The Failure Of Prison Overcrowding In The United States

For many years, drugs have been the center of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States. Due to this widespread epidemic, President Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 with a campaign that promoted the prohibition of illicit substances and implemented policies to discourage the overall production, distribution, and consumption. The War on Drugs and the U.S. drug policy has experienced the most significant and complex challenges between criminal law and the values of today’s society. With implemented drug polices becoming much harsher over the years in order to reduce the overall misuse and abuse of drugs and a expanded federal budget, it has sparked a nation wide debate whether or not they have created more harm than good. When looking at the negative consequences of these policies not only has billions of dollars gone to waste, but the United States has also seen public health issues, mass incarceration, and violent drug related crime within the black market in which feeds our global demands and economy. With this failed approach for drug prohibition, there continues to be an increase in the overall production of illicit substances, high rate of violence, and an unfavorable impact to our nation.

After exploring options of which states had the most overcrowding in prisons, the best option to go with was California because states like Alabama and Massachusetts did not have current statistics. If anything, their statistics were from 2016 or 2013, making data harder to collect. Therefore, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website, the most recent report they have of the total population is as of midnight February 8, 2017. The total population is 180,885, with four of them being civil addict. Total in-custody is of 129,284 inmates, parole is 44,721, non-CDC jurisdiction is 1,022 and lastly other population #6 inmates with 5,854 (“Weekly Report of Population”, 2017). Once again looking at a weekly

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There are numerous problems that arise within the correction system. Although, one problem stands out the most which would be prison overcrowding. Too many people are committing crimes and being incarcerated. Thus, leading to overcrowding and problems within the prison facility. This paper will discuss the reason for prison overpopulation and what can be done to correct this issue.

Due to budget crises in states across the United States of America, state governments must cut funding to their punishment facilities causing overcrowding in prisons to increase every day. Overcrowded prisons pose a potential breeding ground for crime as hundreds of inmates are squeezed into small accommodations. Thousands of low-level offenders receive jail sentences each day, these criminals make up about a third of the inmates in the United States. In the words of Republican Governor Mitch Daniels of India, in the conservative National Review magazine, “We are imprisoning, in our most expensive spaces, more people for relatively minor, nonviolent offenses, like low-level property and drug violations. Some of our guests are not with the state corrections system long enough for any rehabilitation, substance-abuse counseling or job training to take place” (Katel). Evidently attention and change to this neglected criminal punishment system need to be addressed. This issue remains a troubling problem in our country, state governments offer the best possible solutions to prison overcrowding such as directing local officials to perform and improve prison construction, rethinking criminal law and responding to budgetary concerns.

Is there room for you in the United States prison system? I don’t think so, and you are about to learn why. Corrections have experienced many obstacles while trying to operate prisons and went through a period of transition from 1935 through 1960, while prison officials tried to figure out how to solve their many issues, including an absence of professional programs, as well as overcrowding. During this time period there was a large increase in inmates who were disgruntled about the ever growing population within the jails, so much so that between 1950 and 1960 over 100 riots and major altercations that transpired in the US (Seiter, 2014). Needless to say that these numbers pose a serious risk to inmates as well as correctional officers.

Many people get away with breaking laws, especially the ones that are not as serious such as jaywalking, not paying for parking, or the most common, speeding. If people were caught doing all of this and had to spend one night in jail, there would be a major overcrowding issue. Even today, without being charged for the crimes listed above, we have a problem with overcrowding in our jails. If this were able to be a punishment to all criminal activity I think it would help lower the crime rate, but it is just not a possible solution. On the other hand, a possible solution would be to have special security cameras, that have facial recognition, pick up any crime activity and send a ticket to them with the price varying based on what the person

Is it true that if person is arrested he became a slave? Nowadays it is difficult to imagine such situation. However, were times, then becoming a prisoner meant becoming a slave. According to the research of Loreona O’neil prisoners before 1960 are often were subject of slavery in the USA. Moreover in case Pervear v. Massachusetts in 1866 the USA Supreme Court came to conclusion that prisoners have no constitutional rights. Further Virginia Court in 1871 named prisoner as “slave of the state”. According to the research such treatment of the prisoners for long time lead to situation that exists now: overcrowded prisons, high level of reoffending and poor reintegration of prisoners. Of course today situation in the field of protection of prisoners

Incarceration growth is a major problem in prisons across the United States. Throughout our world, America has the biggest population of prisoners, and the largest rate of imprisonment (Silkenat 2). In 1982, the “War on Drugs” had began. This led to an increase in the amount of people imprisoned in the United States for crimes relating to drugs. The number of prisoners had rose from 40,900 in 1980, to 469,545 in 2015 (The Sentencing Project). Over the last 40 years, the prison population in America increased 500%. The increase of prison population is mostly due to the fact that the “War on Drugs” believed that making tougher sentences would solve addiction. Due to this, we are left with 2.2 million prisoners in prisons throughout the U.S. today.

