Community Services Assessment

Prisons where essentially build to accommodate a number of prisoners but over the years it has reach over capacity. Today in the United States there are approximately 193,468 federal inmates that consisting of the Bureau of Prisons Custody, private managed facilities and other facilities. The inmates ages range from 18- 65 with the median age being in their late 30’s. This number is counting both male and female population with male being 93.3% of inmates and females being 6.7%. The number of inmates has steadily increase since 1980 with only having approximately less than 50,000 but today the number has gone more up. Drug offenses are the highest number for inmate’s imprisonment, the next highest offense would be weapons, explosives and arson; immigration and miscellaneous fall next in lines. The number for the other offenses such as robbery, extortion, fraud, bribery, burglary, larceny, property offenses and other offenses are lower. Overcrowding prison has become problematic as the prison population continue to increase leading to proper care and attention for prisoners.

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. African Americas are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. “Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups." (Carson, E. Ann, and Sabol, William J. 2011.) Stated on Americanprogram.org “ The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison.” Hispanics and African Americans make up 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population. (Henderson 2000). Slightly 15% of the inmate population is made up of 283,000 Hispanic prisoners.

When you look at the racial breakdown of the people incarcerated you will find that the Black population has the highest incarceration with Whites and then Hispanics/Latinos next. In 2009, there were 5,018,855 men and women being supervised on probation or parole (Gabbidon, & Greene, 2013, p. 247-282). African Americans and Hispanics consisted of 58% of all prisoners in 2008. One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001.

Mass incarceration is a large-scale problem that has emerged in recent decades. The reason for this lies in new laws and policies that crackdown on drug-related offenses. Since these policies have taken effect, the percent of people in prisons and jails has grown by 500% (The Sentencing Project). The 2015 population of inmates in either prison or jail was 2,173,800, this makes the United States the world leader in number of incarcerated people (The Sentencing Project). However, the rise in jail and prison populations has not spanned equally among races. The population of prisoners in 2015 was 1,476,847, with 523,000 of those prisoners being African American (The Sentencing Project). African Americans make up 13% of the population in the United

The United States currently has the highest incarcerated population in the world with 2.2 million adults incarcerated in 2014 (Kaeble, Glaze, Tsoutis, & Minton, 2016). African American males represent a disproportionate amount of the incarcerated population, which is defined by those confined in either prison or jail (Crutchfield & Weeks, 2015). Although, African-Americans account for roughly 13% of the United States population, they comprised 37% of the male prison population (Carson, 2015; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016) and 35.4% of the male jail population within the United States in 2014 (Minton & Zeng, 2015). The imprisonment of over 750,000 African American males constitutes a social issue because it targets a historically oppressed minority causing rippling social and economic effects throughout the country.

There are currently over two million people in our nation 's state and federal prisons and jails. Nearly one and a half million of these offenders occupy state and federal prisons, serving over a year in detention for felonies.(1) The most alarming statistic is the fact that the United States houses twenty five percent of the world 's inmates. A good percentage of these convicts are serving time for drug crimes, most of which are first time,

while the overall U.S. rate of incarceration is up very substantially, this shift has fallen with radically disproportionate severity on African Americans, particularly low-income and poorly educated blacks. Indeed, the result has been a sharp overrepresentation of blacks in jails and prisons. In 2007, black males constituted roughly 39 percent of incarcerated males in state, federal, and local prisons or jails, though representing only 12 percent of the total adult male population. White males, on the other hand, constituted just 36 percent of the male inmate population in 2007, well under their 65.6 percent of the total male population. The Hispanic population, which constitutes about 20 percent of the total inmate population, is also overrepresented but is much closer to its relative share of the total population of about 16 percent ( ).

The program that will be discussed is call the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment but I will refer to it as RSAT for short. RSAT is a program that last at least six months but no more than twelve months if needed. The treatment program will be provided in treatment facilities set apart-in a completely separate facility or even better yet a dedicated housing unit in a facility exclusively used only by RSAT participants, keeping them separated from the general correctional population. RSAT will be focus on the substance abuse problems of the individual inmate. The program will help develop the inmate's, behavioral, cognitive, vocational, social skills, and other techniques used to help solve the substance abuse problems. Within the program they will begin or continue require proven reliable forms of drug and alcohol testing, including urinalysis for program participants and former participants while they remain in the custody of the state or local government. To decrease the chance of recidivism due to drug use or related crimes, RSAT should be limited to inmates with 6 to 12 months remaining in their time behind bars, this way they can just be

The United States currently has the most prisoners than any other industrialized nation in the world. In December of 2013 there were more than 1.57 million inmates in federal, state and county prisons and jails. There has been a 500-790% increase in prison population in the last 30 years, resulting in overcrowding and lack of funds to support the system. More than half of the prison population are minorities. One in nine men are likely to be in incarcerated compared to one in fifty-six women. However, African American men have a higher possibility to end up in jail compared to other ethnic groups (e.g., 1 in 1 black men, 1 in 6 latino men, 1 in 17 white men, 1 in 18 black women, 1 in 45 latina women and 1 in 111 white women). Clearly, evidence demonstrates a racial disparity among the prison population in the United States.

