Incarcerated People In Prisons

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).

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

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 proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops

Standing as one the most dominant agencies operating within the criminal justice system, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a detrimental factor that has proven to materialize the very aspects of which to expand the dynamics of maintaining care, control, and custody of federal inmates. Albeit as it may that the agency’s establishment fails to loom too far into the crevices of history, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has surpassed a multitude of platforms that has propelled its strengths today far beyond what its founders could have imagined. However, given the magnitude of such feat as the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been bombarded with, challenges such as, but not limited the swift rate of inmates incarcerated, has greatly hindered the

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 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

California is known for many things: beaches, sunshine, surfing, and some of the most crowded prisons found in America. California’s state prisons have long been faced with the issue of overcrowding, largely due to California’s tough-on-crime laws put into place to keep crime rates low and discriminate against criminal activity. Unfortunately, these laws have backfired and now serve to keep far too many non-violent Californians locked for much longer than necessary. This has led severe overcrowding within the California prison system to the point where the federal government has become involved in solving the issue.

The incarcerated individuals within the correctional facilities in Canada make up one of the highest risk population groups for HIV and it continues to be a significant problem within the Canadian correctional facilities (Chu, Elliott, & Canadian HIV/AIDS network, 2009). Canadian prisoners make up a substantial chunk of the individuals infected with HIV as whole, inside and outside of the prison system (Chu, Peddle, & Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network, 2010). The HIV rate in Canadian prisons remains relatively stable, which is good news, however, there is not a whole lot done in order to help the individuals who are infected with HIV at the moment (Public health agency of Canada, 2012). During the years of 2009 and 2010 there were 13,500 incarcerated inmates and of that population roughly 2% were infected with HIV, this did not include the individuals who have not disclosed their HIV status to prison officials; or those who are HIV positive but have not been tested for the virus (Public health agency of Canada, 2012). An article written by Bonnycastle and Villebrun, (2011) found that the CSC infectious disease surveillance system estimates that 70% of prisoners remain unscreened for HIV, because the prisoners at the highest risk for the disease are more likely to forgo the testing. Drug use is prohibited within Canadian prisons, however, it still continues to be a problem with the inmates (Correctional service of Canada, 2015). Drug use is the biggest reason that inmates are

As we all know – there are tons of social issues within the entire world that Criminal Justice Practitioners deal with, most likely, on a daily basis. One of the many social issues I’ve chosen is Prison Overcrowding.

In this society it is easy to dismiss people as crazy, lazy, or violent without knowing a person’s full background. We all come from different walks of the life and we have a tendency to turn a blind eye to that fact. I look at our prison system and see an array of people incarcerated for many different reasons. The background and upbringing of a person plays a vital role in the type of person someone is going be when they grow up. A person who grew up in a home of violence will have to make a decision about their future. The things seen as a child will either cause a person to break mentally or they will have the determination to do better for their family and themselves. In some cases, a person will have to seek help in order to obtain

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)

Newman and Scott (2012) examined California’s prison system and revealed an overcrowding crisis that has created elements of cruel and unusual conditions for inmates. According to Newman and Scott (2012), “Overcrowding was the primary cause of the inmates’ inadequate medical and mental health care” (p. 457). State prisons in California could only accommodate approximately 85,000 inmates; however, it is documented that California’s prisons has exceeded well above its limit and doubled its number to approximately 156,000 inmates (Newman & Scott, 2012). As a result, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered state officials to redistribute and reduce 137.5 percent of its prison population (Newman & Scott, 2012). Delivering timely medical and psychiatric care for inmates are heavily emphasized in the Brown v. Plata Supreme Court decision. Research from Newman and Scott (2012) indicate California’s ongoing financial crisis and how it greatly contributes to prison overcrowding, inmate living conditions, security measures, and filling in vacancies for physicians and psychiatrists. Another controversial issue discussed in Newman and Scott’s (2012) journal is the use of maximum-security facilities within California’s state penitentiary. Prison

There are three different types of offenders in prison. Among the prison population are special offense inmates, special needs inmates and special population inmates. Special offense inmates are prisoners with substance abuse history, sex offenders and terrorists. The Bureau recognizes sex offenders as a vulnerable population within a prison setting. Some sex offenders are designated to facilities where they receive specialized services. Drug offenders accounted for more than half the total increase in parole violators returned to State prisons (Beck 2000b ).

The offenders on my caseload are on probation or parole as of result of poor choices. The crimes committed by these individuals range from drug offense to crimes of a violent nature. Regarding the offenders on my case load, some of the thinking errors I have observed from them in my brief time as a community supervision officer is they cannot accept responsibility for there action. Some offenders claim to be victims of the system, having been denied access to resources which could have caused them to have a better life. In one situation I had the opportunity to have a in depth conversation with an offender who spent the majority of his life incarcerated; he share his life story with me and what I gathered from that was how he was living was