The Incarceration Of Prison Rates Essay

The policy options that will be discussed are establishing efficient and beneficial rehabilitation systems in prisons, establishing educational systems in prisons, eliminating private prisons, and reducing mandatory sentencing laws. These are a few of the many ideas and solutions that the United States can take in order to reduce its high incarceration rate.

For over centuries, the only form of punishment and discouragement for humans is through the prison system. Because of this, these humans or inmates, are sentenced to spend a significant part of their life in a confined, small room. With that being said, the prison life can leave a remarkable toll on the inmates life in many different categories. The first and arguably most important comes in the form of mental health. Living in prison with have a great impact on the psychological part of your life. For example, The prison life is a very much different way of life than what us “normal” humans are accustomed to living in our society. Once that inmate takes their first step inside their new society, their whole mindset on how to live and communicate changes. The inmate’s psychological beliefs about what is right and wrong are in questioned as well as everything else they learned in the outside world. In a way, prison is a never ending mind game you are playing against yourself with no chance of wining. Other than the mental aspect of prison, family plays a very important role in an inmate’s sentence. Family can be the “make it or break it” deal for a lot of inmates. It is often said that “when a person gets sentenced to prison, the whole family serves the sentence.” Well, for many inmates that is the exact case. While that prisoner serves their time behind bars, their family is on the outside waiting in anticipation for their loved ones to be released. In a way, the families

There are many people who are critical of the US‘s prison sysetm; the idea of locking up those who commit crimes against a society simply to keep them from doing harm. Many say that more rehabilatation is necessary to improve these individuals and, therefore, society as a whole. What are some ways of doing this? Do you agree/disagree with this view and why? Is the prison system currently in place the best option for society? 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt. font.

There are five state prison systems in which exist in today's penitentiary systems and they are maximum-security prisons, close-high security prisons, medium-security prisons, and open security facilities. Variations between these five systems are common and uncommon because in a

Since the tough-on-crime era began in the 1980s, the California prison system and parolee population have grown tenfold. This is in great part due to the three strikes law that passed in 1994. This law made it a requirement for any offender convicted of a felony with two previous felonies to go to prison for a minimum of twenty five years. This law sent many people to prison for longer sentences due to non-violent drug offenses, when in actuality they should have been sentenced to rehab. Prison overcrowding is an important topic that all Americans should care about, since according to The Bureau of Justice Statistics, over ninety-five percent of all prison inmates will be released at some point, with over eighty-five percent of them being placed under parolee supervision. Of this population, sixty-five percent suffer from substance abuse issues and meet the need for treatment for their addiction. Drug and alcohol abuse, specifically drug abuse, and crime are inextricably related. Unfortunately, the majority of those released from prison who suffer from addiction issues are not treated while incarcerated, and as a result end up back in prison.

Once upon a time, Americans could proudly say that America was the land of freedom and opportunity. As the Pledge of Allegiance states, “One nation under God, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” However, under the current criminal justice system, more and more people lose their liberties because of the crimes they have committed. According to Roy Walmsley, a consultant of the United Nations and Associate of the International Center for prison studies, “In October 2013, the incarceration rate of the United States of America was the highest in the world, at 716 per 100,000 of the national population. While the United States represent about 4.4 percent of the world 's population, it houses

Mass incarceration has been an ongoing problem in America that became prevalent in the 1960s and still continues today. The reason this mass incarceration is such a crisis in our country is because it has been ripping apart the family and impacting all those involved. This epidemic affects those of every race, but more specifically, African Americans. Many researchers attribute this prison boom to police officers cracking down on crime, but only focusing on the inner city which is often times it is made up of a predominately black population. Because of this, America saw such a rise in the number of African American males in the system in at least some way; whether they were in prison, jail, or probation the numbers were astounding. When a father is removed from a home it impacts the family whether that is the wife, girlfriend, child or stepchild, it has proved to have some short and long term psychological affects on them. It is impossible to parent behind bars, so all the parenting is left up to the mother while the father is locked up. In addition, when a person goes to prison it leaves a mark on the inmate as well. Mass incarceration among African Americans is an ongoing problem impacting thousands of people, both directly and indirectly, and because of this, it is breaking apart the family structure and taking a psychological toll on the loved ones involved.

