The Pros And Cons Of American Prisons

Despite what you may think, private prisons have existed in the United States dating all the way back to 1852, beginning with the San Quentin state prison. Private prisons did not truly become as common as they are today though until President Ronald Reagan led a large-scale effort for increased privatization around the United States during the 1980’s. One result of this effort was a large upswing in the number of private prisons. As a result of private prisons becoming more common place, it has been seen that compared to prisons run by the government, length of sentences have gone up within private prisons, while at the same time the treatment of prisoners has gone down. This topic interests me because I believe that it should never be in the best interests of such a large and powerful group to have as many people as possible in prison for as long as possible. In my opinion, it is not ethically correct on a basic human level to ever have it in people’s best interests to keep other people in prison. I chose this topic because I have always held a strong opinion on this topic but have never had the time to do extensive research on it and either confirm or dispel my current beliefs about it.

American Prisons poorly represent our criminal justice system; due to not have clearly outlined goals associated for its offenders. Also, look at the cost to lock up and house this country’s offenders, it has increased significantly over the past few decades. With the two above stated issues, we have a huge problem in America. Other countries look at our justice system as though we have got it figured out and, we may have a better idea of Justice than most countries, because, well we are no longer chopping off hands for stealing anymore. While there are some prisons that are too harsh, there are some that make life way too easy. Therefore, we must create a baseline for all prisons in this country. In order to decrease the percentages of repeat offenders and expedite the out-processing of small time criminals, American prisons are in dire need of help, especially

Ostensibly, the motive for incarceration appears to be justice. However, where profit exists, so does deception. “…Statistics are now showing that locking people up for profit is overriding the concept of jailing people in the name of justice” (Magee). Our prison system has transformed from a rehabilitation program to a corporate, profit machine. Prisoners are no longer perceived as inmates serving their time and recuperating, but rather bank accounts that can be extorted for every penny by these private prison corporations. Increasing sentencing and lengthening time served benefits the prison, not the inmate. It is despicable to jail non-violent criminals, whom would normally receive probation, to line the pockets of private prisons and

Even though the prison in this article is not real, the prisoners still went through the same struggles as real prisoners. “‘Real’ prisoners typically report feeling powerless, arbitrarily controlled, dependent, frustrated, hopeless, anonymous, dehumanized and emasculated” (Zimbardo 3). The prisoners felt as if this prison was real and that they were real prisoners. Dehumanization played a large part in their feelings of being real prisoners. “Here he began the process of becoming a prisoner- stripped naked, skin-searched, deloused and issued a uniform, bedding, soap, and towel” (Zimbardo 1).

To suggest that changing prison sentences or building more jails to accommodate more prisoners would be the best course of action is, at best, simply putting a band-aid on an exponentially increasing problem. In our reading, Mr. Gopnik explains that African-Americans are incarcerated at a rate of seven times the rate of white Americans (575). However, the problem is not a matter of one race being inherently prone to crime. As Mrs. Edelman explains, "these factors include ... underperforming schools, broken child welfare and juvenile justice systems, and a toxic youth culture that praises pimps and glorifies violence" (588). Essentially, the way to fix this problem is not to dump more money into an already enormous prison system. By expanding our capacity to "treat" or cage more prisoners, we will only be able to keep up until population growth outpaces us.

Hoarse yelling, officers shouting out orders, threats being passed brazenly between those in power and those whose power has been stripped away. While this may sound like a line that could be from a dystopian novel or a story about the a corrupt government and its people in a third world country, things like this have actually happened in the United States. From the year 1980 to the year 2010 people incarcerated for federal drug charges increase from 4,749 people to 97,472. While those statistics may be shocking, the fact that approximately half of the people with federal drug charges are not even incarcerated in a federal prison. Those that are not in a federal prison are detained in private for-profit prisons owned by companies like Corrections

A major issue in the United States corrections system is the over-crowding of are prisons. The United States Prison System and department of corrections have become an everlasting part of our justice system, but for various reasons confinement may be causing more harm than good. More and more Americans are being thrown in prison without any signs of being rehabilitated which is causing prisons across the United States to become over-crowded. According to Etienne Benson an assistant Professor. Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. M.A. Stanford University. A.B. Harvard University; at one point the main focus of incarceration was to rehabilitate, programs were put in place to ensure that prisons gain certain skills to recover and become a productive member of society. However, the United States has taken a step back due to tougher punishments on crimes committed. Prisoners must be treated fairly with dignity and respect help them rehabilitate and get them out of the criminal justice system. Although most

