Attica Prison Riot Research Paper

What Are the Effects of Overcrowding on the Prison System? Have you ever been to prison before? Unfortunately it is not uncommon for many people in the United States to end up in prison at any given time in their life. Chances are, if you have not been to prison

No matter how you look at it, the prison system within the US holds too many people without valid reason. The last decade has seen a lot of states cut down on crime while also cutting down on their prison populations. In the years between 1999 and 2012, for example, both New York and New Jersey cut their prison populations by 30%, and crime rates fell “faster than they did nationally.”

Today, in America, some prisoners are living worse than some third world countries are for little crimes such as thief. Overcrowded prisons can literally be defined as placing more prisoners in a prison facility than the prison was built to maintain. Every prison has a recommended capacity for which they are to hold prisoners, since there is such an increase in offenders going to prison, these capacities are being ignored and the population of these prisons are significantly increased, making them overcrowded. Too many prisoners and not enough room. This country needs to spend more money to build new prisons. New prisons cost too much to build. There are more prisoners than the guards can control safely. Because of overcrowding some state prisons are sends their inmates down to local prisons. Some prison inmates are sleeping in hallways, storage rooms and even lavatories. Due to overcrowding some prisons are producing conditions so unhealthy it is against the constitution. Because the new prisons won’t be built for a while some prisons are doing the only thing they can, freeing inmates early. Another reason for overcrowding is that more people are going to jail for smaller, less offensive crimes. Because the number of people in prison, the educational programs are limited. Before the inmate was placed near his or her program but now they are placed where ever there is a bed. Some prisons are placing inmate wherever there can. Some prisoners need special education that is not

Management positions in prisons are known to be very demanding. Correctional facilities are difficult to operate and are forced to deal with overcrowding which leads to an outnumbered staff and a continuous flow of violent and dangerous inmates. An issue that management faces is the occurrence of riots. According to dictionary.com, a riot is a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons acting together in a disrupting and tumultuous manner in carrying out their private purposes. Some riots are characterized by organization and demands, others by weak and confused formation of leadership, or conflict and violence among inmates themselves. In some riots, prisoners inflict suffering on hostages, inmates treat hostages well,

In recent studies, it is shown that… The U.S has 25% of the worlds population in prison. Nearly half of all prisoners in state prisons are locked up for nonviolent offences. The U.S prison population rose by 700% from 1970 to 2005. A rate far outpacing that of general population growth and crime rates.

America has a major problem with overcrowding in its prisons, and action needs to be taken. Since 1970, the inmate population in the United States has increased over 700%, far greater than the general population as a whole. This has led to declining quality of life within the prison system

In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the

1922 and the other June 15, 1953, these however were nothing in comparison to the events to come. In the early morning hours of February 2, 1980 two prisoners began what would be recorded as one of the most violent prison riots in the history of the American correctional system. 33 prisoners died, over 200 inmates were injured and 12 correction officers were taken hostage of those 12, seven were badly beaten and raped.

Attica State Prison Uprising September 13, 1971 George Jackson the most famous political prisoner in the 70's and leader of the Black Panther Party was incarcerated at San Quentin Prison in California. He was killed by the State on August 21, 1971. Because of this Attica inmates organized a hunger strike and wore black arm bands.

Overcrowding in our state and federal jails today has become a big issue. Back in the 20th century, prison rates in the U.S

Andersonville Prison epitomized the ultimate crime against humanity. The atrocities that transpired in this confederate prison sparked reaction and outrage at the conclusion of the Civil War. During the American Civil War, a prisoner of war was a person who was captured and imprisoned by the enemy. Both the Union and

made or improved. Parental incarceration affects a large number of children in the United States. Of which, most are of black or Hispanic descent, and of low income families (Mumola, 2000). The number of children under the age of eighteen, with parents in U.S. prisons, State and Federal, is rapidly increasing as a result of incarceration being used as

This quote from Dave Kelly shows many of the issues with the United State’s criminal justice system today. The prison population is increasing because prisoners are being taken in at a higher rate than they are released.

The United States is home to five percent of the world population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoner. There must be a change to the current prison system which is doing more harm than good in American society and must be reformed. Reasons for this claim are that American prisons are too overcrowded with inmates, which creates a dangerous and unhuman environment. The cost to run a prison has gotten too expensive for tax payer pockets, and lastly the prison system is more as a punishment instead of rehabilitation with about sixteen percent of inmates most serious offence being drug charges. Prisons fall short of reforming criminals and the government is obligated to completely reform the prison systems in the United States.

These measures were taken to ensure public safety but are now posing a problem for our correctional facilities. Overcrowding and budgets are among the problems brought about by these measures. Both the state and federal correctional population throughout the United States have steadily seen significant increases in their population, every year for the past decades. Based on the census found on the Bureau of Justice website, the data collected between June 30th 2000 to December 30th 2005 showed that prisoners held in custody between federal and state prisons increased by 10%. (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”, p.1 -2)