The Rise of Inmate Population

Today we see five prevalent goals of corrections including retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation and restorative justice. Goals employed in corrections change over time depending on several factors including the trends of thought in society and issues within the prison system. Politics as well as prison overcrowding also factor into determining which goal dominates. Retribution has a long-standing history as the most culturally accepted goal because people fended for themselves prior to organized law enforcement (Bartollas, 2002, p. 71). Incapacitation, the dominant goal currently, eliminates the threat by placing the criminal outside society, typically through incarceration, and preventing the criminal from having the ability to commit additional crimes. Deterrence, like retribution, has continued as a goal throughout history. In an effort to reduce the risk of crime, law enforcement attempt to deter criminals from committing crimes. Rehabilitation gained enormous strength with an attempt at moral redemption of the offender. Reformists believed corrections needed a makeover as they worked towards rehabilitation. Rehabilitation places more focus on the individual rather than the act in an attempt to rehabilitate the person. America did not begin to look at the corrections system more substantially until the 1970s as the idea of rehabilitation fell (Bartollas, 2002, p. 75). Restorative justice promises to restore the victim as the offender

Mass incarceration has been an issue in the United States since the start of the War on Drugs, because of the political agenda attached to the “tough on crime” regimen thousands of people have suffered as a consequence. The solution to this is one that can only be possibly solved by approaching through several angles. The ten steps presented by Michael Tonry, are an innovative and have merit to some extent. However, mass incarceration results from more than unjust sentencing laws, which is his main focus. If ever we are to resolve the issue, society and the criminal justice system must come together to completely reevaluate what we consider to be “tough on crime” and redefine the purpose of prisons, strictly punishment or rehabilitation. The focus has to shift from harsh sentencing, stigma, racial discrimination to a basic form of rehabilitation and reduction of the prison system in general. The criminal justice system has to do what they are actually meant to do and focus on rehabilitation measures, and when possible completely stop interaction with the prison system all together.

The criminal justice system focuses more on criminalization and incarceration than it does on rehabilitation. The United States of America wins the award for the highest incarceration rate in the world with over 2.3 million people in correctional facilities. America itself contains only about five percent of the world population, but accounts for twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (American Civil Liberties Union). With a longstanding history of mass incarceration and

The idea of prison reform is somewhat interwoven with the idea of criminal recidivism. In the case of violent crime, the prison reform agenda often meets resistance in the form of public opinion, and because of this both those incarcerated and their victims continue to suffer. Lack of reform within America’s prisons is thought by some to perpetuate a cycle of crime, harming both the perpetuators and their victims.

In August 1994, the California Department of Corrections released its annual five-year facilities master plan for new prison construction. This plan, usually submitted to the Legislature earlier in the calendar year, was delayed so that the additional need for new prison beds resulting from the recently enacted Three Strikes and You're Out legislation could be incorporated into the plan. The facilities plan is based on the department's spring 1994 population estimate that estimated a total of 246,000 inmates by June 1999. This projection was recently revised to 211,000, 35,000 fewer inmates. There are several reasons for this reduction, as shown in Figure 1 and discussed below.

In the United States, there’s two types of incarcerations: jail vs prison and federal vs state. The key difference between all prison systems is the size, location, and quantity of inmates and the crime rate in each area. Overpopulation has been an issue for a while mainly because for the safety for the inmates, the Three Strike Law, and also, society feeling that rehabilitation isn’t what they want for convicted felons. In the future, the system of corrections should decrease the overpopulation issue, for the budget plan, and safety of inmates.

While, building more prison facilities will increase the number of housing available for inmates, a more viable option would be to focus on rehabilitation programs as a method to reduce the number of inmates served in our prison system. One major problem is that the prison system fails to recognize the difference between punishment and restraint; people who are dangerous need to be restrained and should be incarcerated. (Prison Overcrowding is a growing concern in the U.S.).However, this incarceration should not be about punishment. Furthermore, research has shown that punishment only makes an individual more violent. In addition, it does not serve to change the behaviors that resulted in the original crime. However, punishing criminals only creates a vicious cycle of violence that does nothing to serve the good of mankind.

