Prison Overcrowding

The overcrowding in prisons has become a serious threat to public health. A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office “predicted that overcrowding would climb to more than 45% above the Bureau of Prison’s maximum capacity by 2018”. As a result, prisons are faced with limited funding to provide adequate healthcare and medical treatments to their prisoners. Consequently, prisons fail to meet health standards putting the life of prison staff, visitors, and inmates at risk for diseases…

factors contributing to this problem. In recent years, America has taken new approaches to crime, such as the “War On Drugs” and the “Three Strikes” law. These approaches have drastically increased the prison population, to the point that 1 in 31 adults, or 3.2% of the population, will spend some time in prison in their lifetime (ibid). There are many reasons for the amount of prisoners, but one reason in particular stands out: the strict sentences…

rate in the world. The prison population rate had increased immediately after 1970 with increase number of 1.3million inmates while the incarceration rate increased with number of 400 per 100,000 (Clear et al., 2013). However, there seems to be little relationship between the crime rate and the incarceration rate. The United States prison overcrowding results from the increment in the rate of arrest and the approach to sentencing as the major means of punishment. Most prisons are relatively…

Throughout the United States overcrowding in correctional facilities has posed a universal violation of Human Rights in offender’s health and security. The United States Criminal Justice System and Human Rights Violations are recognized within the United Nations Charter- UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime violate article 1 & 5 and article 7 & 10 (1) of the ICCPR and of the 8th amendment Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, degrading Treatment or Punishment…

Overcrowding and mass incarceration have been problems in the United States prisons for decades. Overcrowding can be traced back to the late 1970 's with an inmate population increase of 750% from the 70 's to present(Rogan). This increasing number of prisoners has had major negative effects, not only on the inmates themselves, but also on the surrounding communities that these inmates have been taken from and will eventually be released back into. The more mass incarceration that goes on the…

someone caused you and your family? The death penalty should be made legal in the United States because it allows for justice to be given to those people who have committed vigorous crimes and most importantly, it decreases the chances of overcrowding in prisons, where dangerous criminals could potentially be let free. The death penalty is a controversial yet essential topic that is debated about throughout the world. “An eye for an eye” and “They get what they deserve”, is what comes…

Since the early 1970’s, overcrowding in prisons has been a major problem throughout the whole United States correctional system. The boom in prison population came from various movements going on in the United States in the middle to late 20th century, which led to police officers arresting criminals for even the pettiest of offenses. The overcrowding in prisons was derived from the very costly War on Drugs, the Get Tough on Crime movement, which encouraged the state of California’s three…

There are solutions to deal with prison overcrowding that have been proven to work. These come in the form of “reduction programs”. Most prison population reduction programs are founded on the principles of releasing prisoners as appropriately as possible to make space for new inmates. Furthermore, as quoted from Pitts, Griffin, and Johnson on reduction programs: “Generally referred to as backdoor strategies, prison population reduction usually entails providing early release incentives to…

The mordern prison system was born in London during 19 the century and it influenced by utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham. Bentham introduced a principle that prisoners should incarcerated as a part of their punishment and not for holding them until trial or hanging. His thinking influence the establishment of the first prisons used as criminal rehabilitation centers. Therefore at the time when implementations of capital punishment on variety of petty crimes were declined the notion of…

States, Brown v. Plata, required a significant reduction in the prison population of the State of California. The Court held that overcrowding of prison facilities led to eighth amendment violations related to inadequate health and mental health care services which contributed to unnecessary and preventable deaths (Brown v. Plata). This case appropriately demonstrates that mass incarceration is unsustainable with the current prison facilities. Furthermore, there are inadequate resources…