The Effects of Overcrowded Conditions in US 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).

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

High incarceration rates in the United States are astronomical. According to Williams (2014), there are more than twenty-four million people incarcerated between the state, federal, juvenile correctional facilities, jails, military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment center and prisons in the U.S. territories. The makes the United States to have the highest incarceration rate in the world. Texas prison system has grown faster than any other state and has been reported that one out of every twenty adults were in the corrections system under one form or another (Texas Tough, n.d.). The problem is that the crime rates do not account for the [prison] rates (Hartney, 2006). Thus, from the overcrowding, there are issues with

More and more United States prisons are becoming too crowded to support the overwhelming flow of incoming criminals. There is a job that lawmakers have to do if they want to control the ever growing prison populations in the U.S. The problems of overcrowding United States prisons includes but is not limited to, inmate and guard safety, financial strains on taxpayers, and economic productivity. The solutions to these problems include increasing alternatives to incarcerations, risk assessments, eliminating ineffective sentencing laws for minor offenses, and creating more rehabilitation and treatment programs for minor offenses.

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)

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

In conclusion, taxpayers in the community should not have to spend more money to help build bigger prisons, especially since there are other solutions to prison overcrowding that are positively effective for both the inmates and the taxpayers. The paragraphs above provide information on ways to reduce prison overcrowding as well as saving the taxpayer’s money. So far, solutions other than building bigger prisons have proven to be successful. With the introduction of privatizing some of the state’s prisons and the constant usage of educational and drug addiction programs, the problem of prison overcrowding will gradually

Overcrowding in prisons is a huge problem that we have in the United States. Overcrowding prisons is not safe for prisoners or the people working in the prison. If prisons stopped being overcrowded it would positively impact the prisoners because they could have a good chance in rehabilitating and the prison staff could keep a better eye on them ensuring safety to everyone in the prison

The number of people held in prison facilities across the world is increasing at a tremendous rate with each passing day. This comprises both the people who have already been sentenced and those that are at the pre-trial stage. The effect of this is an increase in the prison population which leads to the problem of overcrowding (Atabay, 2013).

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

Two million people, a lot of people right? There are roughly about two million people incarcerated right now in the U.S. Yes, these people have earned their consequences for their actions, but are prisons taking advantage of their consequences, taking the punishments too far, or not caring about their necessary health and physical needs. Some may disagree and say that they deserve what is happening to them because of their actions, but there are also a lot of people that disagree with them. The prison environments in America need to change.

There are many research studies discussing prison overcrowding and its affects on the prisoners, but it is also important to know how and why overcrowding occurring. To start with a summary, a growing increase in arrests, a lack of opportunity for parole, and longer sentences being given to offenders (Chung 2000) are three main reasons that prison overcrowding is occurring. Since the war on drugs, prison systems have been shipped inmates to stay elongated sentences in their prisons. Inmates who have committed non-violent crimes are also hauled to the prisons, filling the cells and any space that the prisoners had. It is an epidemic that needs to be discussed and fixed in order to ensure a better rehabilitation for prisoners and a better quality of life.

An example of overcrowding can be found in California with a prison that was originally built to house 80 to 100 prisoners; it now has over twice that many inmates, because of the serious problem of overcrowding, there are more inmates than staff. This overcrowding results in beating deaths of inmates. (Mayeux)

Prison costs are blowing holes in state budgets but barely making a dent in recidivism rates. At the same time, policy makers are becoming increasingly aware of research-backed strategies for community corrections—better ways to identify which offenders need a prison cell and which can be safely handled in the community, new technologies to monitor their whereabouts and behavior, and more effective supervision and treatment programs to help them stay on the straight and narrow. Taken together, these trends are encouraging policy makers to diversify their states’ array of criminal sanctions with options for low-risk offenders that save tax dollars but still hold offenders accountable for their actions. This paper will take a look at what is causing prison overcrowding.

Overcrowding continues to be the number one problem in the correctional systems of America. At the end of 1994, state prisons were between 17 and 29 percent above capacity; the federal system was 25 percent above capacity (Furniss qtd. in Pollock 66). Now the rate is 37 percent, and still increasing. In the United States the prison rates continue to increase despite decreasing crime rates. More people, and for a longer period of time,