The United States criminal justice system has failed to rehabilitate criminals. Even after being penalized for their crimes, prisoners continue to commit crimes without learning that what they did was wrong from being incarcerated and are sent back to prison. Jails are set up to aid those imprisoned by helping them obtain skills that will hopefully reduce future incidences and allow them to act like the citizens they should be. However, punishing criminals is not as productive as many think it is. This is shown by the increased imprisonment rate from 250,000 in 1976 to almost 2 million by 2003 (Lynch 26, 49). Instead of learning how to work towards handling their problems, inmates are expected to learn from their mistakes by being isolated from society and even sometimes from human contact. Since the prisoners are unable to learn from their delinquencies after doing time in prison, many recommit offenses and find themselves back in jail. Prisons should become more education based, to achieve this goal the overall costs of prisons has to decrees. According to Shadd Maruna, director of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice for Queen’s Law, “of the more than 100,000 released from prison each year, 70 percent will return to prison.” The re-incarceration is mainly due to the incapability of these convicts to re-adapt into society. After being detached from the real world, it is problematic to adjust to changes, depending on how long the prisoners were

Prisons serve a purpose to retribute and then rehabilitate. But when it comes to true rehabilitation of the prisoners, there is no denying that it is not being done correctly. In the last decade, the unfair incarceration has increased, showing that many people wrongfully accused in to be proven innocent based on the conclusion that the evidence found indeed the felon’s fault. (Mitchell) When these times come men and women to be proved innocent they are surely at lost for words knowing that all this time they were innocent of the crime committed. But even after all this happens, it seems that people are not gaining any type of benefit for going through rehabilitation. Because of the increase in incarceration has occurred, the increase in poverty

When a prisoner is released, he or she must establish a new life. Whether the prisoner’s new life is good or bad, it is up to him/her to end up where he/she wants to be. As prisoners are released to society, they begin their lives by finding a job. However, they might not be possible due to their criminal record. They might appear dangerous or a threat, because of their criminal record, when in reality they just made a few mistakes. According to Tyjen Tsai and Paola Scommegna, writers for the Population Reference Bureau, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world! This is caused by severe sentences for petty crimes such as shoplifting and loitering. The purpose of prisons is to rehabilitate and educate the public about braking the law, yet many prisoners’ crimes are not met with equal sentences but too severe. America has high incarceration rates because of laws making it easy to get into prison, poor rehabilitation programs, and for the incarceration of people whom should not be.

Prison overcrowding has become a serious problem within the United States. Despite the fact that the nation has opened or expanded almost three-hundred prisons in less than seven years, the average prison space available for inmates has dropped by over ten percent. Prison overcrowding has gotten worse. Especially as crime has become more violent. And drug related crimes have more often resulted in confinement.(Allen, Simonsen, Latessa 169) The overcrowding within the prisons has caused safety hazards and hazardous living conditions for the prisoners. Two different groups, such as Tough-Sentencing Supporters and Opponents are taking action to solve these problems at hand. Tough Sentencing Supporters say more prisons are needed to be built

The primary goal is to set expectations of the offender that with the tools provided, the offender can satisfy. Optimizing the client's ability to become a self-determined, law-abiding member of society requires efficiency and a model that matches the individual's complex needs. The program shares in the success of the client and is motivated by that success. "The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), have also concluded that probation is not effective in reducing recidivism without the help of the world of social workers (Wilson p. 13)". The current system is too separated and not effective in developing socially motivated individuals that choose to make legal decisions on their own. At this time, the burgeoning prison system requires

There are a few reasons why I believe that the inmate population is high. First, not only are we incarcerating serious offenders, we incarcerate offenders who have committed crimes that could have been handled with probation or other rehabilitative way. Second, those offenders that come from low income communities or the lower class, who cannot afford to pay their fines, court fees, or even bail, will end up spending time in jail until they pay their fines or have their day in court. Also, those offenders who receive a mandatory minimum sentence (Seiter, 2014) for a crime are sent to prison for years, when a judge could have given them probation or supervision. Lastly, there are not enough programs or businesses that help inmates reintegrate

This source gives statistics on the recidivism rate of prisons and the difference between rehabilitation and punishment prison types. The author points out why punishment doesn’t work and uses

The issues that are currently plaguing our justice system have raised many question regarding whether or not the system is successfully doing its job. The most prevalent issue is in regards to rehabilitation versus punishment; while some argue that harsher punishments will solve the issue of crime in the country, others believe that the system needs complete reform and the focus should be on rehabilitation instead. The current system is a breeding ground for failure, with high recidivism rates, high costs, and no success in effectively impacting crime in the country. The system maintains a heavy focus on punishment, insisting that this method deters crime but failing to produce the results to prove this.