve the problem, it might simply encourage more incarcerations. Another way would be to implement other forms of sentencing when appropriate, for example, using probation, community service, restitution, diversion programs, and house arrest. Diverting to other forms of punishment for criminals who have committed nonviolent crimes would be cheaper and would keep people productive and contributing to the economy. Another way would be a system to track criminals outside of prison so that they can work and have an opportunity to contribute back to society while being able to keep an eye on them. Implementing this ideas might not fix the problem, but it is a place to …show more content…
This creates a chain of events that simply makes the rate of imprisonment go up. Prisoners going back for breaking their probation will only get them more jail time and judges are likely to be a bit harsher when sentencing them as they did not obey last time they gave them probation. Having not followed the rules takes chances of probation to a very low number. Once the prisoners get out they are not given a pathway to follow besides the almost casual “don’t do it again,” this sets them up for failure, and is not the best our system could do. There are known systems to work that would keep them from committing more crimes, but we do not implement them as often as we should. We do not implement this programs because they are expensive, but in the long run, we save money by not having to spend money on them being in prison. Requiring them to be in rehab or a job that will keep them away from crime, or simply a guidance counselor that can show them another way to live a better life would help them since they might not know how. Being born in poverty teaches you to survive and to some that might mean breaking the law. Spending some money to show them a pathway to living without having to break the law would go a long way.
The number of offenders going to prison has increased. In 2010 correction facilities held over 1.6 million prisoners, …show more content…
One way of helping the problem would be to build more prisons and making current ones bigger. More prisons won’t solve the problem, it might simply encourage more incarcerations. Another way would be to implement other forms of sentencing when appropriate, for example, using probation, community service, restitution, diversion programs, and house arrest. Diverting to other forms of punishment for criminals who have committed nonviolent crimes would be cheaper and would keep people productive and contributing to the economy. Another way would be a system to track criminals outside of prison so that they can work and have an opportunity to contribute back to society while being able to keep an eye on them. Implementing this ideas might not fix the problem, but it is a place to …show more content…
This creates a chain of events that simply makes the rate of imprisonment go up. Prisoners going back for breaking their probation will only get them more jail time and judges are likely to be a bit harsher when sentencing them as they did not obey last time they gave them probation. Having not followed the rules takes chances of probation to a very low number. Once the prisoners get out they are not given a pathway to follow besides the almost casual “don’t do it again,” this sets them up for failure, and is not the best our system could do. There are known systems to work that would keep them from committing more crimes, but we do not implement them as often as we should. We do not implement this programs because they are expensive, but in the long run, we save money by not having to spend money on them being in prison. Requiring them to be in rehab or a job that will keep them away from crime, or simply a guidance counselor that can show them another way to live a better life would help them since they might not know how. Being born in poverty teaches you to survive and to some that might mean breaking the law. Spending some money to show them a pathway to living without having to break the law would go a long way.