Determinate sentences involve sentences that have a fixed or flat time (Jirard, 2009). Determinate sentences play a large part in the increasing number of individuals in prison, which, as you can imagine, puts more strain on prisons financially. In the past two decades, we have become increasingly “tough on crime” which has helped to decrease crime to a certain extent. According to an article in the New York Times (2008), the US has fewer than five percent of the entire world’s population, but almost twenty five percent of the world’s prisoners (Liptak & , 2008). The author of the article goes on to say that people in the US are sentenced to do time for crimes that would not produce such a sentence in other countries.
62% of local jail inmates are awaiting trial. The cost of medical care for inmates grows by 10% annually. High rates of incarceration are due to sentence length. The United States incarcerates a large number of non-violent and victimless offenders. 50% of all prisoners are non-violent offenders, and 20% are drug related offenders.
These eye-popping numbers came about for many reasons: mandatory minimum sentences, three-strikes legislation, illegal drugs, gangs, immorality in all its modern forms, the war on drugs, the decline of marriage and families, high rates of recidivism, incarceration of the mentally ill, the decline of capital punishment, problems with the criminal justice system and all the forces pushing tough crime policies. Difficult economic times focus attention on the increasing costs of keeping all these people - 93% of them men - behind bars. Each prisoner costs about $32,000 per year, and the average prisoner does little to offset the cost of confinement. The social costs may be even higher. Breadwinners are lost, families destroyed, more kids grow up without fathers or mothers, welfare costs increase, the entire sex ratio is thrown out of balance and prisoners face grim prospects when released.
4/1/2013 The New Asylums Prisons are now housing more than 500,000 mentally ill inmates across the nation. Many of these inmates are classified as severely mental ill and fit the psychiatric classification for major illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anti social personality disorder and many more. The question is why are so many clinically ill individuals who should be receiving medical care from medical facility being placed behind bars. Many believe that increase in mentally ill inmates is due to major policy shifts over the past few decades. one of these major shifts spurs from the decision made in 1950 to close many of the mental hospitals throughout the nation.
WHAT IS CAUSING PRISON OVERCROWDING? FINDINGS Continued increase in the number of offenders sent to prison · High recidivism rate · High rate of offenders returned to prison for violating or unsuccessfully completing community supervision · New criminal offenses added to penal code · "War on drugs" · Harsher penalties for certain types of offenses · Increased role of victim and victim advocacy in the court and parole process Convicted inmates serving a greater portion of their sentences in prison · Shift from indeterminate to determinate sentencing caused average minimum sentences to increase · Elimination of "good time" · "Truth in sentencing" established time-served standards for parole eligibility and required 100 percent of court-imposed
Scholars Mears, Cochran, Siennick and Bales will discuss implications of the findings for research and policy in this article. America has entered what many scholars have described as an era of mass incarceration in recent decades. (Clear, 2007; Garland 2001; Gottschalk, 2006; Rosenfeld & Messner, 2010). It is estimated that over 1.6 million individuals are in America's state and federal prisons (West 2010) and perhaps over 735,000 are released back into society annually. (Sabol, West & Cooper, 2009).
The United States every year sentences thousands of individuals for various crimes he or she has committed. These crimes can range from felonies to misdemeanors. Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors and usually carries out punishments of one-year or more. However, misdemeanors usually carries out punishments of a few months up to a year (“Seller, R. P.” 2011). Every criminal case brought forth must be reviewed thoroughly by a judge ensuring proper procedures are mandatory to be carried out when sentencing.
The issue of prison conditions and the impacts they have on the future lives of inmates has attracted significant interest in the American society. One of the most important trends in the U.S justice system is that out of 600, 000 inmates that are released from prison each year, about two-thirds end up being rearrested after three years (Chen & Shapiro, 2007). In this respect, the objective of this paper is to discuss prison life and strategies that can be adopted in prisons to reduce recidivism. Analysis of the Purposes for Prisons in the U.S Justice System The correctional facilities in the U.S are principally meant to ensure that the sentences that have been prescribed by the Courts on offenders are implemented to the letter. Nevertheless, correctional administrators in the modern correctional facilities have been enlightened in that they recognize a broader responsibility and mission of prisons.
Most inmates return to prison shortly after being released. The return of inmates plus the new inmates being brought in also cause overcrowding in prisons. The New York Times (2009) states, “ With few probation and parole programs available, about two-thirds of all ex-convicts return to prison within three years”. Since the inmates are not properly being rehabilitated, they make the same mistakes or break their parole and end up back in prison. When someone has been in prison for so long and they are not properly rehabilitated, they go back to prison because it is how they know life to be, like it is there home.
An article in the Los Angeles Daily News the County Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka said “the additional jail beds are “critically needed” because realignment required inmates diverted from state prisons to serve their entire sentence in county jails, leaving the Sheriff’s Department scrambling for space for its other inmates” (Para 5, 2013). Because of realignment the jails have also become overpopulated now so they are re-opening a jail in the city of Taft. This also means that the serious offenders that were released, re-offended and were put into jail are able to serve full sentences before being released early