Prison Overcrwoding in America and England

The United States’ prison population is currently number one in the world. As a nation that proclaims freedom for citizens, the United States houses more than one million more persons than Russian and almost one million more persons than China. Currently, the United States makes up five percent of the world’s population and imprisons twenty-five percent of the world’s inmate population. Drug offenders who committed no act of violence make up a large portion of the inmates in the United States. County, State, and Federal prisons are so over populated that the private sector has opened up corporate facilities to house convicted persons. The cost each year to hold a person rises, placing larger financial demands on the judicial system. The Judicial System of the United States should reevaluate the sentencing guidelines for non-violent drug offenders to alleviate the high number of people in the prison system.

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,

There are many factors that contribute to prison and jail overcrowding, funding, upkeep, three strikes rule, taxpayers not wanting to pass levees and the fact that so many people

overcrowded prisons, as cells originally designed for one inmate now accommodate two or three prisoners each.8 Prison overcrowding has also resulted in a lack of privacy, deleterious physical conditions, inadequate sanitation, and decreased availability of basic necessities such as staff supervision and medical services. 9 Because of these declining conditions, inmates have increasingly brought suits against prisons, claiming that prison overcrowding violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. 0

Prison overcrowding has been a problem for many years now it is not something that just became an issue. There are many factors that have contributed to prisons being over crowded. Such as offenders being sent back to prison for not completing community service, receiving harsh sentencing, and being a repeat offender; meaning once they are released they commit a new crime and get sent back to prison. Or it could possibly be the fact that private companies are the ones who benefits the most from having an overcrowded.

Prison Overcrowding is a topic that isn’t brought up much in the media. However, it’s one that should be addressed more than it is. Overcrowding puts Correctional Officer’s safety at risk as well as the safety of inmates. There must be a way to reduce the number of inmates or possibly build additional prisons. Prison overcrowding has many negative effects ranging from sickness, to even death.

Prison overcrowding is a result of the imprisonment of drug users and first time offenders of non-violent crimes. The number of people being incarcerated greatly outweighs the number of prisons across the country. Prison overcrowding is a serious problem because it can be dangerous to both prisoners and correction officers. When prisoners are forced to live in crowded situations, the possibility of violence is greater (Oliver 44). Issues such as assaults and rapes can occur when there is not enough supervision over the prisoners. Not having proper security is a result of the prisons being overcrowded. As more criminals become imprisoned, other prisoners are released due to the lack of space. Because prison overcrowding has become such a serious issue across the country, rehabilitation, halfway houses, probation, and house arrest are a few alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders that can decrease the prison population.

Prison overcrowding has been an increasingly vital issue since the mid-1970s. Due to many different factors that directly relate to confinement such as increased penalization for malefactions, deliberately monitored drug laws, new criminal offenses, and a high recidivism rate, a substantial amount of inmates have been deprived of decent treatment while other ill-mannered demeanor has broken out within the prisons. A few main causes of overcrowding include a substantial increase in returning customers and the effects of the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law. These two factors play the greatest role in overcrowding as the numbers of inmates have gone on to double and then triple over the years. Overcrowding

This article discusses overcrowding in the United States prison system, due in part to mandatory prison sentences. Additionally, this article also discusses the challenges in managing the overpopulation of prisons and gives an objective look at solutions, to include building more prisons, to combat overcrowding. While the author does not include information about himself and his qualifications, his material is neutral in nature and does not appear to attempt to persuade or sway readers a particular way. This article appears to be written for anyone that has interest in a comprehensive look at prison overcrowding. I believe this to be an extremely extensive overview of overcrowding in our prison system. I found that this reading is not for those looking for a quick synopsis of issues, this is a very long and extensive analysis designed to give an objective view of overcrowding in the prison system. I found this article while searching CQ Researcher for prison overcrowding.

One the most pressing concerns facing the criminal justice system is prison overcrowding. To examine a nation’s soul, all one has to do is look inside of its prisons. Even though we have 5 percent of the world’s population we have 25 percent of the world’s prison population. The makeup of our prison population range from first time drug offenders to serial killers. Prisons serve a necessary function in society if used properly to keep the worst of the worst of the streets. In the last 40 years prisons has become a hammer where every problem appears to be a nail. This paper will address the root causes of prison overcrowding and what we can do to fix this blight facing our society.

In the first place U.S prisons are overcrowded with prisoners. There is about 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the U.S. (Ashley Dugger). One of the reasons why overcrowding is happening is

Prison overcrowding occurs mainly in big countries such as U.S and Mexico because the government is too soft with the criminals that they just keep doing it until they do something really bad like shoplifting a hot dog just to receive 3 amazing years of free food in a small environment full of murderers ,violators among other kinds of criminals, also In some states of the U.S if you are a pregnant female but you don't want to raise a child and you just choose to kill the little fetus inside your body you can

(Wanger & Sakala, 2014) points out that rising crime rates, inadequate rooms in prison and frequent amendments of the law in terms of improvement of law enforcement and their tactics are some of the major causes of prison overcrowding. Research shows that harsh penalties for criminal activities and a rise in recidivism rates are also a cause. Overcrowding is a result of the criminal justice policy rather than escalating crime rates which emasculates the aptitude of prison systems to meet basic social necessities. It also compromises the delivery and efficiency of recuperation curricula, recreational activities, and education. Due to the lack of privacy in the cells caused by overcrowding, issues of mental health may lead to suicidal attempts

When a prison becomes overcrowded its intended mission and goal becomes more difficult for the administration to achieve. It can have adverse effects on the lives of inmates, correctional staff, and even cause those released from prison to fall victim to recidivism after release. The objective of this paper is to critically analyze and research this issue in order to come to some conclusions about this issue, and the credibility of the resources used. Overcrowding in prisons has a negative effect on the inmates both during the sentence and even after.

Additional effects of prison overcrowding is the security of the prison. With a large population of prisoners, it is difficult to monitor with security checks and counts; the number of prisoners are greater than staff which makes this really difficult to keep track of every inmate. (Putman) The amount of contraband is also large in an overcrowded prison. There is no way to search the prisoners or their cells adequately in order to make sure that there are not illegal items in the prison. Because of this contraband, there is also more violence; prisoners sharpen their toothbrushes, and the prisoners use them as weapons. Inadequate housing results