With the world's largest population of prisoners in the world, prison overcrowding has been an ongoing topic for discussion for decades. Just over 2.4 million people are locked up everyday throughout America due to both threatening and non threatening crimes which rapidly leads to prisons not having enough room and money to support all inmates.

Imagine sharing a closet-sized room with another person? This is the unfortunate reality of many prisoners today incarcerated in the United States prison system. In all of the jails and prisons most of them are overcrowded which is a tremendous problem for the inmates as well as the staff. It is very dangerous having the jail overcrowded because there is health and safety issues. The administration should make more room in prisons such as more buildings for cells, in order to make it more suitable for the inmates as well as the staff. It is also costing states a ton of money to take care of the prisoners. While prisoners have committed violations against laws, the overcrowding in prisons result in human rights violations as they are not afforded the proper treatment that they should be given in prison. Then, prisoners should be provided with all the basic needs and be assure of a level of safety which is lacking due to the shortage of trained guards available in most prisons today. Overcrowding in prisons is a major problem in today's society it is growing more and more as time goes on.

Jail overpopulation is a situation in which, convicts in the jail tend to exceed the resources allocated to them (including the staff) and therefore, leading to the constraint of facilities and resources. Jail overcrowding is caused by a variety of issues which include but not limited to increasing criminal activities, inadequate rooms, harsh penalties by the judges, the amendment to law and improvement of the law enforcement strategies. When there is overpopulation in any given jail, negative impacts can be clearly seen not only to the convicts but also to the staff serving them.

A hard line stance by law enforcement against anti-drug activity has resulted in prison overcrowding. The federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 contributed to the rise in the prison population (Olson & Lurigio, 2014). Furthermore, Daley, Love, Shepard, Petersen, White, and Hall (2004) noted a“200 % increase in the criminal justice population in the past two decades” (p.70); an increase that has been correlated to the enforcement of anti-drug laws, as well as, mandatory sentences being imposed on drug offenders. (Daley et al., 2004). Strict anti-drug laws have also resulted in bringing to the forefront the fact that a majority of those arrested and incarcerated are in need of substance abuse treatment. Olson and Lurigio (2014) found over half the population of offenders in state prison meet the criteria for substance use disorder. Prison-based treatment programs are being implemented to combat prison overcrowding, provide offender substance abuse treatment, and ultimately lower the recidivism rate.

Have you heard about one of the most serious issues in the law enforcement system? It’s that prisons across the United States are facing the issue of overcrowding. This issue has been building up for years and at some point a solution is going to have to be found. Many factors have play a part in the issue of overcrowding but one of the main factors is the harsher penalties for crimes involving drugs. According to a Federal Bureau of Prisons study shows that over fifty percent of inmates in federal prisons are there for an offense related to drugs. This is because during the year of 1971, president Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs. This movement was started due to the misuse of drugs and the dangerous factors that came along with drugs such as violence and overdosing. The war on drugs consisted of policies that created harsher punishments for the use and distribution of drugs. It also consisted of increasing the size of federal drug control agencies. As time went on the effects on the war of drugs came to surface. The negative effects of the war on drugs are being seen now with an extreme overcrowding issue in prisons across the US. This brings up the point that decriminalizing drugs could possibly solve the issue of overcrowding.

Prisoners with tangled hair and run down bodies, look at the security guards that walk upon the steel surrounding walls; their new homes. Through the dark shadows, one could only see a pair of eyes, but those eyes said it all, fighting back the tears that hold all the secrets kept of what happens in these prison walls. In this day in age, it is shameful to think that this is someone's reality, that this is an accurate description of the human being inside a Canadian prison. Exposing the truth behind these walls exploits a corrupt process by revealing the positives, negatives, and sincerity of the crowdedness, violence and rehabilitation programs in Canadian prison systems.