With these improvements comes the fact that our prisons are too small for the amount of people that are being put in jail, this includes county, state, as well as federal. We can also blame our overpopulation on the fact that crime rates fluctuate such as what we are seeing in our country now. With a bad economy comes more crime, people get desperate in times of need and will do whatever it takes to put food on the table or pay the bills to have a roof over their heads. Another negative aspect of overpopulating our prison system is the fact that the tax payer gets stuck with the larger bills to house these inmates. Overcrowding of our prisons is a bad situation that will continue to get worse unless our government figures out a solution.
The enormous growth in the national prison population has intensified the problems presented by the needs of mentally ill inmates. A report released by Human Rights Watch late last year—“Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness”—examines in depth the situation of the adult mentally ill in state and federal prisons. The report is long and well-researched, blending material from legal documents, court records, academic studies, site visits, interviews and letters. Originally established in the 1970s to monitor compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Accords, Human Rights Watch has developed into a more broadly focused international observer of government policies and practices affecting human rights
Bailey McGill Mrs. McIntosh English 047 (7) Research Paper 11 January 2012 Physician-Assisted Suicide Physician-assisted suicide is a highly debated topic in today’s society. The ethics, the legalities, and the decision whether or not it should be are the main problem places. Physician-assisted suicide can occur when a physician provides a terminally ill patient with a lethal dosage of medication in order for the patient or a third party to end the patient’s life. The debate grows stronger when people question whether the physician should be allowed to provide the patient with these lethal medications. However, there are many pros and cons to each side of the argument.
When your body goes through changes like that constantly your body has to try and adjust to it. These changes can cause a high level of stress. Working within the criminal justice system can cause stress. Administrative issues, paperwork and internal investigations can all cause stress while working in a police department. The stress that they go through can also result in fatigue.
Nicholas M. Tzakis Mental Illness and Maximum Security Isolation Introduction: In recent years, the use of the “supermax style” prison has become increasingly popular. These Units are essentially “Prisons within prisons” that are designed to house the most problematic inmates (Rolling, 2005). Many state and federal prisons employ Maximum Security Isolation Units to deal with problematic inmates. Accompanying that popularity is a growing criticism from prison activists and psychologists regarding the treatment of prisoners. Many mental health professionals claim that inmates that are assigned to such Isolation Units for extended periods of time are developing mental disorders.
Inmates Involved in Drug Abuse are on the Rise Drug abuse and addiction have, for all intents and purposes, changed the landscape of the prison populations in the United States. We consume two-thirds of the world’s illegal drugs and embody twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population. In the decade between 1996 and 2006, the population in the U.S. increased by 12.5 percent. While the percentage of incarcerated adults rose by 32.8 percent during that period, the percentage of inmates involved in drugs increased even more quickly, by 43.2 percent (CASAColumbia, 2010). One factor contributing to the continuous growth of substance abusers in the prison population is drug misuse and addiction.
Drug use in prison is one of the main problems they face. They not only try to catch inmates with drugs, but also decide on whether and inmate really needs them for a certain illness they may have. Another problem correctional officers have is trying to find skilled help actually willing to work with the inmates. Finding staff to do this kind of job is hard work and time consuming, but once the job is complete, it is all worth it in the
Factors that are taken into account when addressing the mentally ill are deinstitutionalization, more community and civic involvement, and formal training for the law enforcement who deal with this growing population. America’s prison system serves as the new asylum. After many mental institutions closed beginning in the mid 1960’s few alternatives materialized. Many individuals with mental health issues turned to the streets, where untreated they became vulnerable to drug abuse, crime, and joblessness. Roughly 5% of all adult Americans suffer from a serious illness according to a 2012 report by a division of the 2012 US Department of Health and Human Services.
PRISON OVERCROWDING Julissa Bautista Bryant Stratton College CRJU105 Corrections- M. Sullivan Date: 3/2/2015 The United States is considered to have the highest incarceration rate in the world holding roughly millions people and the overcrowding of the inmates has become a major problem for the prison system. With the overcrowding in the prison the inmates have less to go around. Another effect the prisoners have with the increased population in the prisons is that it leads to illness and suffering. Prisoners who are in situations of over crowdedness there tend to be more aggression and competition for resources with less cooperation and more social withdrawal. Prison overcrowding is becoming a major financial and controversial problem in the United
Segregation of HIV Positive Inmates The United States prison population increased drastically over the last 20 years where approximately two million people are currently incarcerated in jails or prisons. The latest data reported by the Bureau of Justice (Maruschak 2) revealed that there are 21,462 HIV positive prisoners incarcerated in federal and state prisons in the US. During, mid 1980s HIV and AIDs “were not fully understood by scientists, policymaker’s and medical personnel” (Human Rights Watch); therefore correctional departments created and implemented very restrictive policies regarding HIV prisoners. It is believed that these early restrictions contributed to the current isolation of the HIV population. Furthermore, HIV prisoners