Essay On Ab 109

However, the mandated reductions, the prison inmate’s population would still be 137.5 % over its allowed capacity (Liptak 2014). In opposition, the State of California submitted an appeal for the federal order to the Supreme Court seeking protections under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (Newsman and Scott 2012). In 2011, the Supreme Court 5-4 decision upheld three-judge panel’s federal order requiring California state prisons to reduce its population by 30,000 inmates (Liptak 2014).The Supreme Court judges emphasized the notion that overcrowding inflicted pain on prisoners, and, therefore, violated inmate’s constitutional rights (Newsman and Scott 2012). After the Supreme Court’s decision, Jerry Brown advocated realignment in the state prisons that would transfer non-violent, non-serous, and non-sexual offenders to county jails (Ravi 2014). Likewise, to comply with the federal order Brown allocated 6 billion in state funds to be transferred to counties aiding the realignment reforms (Ravi

Corrections have existed throughout society for many years and continued to change and evolve in the United States reflecting society’s values and ideals throughout the centuries. In the criminal justice system, corrections exist in more than one form. Not only do corrections refer to jails and prison systems but they also pertain to community-based programs, such as probation, parole, halfway houses, and treatment facilities. Past, present, and future trends in regard to the development and operation of institutional and community-based corrections vary between states but corrections have grown immensely since the early 1800s and have continued to expand

As of 2015, 2.7% of adults in the United States were under correctional control, the lowest rate since 1994, however that is still roughly 6.7 million adults (Kaeble & Glaze, 2016). While the correctional population has declined, correctional facilities in the United States are still grossly overcrowded, with many facilities at or surpassing capacity. A report in 2010 by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation showed that on average, facilities were at 175% capacity (Brown, 2010). However, as of midnight on October 31st, 2017 the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported that their facilities, on average, were 132% occupied (Brown, 2017). Not only is prison overcrowding a burden on the facilities themselves, but also on the inmates. Prison overcrowding, that is, housing more inmates than the facility can humanely facilitate (Haney, 2006), places a strain on all resources throughout the correctional facility, including on the healthcare that’s offered, educational programs, and most dramatically on the physical space available to house inmates (Ekland-Olson, 1983).

County jails are not equipped to “manage the influx of more prisoners, and for longer periods of time, as well as provide ‘evidence-based’ rehabilitative programs,” which has serious implications for confinement conditions and for the overall success or failure of Realignment (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 47). Even before the Realignment Act, California jails were struggling with “crowding, court-ordered ordered caps on their populations, antiquated facilities and few programs” (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 48). Counties are limited in their ability to address these concerns because of county-level budget cuts.

Many states have now revisited their policies on sentencing and release. That in turn has brought about some sweeping changes in how prisons content with parole and good behavior releases. Many states like Texas have gone as far as even increasing the grant rates for parole while shortening the terms of many of those that are given probation. These types of moves are one contributing factor in Texas being one state that has been able to reduce its overall prison populations for the past three years. Here is a map of states and the percentage increase/decrease of their perspective prison populations.

The overcrowding prison reflects that the inmate population has grown much faster than the funding for prisons, which is controlled at the state level. In most cases, state funding has not come close to keeping up with the rise in the prison population, leading to decrepit prison infrastructure that is wholly inadequate for housing such large numbers of inmates. Without capacity to house inmates properly, some prisons have resorted to having prisoners sleep in gymnasiums, and many have overcrowded cells to accommodate the extra bodies. This overcrowding has led to deteriorating cleanliness of prisons and declining safety. Today, non-violent prisoners are forced to live in close quarters with violent ones, and the results are predictable.

The U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged the growing distress, deeming California’s state prisons unconstitutionally crowded. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled out that California’s 33 state prisons have become too overcrowded to the point where there are no sufficient medical and mental health care available (Realignment AB 109, 2013). The U.S. Supreme Court determined that the 33 state prisons are violating constitutional exclusions, under the Eighth Amendment, against unfamiliar punishment and brutality, says the American Legislative Exchange Council, an American organization producing model policies for state legislators (ALEC, 2010).

Since 1984, the California Penal System has been forced to undergo drastic changes resulting from increased legislation aimed at increasing the severity of retribution to offenders leading to an exponentially increasing prison population. In the 132 years between 1852 and 1984, the state of California built twelve prisons, but has since supplemented the prison system with 21 new facilities. In 1977, the California Department of Corrections was responsible for 19,600 inmates. California’s inmate population now stands at 160,655, an increase of close to 800%.

In addition to overcrowded prisons and sentencing disparities, I read an article that involves the state of Oregon’s prisons. It states that prosecutors were getting more and more cases and sending the lower level offenders to prison as well as those with nonviolent criminal histories. Many of those offenders were eligible for probation, but were not getting that option. In 1994-1998, the number of cases that were charged with lower level offenses were sentenced to prison and those sentences were nearly doubled (Barker 2006.) This is what caused Oregon's prison population to increase over time. Although some of the prison’s population growth was not due to Measure 11's mandatory penalties. As stated in the article, “According to the authors' RAND report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, by the late 1990s, Measure-11eligible and alternate cases made up about one-third of the Oregon's total prison population (Oregon's Office of Economic Analysis in Merritt et al., 2003:90).”(Barker 2006) The author also states that, after the Measure 11

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

The United States Supreme Court ruled that prison overcrowding in California was equivalent to cruel and unusual punishment. This decision recharged a long-standing disagreement among scholars and politicians as to whether or not courts should intervene to protect make changes. Some believe this is a matter or the well-being of those unable to make decisions for themselves. Others believe this is not a top priority and by forcing states to improve state institutions, the already costly industry will have cost increase. The journal also discusses the economic effects reform has had. Concluding that they have made positive changes at a slightly higher expense. The changes made by the state made the facilities closer to “humane” by court standards. (7)

One public policy issue that is attracting a great deal of attention is the matter of prison reform. While a great many members of the public support improvements in the safety, security and quality of life in prisons, few will endorse this at the expense of the same for law-abiding citizens. However, according to Koh (2013), Texas is currently facing one such dilemma. According to Koh, "prison reforms may result in better conditions for inmates, but those improvements come at the expense of welfare cash assistance and other government relief for the needy, according to a study released this month by Rice University and Louisiana State University." (Koh, p. 1)

As a result of mandatory minimum sentencing we now have overcrowding of our prisons system with minor criminals some of whom may be innocent. This in turn has made racial and ethnic bias perceptions due to the majority of offenders being incarcerated are of African American heritage or of Hispanic heritage. According to Sterngold, 2008 “Most of California’s prisons house more than 170,000 inmates, nearly twice the number it was designed to safely hold. Almost all of its facilities are bursting at the seams: More than 16,000 prisoners sleep on what are known as “ugly beds”—extra bucks stuffed into cells, gyms, dayrooms, and hallways. The effects of overcrowding—electrical

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)

With the population of the California’s prison system continuing to increase and reaching an all-time high of more than 170,000 inmates, inmates were forced to sleep in large common areas such as the gymnasiums, dayrooms, program room and more than fifteen hundred were sleeping in triple bunks, making the prisons