Facts bearing the problem-2

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Apr 3, 2024

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1 Overcrowded Correctional Facilities Ashley Williams Department of Criminal Justice, Saint Leo University CRJ 590: Applied Project Criminal Justice Dr. Neely August 14th, 2023
2 Overcrowded Correctional Facilities I. The Problem Statement The United States has the highest incarceration rate, resulting in many problems for the criminal justice system and the public. The negative impacts of overcrowded correctional facilities affect inmates and taxpayers through costly expenses. There is limited access to rehabilitative and medical services, and overcrowded correctional facilities put detention officers, correctional officers, inmates, and other staff in danger and increase the risk of transmissible and chronic illnesses, mental illness, violence, self-harm, and suicide among inmates. Without policies addressing this issue, these adverse effects will persist. Finding practical solutions to overcrowded correctional facilities is crucial for ensuring the safety and well-being of inmates and staff and reducing the financial burden on taxpayers. II. Factors Bearing on the Problem Overcrowding correctional facilities have become a problem in all correctional facilities that house individuals convicted of a crime and individuals in jail waiting for their time in court. There are significant influences that contribute to prison overcrowding. In this paper, four elements will be explained on the impact of overcrowding correctional facilities. The imprisonment of people for non-violent offenses, which is a result of changes in criminal justice policy, is a key factor contributing to prison overcrowding. The rise in crime rates across the country has played a role in prison overcrowding, as inmates are frequently required to serve lengthier sentences. War on drugs crusade has increased imprisonment rates, caused prison overcrowding, and increased mass incarceration rates.
3 Difficulty finding employment, community rejection, untreated mental health issues, and insufficient educational opportunities are factors that contribute United States has the highest recidivism rate. To decrease prison overcrowding, admitting fewer offenders, reduce the length of sentences for non-violent crimes, and create policies that support the needs of prisoners and ex- offenders upon release. This approach would help relieve overcrowding while still ensuring public safety.
4 Discussion Correctional facilities have suffered from an overpopulation facility. Prison overcrowding is one of the key contributing factors to poor prison environment for the people that have been convicted of crimes and must serve their time. Overcrowded prisons have a negative impact on individuals that have committed nonviolent crimes and violent crimes. Nonviolent offenses include drug possession or minor property crimes, and violent crimes include capital murder, murder, manslaughter, family violence and more. Nonviolent crimes would be better helped by alternative punishment or rehabilitation that are offered (Cullen, 2018). People have become aware of the nonviolent offenses that are occupying the beds in correctional facilities. Penalties for people that have committed a nonviolent offense have contributed to the reason prison has been overpopulated. The criminal justice system incarcerating individuals has become a burden on taxpayers, correctional officers and alternative approaches could lessen the cost of correctional facility. The criminal justice system has leaned towards options for incarceration like probation, community supervision, and drug treatment programs. With the alternatives of different ways of incarcerations still needs to be address because there is still prison and jails are still crowded (Cullen, 2018). Implementing drug policies, such as the Rockefeller drug law, the Michigan lifer law, and the Three Strikes law, resulted in overcrowded correctional facilities at all levels of government. Governor Nelson Rockefeller introduced the Rockefeller Drug Laws in 1973 in New York, notorious for being some of the most rigorous drug laws in the United States (Williams, 2021). The Rockefeller drugs laws imposed harsh penalties on individuals selling and possessing narcotics and other drugs for the first time. The Rockefeller drug laws mandated that individuals
5 caught selling or possessing drugs for the first time serve mandatory life sentences but with the possibility of parole. For second time felons, the sentence they would be convicted of second-degree murder. These laws were heavily criticized for their harshness and led to a notable increase in the number of people incarcerated in New York State (Williams, 2021). The implementation of the Rockefeller drug laws in New York State in 1973 imposed harsh mandatory minimum penalties of fifteen years to life for possessing or selling small amounts of drugs. These laws addressed the drug crisis in New York City and had an immense and prolonged impact on the criminal justice system and populations of color. The Rockefeller drug laws caused several people in New York correctional facilities to increase rapidly. By the late 1990s, the state had one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, with over seventy thousand people in prisons and jails. Most of these people were black or Latino and serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses (Fortner, 2015). There are many reasons that correctional facilities are overpopulated, and it started with war on drugs. The early stages of the war on drugs caused a policy surge that led to mass incarceration and prison overcrowding. Non-violent offenses are criminalized and contribute to the prison population's rise. The war on drugs deprives drug production, leading to record prison overcrowding (Reynolds, 2008). The drug war made people aware of the criminalization of non - violent offenders been incarcerated. The incarceration of the individuals who were guilty of drug related offenses in 2005 led to a notable surge in prison congestion (Mauer and King, 2007). The direction of drug war as a criminal offense rather than a medical issue, leading to opioid addiction. The war on drugs impacted young African American men with over half have
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