Privately operated prisons were common during former centuries in England as well as the United States. Along the twentieth century governments had taken authority and leadership upon themselves for almost all imprisonments and other criminal justice functions. “The stimulus in the United states came largely from business entrepreneurs who were promoting their own virtues. Policy reforms later developed a more elaborate rationale for opening government to business interest” (e.g, President’s Commission on Privatization 1988; Stewart 1986; Logan 1990). A replacement of having the government in control of these facilities made private collaborations with correctional establishments and facilities. There are three major forms which independent

The average person probably assumes that state prison is a place for felons to do time for the crime they committed. They serve their time and are released to the public. Prisons are run by the state government. Tax payers pay for state prisons to operate. However, it is a totally different deal with privately run prisons. Prisoners are big business for some privately run facilities. Private prisons are facing overcrowding. However, they show little concern because most of those prisoners are outsourced to work for large companies. Seems like there is growing concern that there is a strong motivation to incarcerate even more prisoners because of the outsourcing profits earned by private prison industry.

The methods that are most effectively employed by the prison system depend on who you ask and what their ultimate goal is. If the goal is to reduce the crime rate in society and minimize the impact that crime and criminals have on law abiding citizens, then simply locking up or otherwise removing criminals from society is an effective method. If the desire is to take individuals who have committed crimes and reform them so that they do not commit crimes again, then prison methods that involve reformative techniques such as therapy or educational efforts such as job skills training or literacy skills training make more sense. Not only is the end goal a major determining factor in what prison system methods are deemed successful, but so is understanding that the problem of crime and the legal and prison systems is not one that is simple or isolated. Crime and criminals exist within a society that has other factors at play, such as economics and class and racial dynamics that inform how the legal and prison systems act, and the likelihood that an individual will commit crime.

Overcrowding in prison has become a big issue. Having an overcrowded prison can create an aggressive atmosphere for innocent prisoners who want to better themselves in life for their mistake.

"The most common rate is 90%, though some prisons are able to snag a 100% promise from their local governments" (Mathews 2). Contracts between the government and private prisons stating the minimum capacity rate of the jail, exist for all private prisons. Private prisons, or a facility for incarceration, run through a third party and have contracts with the government. This approach guarantees money for profit-seeking CEOs, causing them to effectively run as a business. However, the quotas these contracts call for present a problem because "[w]hile incarceration statistics have skyrocketed, crime rates have increased much more slowly" (Smith 3). The quota put forward by the private prison industry causes the rise of imprisonment rates. Because

Lawmakers deemed the living conditions in a majority of these jails cruel and inhumane. The culture of abuse and brutality in the United States prison system, which delivers the leading prison population on Earth has mostly been obscured from the public. However, due to social media and leaked out videos from these various institutions the public is becoming more aware of the barbaric mistreatment of prisoners. Mental health qualifiers are continuously being dumped in prisons instead of psychiatric hospitals across the country, resulting in overcrowding, inadequate treatment,

In the previous 30 years, the United States has come to depend on detainment as its reaction to a wide range of wrongdoings. Research has found that, “overcrowded prison populations continue to be the greatest challenge facing the American prison system” (O’connor, 2014). Indeed, even minor infringements of parole or probation frequently prompt an arrival to jail. Moreover, probation and parole violations led to quickly imposed sentences. Complications in this field is only fueled the recidivism rate, which of course worsened the overcrowding epidemic (Camper, 2012). This has made a prison arrangement of uncommon size in this country. In the 1980's, when Ronald Regan started "The War on Drugs", the individuals who were captured with even little measure of drugs were given to a great degree long prison sentences. Eventually, following 35 years, these elderly detainees are greatly wiped out and failing horrendously due to old age. The war on drugs quit nothing, yet it filled the confinement facilities and the enterprises accepted control because of the money they could make. As per slate magazine, the distinguished court case, Brown v. Plata, expressed that congestion levels in California jails—where the normal inhabitance rate over all state establishments was 187 percent from 1991 through 2010—added up to a type of pitiless and irregular discipline. What is the motivation behind giving someone a fifty-year sentence for drugs? In case he has done a wrongdoing,

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 7.3 billion dollars of a state prison’s expenditures are spent on inmate medical care, food service, utilities, and contract housing, which totals 26 percent of the prison’s entire operating budget (Stephan, 2004). Furthermore, since 1986 prisoner incarceration costs have doubled from 65 dollars per day to 134 dollars per day (Stephan, 2004). Since we are aware of the costs associated with the basic needs of prisoners, let us examine some possible alternatives to assist prison administrators with their limited budgets.