The United States prison system struggles eminently with keeping offenders out of prison after being released. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than third of all prisoners who were arrested within five years of released were arrested within six months after release, with more than half arrested by the end of the year (Hughes, Wilson, & Beck, 2001). Among prisoners released in 2005 in 23 states with available data on inmates returned to prison, about half (55 percent) had either a parole or probation violation or an arrest for a new offense within three years that led to imprisonment (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). Why are there many ex-offenders going back to prison within the first five years of release? Are there not enough resources to help offenders before or/and after being released from prison.

Incarceration rates in the United States, and closer to home – in Ohio, have been rising at astonishing rates over the last 20 years. Rising incarceration rates stem from increased sentencing of non-violent crimes, little attention to rehabilitation within most prison walls, and extremely high recidivism rates. The problem of the increasing prison population touches many areas of our society – from reduced workforce to increased state funding for prisons to the adverse effects on children growing up in single-parent households – but has received little public or political attention. Looking at this issue from a social capital standpoint it is important to understand that “social capital keeps bad things from happening to good kids” and then applying this to communities with many families affected by having a member in the penal system (Putnam 296). The rate of recidivism is also increasingly high and an area that must be addressed to move forward in a productive way to ending this problem. When looking at data provided by Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the current penal population is almost 50,000 individuals (49,789 as of 11/13/2012) (DRC). The average cost of keeping a non-violent offender in prison is approximately $26,000 per year (CEPR). Calculations based on these estimates show that incarceration is costing Ohio approximately $1.3 billion each year. With such a financial burden on Ohio, it is time that this issue was taken seriously and actively

Within this paper, you will find a comprehensive review of the United States prison system, and why it needs to analyzed to better support and reform the people of this country. I plan to persuade the other side (politicians and society) into seeing that the way the prison system is now, is not ethical nor economical and it must change. We have one of the world’s largest prison population, but also a very high rate of recidivism. Recidivism is when the prisoners continuously return to prison without being reformed. They return for the same things that they were doing before. So, this leads us to ask what exactly are we doing wrong? When this happens, we as a nation must continuously pay to house and feed these inmates. The purpose of a prison needs to be examined so we can decide if we really are reforming our inmates, or just continuing a vicious cycle. What is the true purpose of prison besides just holding them in a cell? There must be more we can do for these hopeless members of society.

The minimum security is federal prison camps adjacent to other federal prisons near military bases. Male prisoners who need only minimum security are set up in camps and those who will be transitioned [Passive voice] back into society and served their sentence will be set-up in a halfway house.

Over the years the United States incarceration rate has gradually increased. The money spent on an individual incarcerated each year is more than an average person living off minimum wage. Can these rate decrease? Yes, creating programs that’s actually going to benefit individuals rather than allowing them to feel comfortable with being locked up. Many got comfortable with the idea of being locked up to the point they don’t to return home because life on the outside they are no longer familiar with it.

There are several reasons why it is difficult to target the reentry programs to the offenders incarcerated in jail including mental illness, substance abuse and dependence, limited employability, and extensive criminal histories (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). A percentage of the jail inmates have reported a mental condition, consequently, less than half of those received care. More than half of jail inmates abuse drugs or alcohol, furthermore, only a small percentage join any substance programs while in jail. The inmates have a low employability, with only slightly more than half that were working prior to their arrest. Additionally, there is a general shortage of personnel in the overcrowded setting. Another factor is that rarely do offenders

The United States spends $80 billion on incarcerating inmates per year. The government is spending more money on keeping an inmate imprisoned in relation to educating elementary/secondary school students. The government continues to spend more money on imprisoning people and cutting funds from important societal needs, including education. When funds get taken away, the amount of opportunities for others become limited. The United States should decrease the amount of money spent on incarcerating inmates because there are more effective options to prevent the high population of people in jail.

Prisons have not always been used the way we use them today. On the contrary, the punishment for a criminal were public events. The punisher would be put to shame in front of others. For instance, the punisher would be lace on a ducking stool, pillory, or whipped. If the offense was beyond the communities’ forgiveness then the punishment would be death. Unlike today, prisons tended to be a place to hold people before their trial or their awaiting punishment. According to Ferguson, in his book Inferno he states that “no matter what the crime and no matter how deserved the sentence, prison means oppression to those confined within its walls” (Ferguson 164). Prisons today are used to punish the criminal and sometimes they are kept in prison