Prison Overcrowding : A Big Problem

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 prisons can be toxic not only for the inmates but also the corrections officers who are constantly working. There are better ways to protect our communities than mass incarceration. In the United States, incarceration defers punishment based on the severity and kind of the crime and. For example, allow drug offenders to serve a shorter sentence, release more elderly prisoners, give prisoners a full year off their sentences for participating in drug rehabilitation, and send more foreign inmates to their home countries. In the article Prison Overcrowding Threatens Public Safety and State Budgets, the author informs “From the collected data, the Initiative found that the incarceration system in this country “hold[s] more than 2.4 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 2,259 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails” (Williams 1). This was published in 2014,

campaign donations is estimated to be at least $45 million over the last decade” (p. 2).

Overcapacity in prisons has been an ongoing battle for the longest time. One problem that causes overcrowding is the economy being in the dire situation it is does not help the growing population. Individuals are committing crimes leading them to be incarcerated. Although once incarcerated these individuals are prone to serve their full punishment depending on

Per Derek Gilna’s report on Increase in Federal Prison Population, Overcrowding, prisons have become overpopulated throughout a five-year span from 2006 to 2011 (Gilna, page 48). Prison overcrowding has become a plague in the United States for some time now. The US Bureau of Justice Statistics shows more than two-million adults are incarcerated in US federal and state prisons. There are many reasons that prisons are becoming overpopulated but not such a certain cause. To fix the problem, attention must be brought towards the causes of this problem. Its happen to become a serious issue because it affects the prisoners, tax payers, prison staff and millions of others living in the U.S. as well. To put a stop to this continuous problem, action must take place to start prison reform and to structure our country to punish criminals in manner that is more reasonable than how we currently do it in today’s world.

Nelson Mandela once said, “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” The prisons in the United States have been overcrowded for many years and require a change in order to fix this. Some of the main causes for prison overcrowding that will be covered in this paper are mass incarceration, long sentencing, recidivism, and prisoners of drug crimes. Overcrowding of prisons in the United States is a major issue that affects not only the prisoners themselves, but taxpayers and politicians. Although there are many different solutions to prison overcrowding such as building more prisons, alternative and shorter sentences, etc., the issue is still prevalent. Some feel the best way to deal with overcrowding is to build more prisons to accommodate the large influx of prisoners. Others feel the best mode of action to solve this problem is through shorter, and alternative sentencing, which frees up space for serious offenders of the law. This paper argues that shorter, and alternative prison sentences are the most effective way to reduce the prison population in the United States. Prisons and their overcrowding is a controversial topic not to be taken lightly.

Overpopulation and crowding within the American prison system was initially a result of the significant change in focus from criminal offense incarceration to rehabilitation and reintegration, a shift that took place during the 1940s and 1950s. At the end of WWII, correctional institutions began to emerge that had more lenient and relaxed programs than those of punishment, pain and suffering, that more closely characterized the institutions of an earlier era.

The United States holds more people in jails than any other country in the world. Welson suggest that it is beginning of 1970s when number of political and economic factors gave rise to prison growth. The criminal justice system make incarceration as a default solution to any criminal problem. Economic inequality gap, fears of crime, political fear regarding drugs and backslash against the gains of the civil rights movement were some of contributing factors towards increase in incarceration during 1970. The Prison overcrowding could be caused by variety of issues such tough crime laws, changing crime rate, changes to laws and improvement to law tactics. No matter what the causes could be there are some possible ways it can be reduced. These are changing mandatory sentencing laws with more flexible ones, encourage full employment a domestic policy and finally provide motivations for employers to hire ex-convicts.

Prisons are safe guards for the public against those who wish to harm or disrupt the progression of everyday life. Locking up prisoners for violent crimes has been the way of solving most of society’s problems in the twenty-first century, but now the issue of prison overcrowding has taken a toll on the United States Prison System. The range of those being imprisoned varies vastly, from violent crimes, such as murder, to drug addicts and minor crimes, such as petty theft. Is the justice’s system pushing too far in punishing these minor crimes? What about those with drug problems? Could these minor wrongdoings be fixed without prison time? While prisoners need to be punished for their crimes, legislatures need to focus on

There are ways to prevent overcrowding in prisons; home incarceration is one effective method of doing so. There are many people like judges, lawyers and police agencies looking for ways to prevent overcrowding in jails and with now a day more and more numbers of criminals are forming it is safe to say that we need an answer to prevent overcrowding. Since the criminal justice department did not know were to put all of the criminals so they decided to do home incarceration, which is proven to be effective and reduces the overcrowding in jails. Why such a hurry to find a solution? Well, because overpopulation in a jail leads to more criminals released with minimal sentencing and more put on probation which kind of defeats the purpose of

The purpose of this assignment is to take a look at an existing issue within the American criminal justice system which is prison overcrowding and its effects. Imprisonment is the primary means of punishment in American society for crimes (Ross, 2010; Verro, 2010). In fact, the incarceration rate in America surpasses several other developed nations, due to having over two million inmates presently serving time in prison (Brazell, Crayton, Mukamal, Solomon, and Lindahl, 2009; Vacca, 2004). The American criminal justice system was developed on the foundation of providing both positive and negative objectives in dealing with the criminal population. From history, it is known that previous concepts and procedures were based on English styles. However, with the rapid construction of penitentiaries and other facilities, it was soon discovered that the approach practiced in England was proven to be ineffective in dealing overcrowding and other issues in America.

Think about spending years locked up behind bars, sitting in a cell with two or three other inmates which was intended for just one person because of a drug possession misdemeanor years earlier. Unfortunately overcrowding in prisons is happening too much around the United States, and many inmates are serving sevier time for nonviolent crimes. Prisons have shortages when it comes to enough room, proper health care, money, and resources to support all inmates. The Bureau of Prisons claimed that institutions nationwide were 39% overcrowded in 2012 and the number is only expected to rise to 45% by 2018. When overcrowding occurs within an institution, the psychological state of an inmate is at serious risk. Stressful situations can cause an increase of depression and anxiety which may not

There are about 5,000 prisons in the United States.1 These prisons range from a state prison to local and county jails. The number of jails that we have exceed the number of colleges that there are in the United States. As of 2010 there were 2.3 million prisoners in the United States, and this number was growing and still is. The bottom line is that our prison system is overcrowded and we need to do something about it. Republicans and democrats rarely agree on a topic. However they both agree that our prison system is overcrowded and we should release prisoners with a lesser crime. Although some people might say that everyone deserves to serve their whole sentence in prison, the prison system is overcrowded which leads to illnesses, it costs

The United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world to make the country a safer place to live in. For example, California’s “three strikes” this law is for repeat offenders and that they are mandatory to be sentenced after three times of committing crime, and New York adopted the “Broken Windows” strategy that an arrest and prosecution are mandatory for all crimes major and minor (ALEC). Overcrowded prisons are a major problem that have been afflicting the United States for quite a few decades now. The cause for the overcrowding in the US prisons is uncertain, however there are a lot of conjecture based on researches that have been done and believes of comparison from the past to be causing the overcrowding. Overcrowding

Prison Overcrowding has become a major issue in the United States. Many laws such as the three strikes law and also mandatory minimums have played a major part in prison overcrowding in the United States. The violence that is caused by prison