Nonmedical Prescription-Opioid abuse in the United States and Michigan has continued to rise, and with it, the devastating results that accompany it. Research has shown that increased opioid abuse leads to an increase in overdose and death, increases in crime and increased incidences of costly blood borne diseases like HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis. It also leads to increased societal costs, such as an increasing number of children in foster care and increased healthcare, workplace and criminal justice costs that can decimate communities and local budgets. Many communities were caught with their heads in the sand, as they were overwhelmed by the influx of prescription opioids into their communities. When policies were finally implemented to curb the amount of prescription opioids in their communities, rates of heroin use (also an opioid) began to skyrocket and people began realizing they had an opioid epidemic on their hands. How to combat this heroin epidemic has been the topic of many debates. This article will attempt to examine the relationship of nonmedical prescription-opioid abuse and its effects on heroin use.

One in three African-American males will go to prison in their lifetime, they constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million imprisoned population, and this is not simply because they commit more crimes than other racial groups. African-Americans drug offenders are 20% more likely of being sentenced to prison than white drug offenders, whilst Hispanics has a 40% greater chance of being sentenced. African-Americans make up 12% of the nation’s drug users, but represent 34% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 45% of those in state prison for such offense as of 2005.

An offender who is charged and convicted of a federal crime, is then considered, a federal prisoner; those prisoners convicted of a federal offense and are housed in a federal penitentiary, including those who have committed crimes against a federal institution; and individuals who have been convicted of interstate crimes can also be detained in a federal prison (ABA, 2018). Federal prisoners are detained by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), another law enforcement agency of the U. S. Department of Justice; the largest and most elaborate prison system in the nation (U. S. Department of Justice, 2016; FIRC, 2016; James, 2015). Federal prisons house around 200,00 offenders in 122 correctional institutions; 13 private prisons and

A community health assessment is a fundamental instrument of public health practice. Its objective is to depict the health of the community, by presenting information on health standing, community health needs, resources, and epidemiologic and other studies of present local health problems. It seeks to recognize target populations that may be at augmented risk of poor health results and to increase a better understanding of their needs, as well as evaluates the larger community surroundings and how it relate to the health of people. It also identifies those areas where better information is desired, particularly information on health differences amid different subpopulations, quality of health care, and the incidence and severity of disabilities in the population. The Community Health Assessment is the foundation for all local public health development, giving the local health component the instance to recognize and network with key community leaders, businesses and concerned residents about health priorities and concerns. This information shapes the foundation of improving the health status of the community by way of a strategic plan (The Municipal Public Health Services Plan Community Health Assessment Guidance and Format, n.d.).

While mental health issues and violence are common in prisons throughout the country, developing solutions to these problems has proved challenging. This study aims to evaluate cannabis along with training, rehab and knowledge support inside of prisons as a solution to these problems. The legalization and medicinal movement for marijuana is one of the most highly debated issues in our country. The new recreational laws further complicate the issue in states in which the legislation is in between medical and recreational legality. Massachusetts for example, passed a bill legalizing cannabis. This makes it legal for any person over the age of 21 to use, possess, and grow cannabis for Massachusetts residents (Edelson). This differs from cannabis laws in other parts of the United States. For example, in Michigan cannabis is legal for medical

This paper serves as an overview and reflection of the community assessment assignment process for the Chinatown presentation team with the community issue of gentrification. There will be an analysis of the team’s performance in regards to strengths and opportunities for growth as well as an outlining how roles and responsibilities were formed including collaboration and communication. Further, since our group presented last, there is an inclusion of the positive aspects of our colleague’s presentations and some suggestions for revision if we were to present again. Additionally, there is personal analysis of my role within the team, areas of personal opportunity for growth, and my role within our group. The end of the reflection paper provides an opportunity for potential application of skills in future social work practice and how I will use the principles of community assessment in future practice. Overall, the process of collaborating with colleagues and the intricacies of assessing a community have prepared me for micro and macro level social work practice in communities of any size.