The Pros And Cons Of Prison Punishment

Michael Tarver is a 55 year old man who is serving a life sentence for murder in Atlanta, Georgia. Tarver is a diabetic with circulation problems, while in jail he got a cut on his leg. After receiving this cut he went months in confinement without proper care and because of his diabetes he was prone to infection and had to have his leg amputated. In 2012 Tarver filed a lawsuit written in longhand and filed without the consultation of an attorney. Dr. Chiquita Fye is the 65 year old woman who has been the medical director at this prison since 2006. This “lawsuit asserted that Fye was deliberately indifferent to his injury as he languished for months in the prison infirmary. Deliberate indifference to a prison inmate’s medical needs violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” (The Associated Press) Many inmates have filed lawsuits against this doctor all complaining that she neglected them of proper care. And there is so many other cases out there showing that prisons do not give proper care to inmates who need it.

In any given year now, incarceration rates has tripled with approximately 13 million people introduced to American jails in any given year. This increase in the prison population far outpaced the crime rate and the US population growth. Today, America has around 5% of the world’s population but a quarter of the world’s prison population.

The U.S. prison system is one of many great controversies when compared to other correctional systems. America’s prison population has increased by 700% (2.4 million current inmates) since the start of the war on drugs in 1971. As a result of this “war”, people that fall into the racial minority have suffered as a direct consequence of unjust legislation. Our prison system is known for its overrepresentation of minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. This unfortunately gives these groups of people a perennial negative stigma as a result. I argue that the U.S. prison industrial-complex emphatically displays signs of prejudice and racism and disproportionately incarcerates people of color at a rate higher than whites. Yes, there are skeptics who think “the left’s prison-complex” is wrong about their theory of mass incarceration but the statistical data and concrete facts in support of my argument are very compelling.

America has a major problem with overcrowding in its prisons, and action needs to be taken. Since 1970, the inmate population in the United States has increased over 700%, far greater than the general population as a whole. This has led to declining quality of life within the prison system including 8th Amendment violations and it represents a needless drain on state finances. There is simply no value in keeping non-violent convicts in the prison system, sometimes for years. The costs are high, and there is very little benefit to America. The justice system needs to be overhauled to relieve the massive crowding in US prisons.

"Even though the United States makes up just 5% of the world’s population, it houses 25% of the world’s prison population” (Walmsley, 2009). The United States prides itself in being a worldwide leader in just about every category; however, being the world leader in incarceration rights might not be something the United States would be proud about. Incarceration rates in the United States have grown at alarming rates in the past forty years specifically and it has resulted in major overcrowding issues in nearly every prison and jail within the country. Although it is evident that incarceration is a major problem within our country the issues with incarceration do not end at just overcrowding. It is clear and evident through statistical data and research that incarceration does not affect everyone the same.

The United States has the largest prison population in the world. The U.S.’s path to our over population has been decades in the making. “The United States makes up about 4 percent of the world’s population, and it accounts for 22 percent of the world’s prison population.” (Lopez). Prison over population is a growing concern within our society creating and contributing factors include longer sentences, rising costs, prison gangs, rapes, racism and mental health issues.

The United States is the largest jailer in the world. With only 5 percent of the world 's population and a disproportionate 20 percent of the worlds prison population the United States also has the highest incarceration rate in the world (Chamman). In fact one in every one hundred and ten adults in the United States will be incarcerated. Many of these adults will return to prison later in their life (ACLU). The Prison Crisis has become a recent phenomenon as from nineteen seventy four to two thousand and fourteen the prison population has increased four hundred and eight percent.

Since the 1970’s the American incarceration rate has increased by a factor of 7. The United States holds the majority of the world’s prisoners. “The land of the free” is home to 5% of the world’s population, but contains 25% of its prisoners. People are also being held in jail for longer. Although most crimes are committed by young men, the number of US prisoners over age of 50 has increased by 330% since 1994.

Incarceration strives to isolate offenders from society but does not provide adequate therapy to change the mental states and behaviors of criminals. The recidivism rate, the rate of known and recorded relapse into criminal behavior after release from jail, proves that offenders need more than just isolation to change their behavior and eliminate their dangers to society. Communities need not only to provide help and pay attention to offenders with short sentences because of their earlier release than others. In California, an increase in parole grants in 2014 has resulted in 2,000 murderers, classified as the “highest Criminal History Category, VI,” returning to society with no therapy or assistance from reentry programs. 80% of offenders in the most serious criminal history category, the criminal group with the highest recidivism rate, relapsed and returned to prison within five years of release, and 60% of offenders returned to prison within three years of release (Prisoners and Prisoner Re-Entry, 2007; Sanchez, 2014; Sipes, 2017; St John, 2014). Overall, police officers arrest ex-offenders up to forty-five times more than they arrest members of the non-criminal population (Przybylski, 2012). Criminals need specialized psychological treatment to change their behaviors and make them safe to return to their communities. As recidivism becomes increasingly more problematic in today's society, criminal psychologists analyze the motives, incarceration experiences, and mental

When the objective became getting more people behind bars, we should have realized that something had gone terribly wrong. The current nightmare; also known as our prison system, has gotten out of proportion. Since the early 1970s until 2009, prison population grew exponentially by a staggering 600%. Thanks to the policies made during the War on Crime and Drugs, jails and prisons around the country crammed with as many inmates could fit in. Even though there has been a slight decrease of the incarceration rate since it peaked in 2012; the declining numbers don’t seem significant enough. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 1.5 million prisoners in the U.S or 450 convicts for every 100,000 U.S residents for during 2016.

The United States is one of the largest countries in the world so high incarceration rates are expected. However, this rate has drastically increased in the past forty years, surpassing those of countries such as China, which has a population four times larger than the United States

The United States of America has the highest prison population in the world. Despite the fact that the United States holds only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for about 25% of the world’s prison population (Deady, 2014, p. 1). Statistics also show that the United States has a recidivism rate of over 75% (Cooper, Durose, & Snyder, 2014, p. 1). Because of this, billions of tax dollar are spent on state and federal prison incarceration every

“The United States now locks up a higher percentage of its population than any country in the world” (Jacobson, 2005, p. 8). Prison populations across the United States are increasing at a faster

The population of inmates incarcerated in the United States is far higher than any country that incarcerates inmates throughout the world, the United States incarcerates inmates juveniles, women and men for crimes that are both non violent as well as violent crimes, by incarcerating these inmates and placing them under the

Approximately half of prison and jail populations meet the criteria for substance abuse or dependency. Immediately when one is arrested for the use or selling of drugs a portrait of failure, insignificance and despondency arise from typical judgment. The judicial system and drug addiction have long been in conflict with one another regarding the decision to prosecute or provide treatment among users. The prosecution of drug addicts is seemingly the right thing to do under certain circumstances, but statistically, it is proven incarceration is a negative impact on abusers. When a drug user is jailed it is twice as likely they re-offend resulting in wasted tax dollars and not only that, but relapse is likely to happen after release. Although sympathetic concerns are not plausible in regards to the decision to incarcerate, it should be taken into consideration addiction is a scientifically proven disease. If drug users are offered treatment instead of immediate incarceration than tax dollars are saved, public health and safety are no longer compromised and the risk of relapse is reduced significantly. Whilst some believe drug users should be immediately incarcerated, drug users should be able to attend treatment instead of immediate prosecution.