The California Prison System Is Severely Overcrowded

The United States prison system is considered today to be one of the most flawed and corrupt systems of the modern world. Given this fact, it is unsurprising that one of the most talked about issues in the US today is prison reform. Prison reform is a phrase which refers to the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, establishing a more effective penal system, or implementing alternatives to incarceration. The US has spent the past twenty years gradually working to improve its prisons, and even recently strives to better the federal and state prison system as a whole. One of the main goals of prison reform is reducing recidivism, which is the chance of an incarcerated person re-offending. One of the main ways to do this is to give inmates ways to spend their time that will better them and prepare them to re-enter society as a fully productive, rehabilitated citizen. This facet of prison reform is the basis for the Prison Reform and Redemption Act of 2017. This bill, which was to be reviewed on Wednesday, April 25 but is

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.

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).

In a fight to reduce overcrowding, improve public health and public safety, and reduce the costs of criminal justice and corrections, federal, state and local leaders are constantly looking for alternatives to incarceration. A number of strategies have been put in place to save public funds and improve public health by keeping low-risk, non-violent, possibly drug-involved offenders out of prison or jail while still holding them accountable and securing the safety of our comminutes. These programs have been put in place to help those who don’t necessarily need to be in jail, get their priorities straight while also holding them accountable for their actions. They have been put in place to help reduce incarceration rates, but also help those who may have mental health issues or substance abuse issues that have caused them to make bad decisions (Treatment Court Divisions).

By the end of the year 2013, California must reduce its state prison population by 46,000 inmates, which is at least 137.5 percent of its design capacity intended to hold 80,000 inmates only (Galik, 2013). With the staggering record of prison inmates, resources have become limited, creating a bigger concern for the health and safety of inmates and prison employees. If there are no solutions to reduce the prison population from overcrowding, one other major concern many people fear is the early release of serious offenders back into society.

The criminal justice system focuses more on criminalization and incarceration than it does on rehabilitation. The United States of America wins the award for the highest incarceration rate in the world with over 2.3 million people in correctional facilities. America itself contains only about five percent of the world population, but accounts for twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (American Civil Liberties Union). With a longstanding history of mass incarceration and

Incarceration rates have increased from 400,000 people in 1975 to 2.1 million in 2003; a fivefold increase, making the United States a leader in rates compared to other nations (Morenoff & Harding, 2014). These numbers bear a great burden on individuals, families, and communities in various ways. First, with 700,000 individuals being released from prison annually comes difficulty in reentering society both socially and economically; difficulty finding work, education, strained relationships, and social stigma (Morenoff & Harding, 2014). Second, the increasing rates of incarceration are disproportionately and unfairly impacting minorities, specifically African-Americans, and poor urban communities (Morenoff & Harding, 2014). A New York Times article by Furman and Holtz-Eakin (2016) states that $80 billion dollars--$600 per household--is spent on corrections annually, or a 1,700 percent increase in the federal prison budget in just thirty years. These increases have a deep historical background, many complex and interweaving factors, and require urgent reform.

less than one year ago Governor Jerry Brown signed a package of legislative bills that will be used as a means to help the California correctional department. The faculty within his offices have described this as a legislative push used to lower recidivism through rehabilitation in both the adult and juvenile systems of corrections. According to Governor Jerry Brown, one of the biggest issues that the state of California has struggled with for years is the harsh prison sentences that have driven high cost and increased recidivism. One of the primary focuses of this bill is to lower the prison sentences for convicted offenders. Two other bills that were recently signed will be used to provide an earlier parole for both young and elderly prisoners.

The article focuses on the overcrowding in California prisons. In 2011 the U.S. Supreme found in the case of Brown vs. Plata that California prison system has preventable deaths occurring every five to six days. There has been a shortage in medical staff within the California prison system. This storage range from 20% doctors to 44% x-ray technicians. California prisons are built to house 80,000 people the prisons have twice as many inmates. California prisons have packed gymnasiums containing double and triple bunks. The article states this living condition is a make shift dormitory. When beating deaths occurs the staff has no idea for hours. Because California has allowed there prisons to maintain in these condition it has been found

All aspects of the prison system have increased exponentially since the 1970s: “population size, budget, staffing, and number of facilities” (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 46). Not only does California have one of the highest incarceration rates nationally and internationally, it also has one of the highest rates of recidivism. Prior to 2011, two-thirds of those released were re-incarcerated within 3 years, most often for technical parole violations – not new convictions (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [CDCR], 2013); the majority of rearrests in California occurred within one year (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). In Brown v. Plata, the Supreme Court ruled that California prisons violated the 8th Amendment on the grounds

Jails are facilities used to house inmates who have been arrested and being held pending a plea agreement, trail, or sentencing. Inmates who have been convicted of a misdemeanor criminal offense and are serving a sentence of 1 year or less are allowed to fulfill that sentence in a jail, oppose to those who have been convicted of a felony and were sentenced to 1 year or more for their conviction are housed in prisons. The Cook County Jail was established on January 15, 1831, by the Illinois state legislator. Furthermore, the courthouse and jail were not built until 1835.

California has the largest prison population in the United States. Some of the questions asked about reducing the population are will this alter rates of incarceration, probation, supervision, and community programs. The state was giving a grant totaling $650.000 dollars from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the James Irvine Foundation, and the Public Welfare Foundation; this grant funded the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) to conduct the research. The SCJC was asked to effectively help California undertake and assess the realignment. This research this grant will provide will not only

Prisons are overloaded with inmates; there are alternative resources being used to reduce the number of inmates in prison/jail. The alternative resources are community corrections. Community corrections are often a privatized agency that is similar and different from private prisons. Privatized community corrections can give a positive outcome in the criminal justice system, but can also have a negative impact on clients. Why are clients required to pay fees instead of the courts, or taxpayers? There are laws written in the state of Colorado regarding Community Corrections. Overall, community corrections have advantages as well as disadvantages.

Interest in recent years due to political campaigns, controversies and of course overcrowded prisons. Nonetheless, the #cut50 movement has taken point and center to aid the course of the reduction of the offenders in our prisons, through reform programs that are new, and also those that worked in the past and have made a comeback. This paper looks at the history of the reform movement, and in turn reflects on how these programs can help the individual themselves and the community.

In America’s tough economic society, over population has become an exceedingly hot topic issue. However, overcrowding in America’s prison system has been a severe problem since the 1970's. The majority of the changes have come from different policies on what demographic to imprison and for what reason. The perspective of locking up criminals because they are "evil" is what spawned this (Allen, 2008). Because of this perspective the prison system in America is in need of serious reorganization. Since 1980, most states have one or more of their prisons or the entire system under orders from the federal courts to maintain minimum constitutional standards (Stewart, 2006).