Not to also mention, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world (Senator James 1)! But how is all of this happening when crime rates are going down? People in today’s society are getting locked behind bars for lesser crimes then in the past. Criminals are serving more time in prisons nowadays than any previous year. Another significant issue with the United States prison system is its ability to spend money.
25 Apr. 2005. 5 Feb. 2009. < http://crime.about.com/b/2005/04/25/nations-prison-population-soars.htm>. Murphy, Francis T. “Prisons Should Punish Inmates.” America’s Prisons: Opposing Viewpoints.
This large increase in the rate of incarceration is the biggest dertermining factor for the rise of private prisons in the US and because the United States has setup a system in which we are putting people in prison at a much faster rate than anywhere else in the world private prisons have become more and more acceptable. "In 1980 about half the people entering state prison were violent offenders; in 1995 less than a third had been convicted of a violent crime. The enormous increase in America's inmate population can be explained in large part by the sentences given to people who have committed nonviolent offenses. Crimes that in other countries would usually lead to community service, fines, or drug treatment—or would not be considered crimes at all—in the United States now lead to a prison term, by far the most expensive form of punishment." (Schlosser) The creation of the Rockefeller drug laws in New York state is what appears to be a major proponent in this
Prison gangs are much better organized than the average street gang. When an inmate is released he is typically more savvy about keeping a low profile and so it becomes more difficult for authorities recognize criminal activity. Prison gangs have risen some four hundred percent during the last decade and are still climbing. Gangs inside the prison walls have become experts at communicating through coded messages. Prison gangs originated as a form of protection from predator inmates, but expanded to include contraband.
But in the United States it they thought it was too expensive and had it replaced by the Auburn system as the primary dominate system in the country for over 50 years. The Reformatory system was based on the rehabilitation of prisoners rather than containing them in solitary confinement. The difference between prisons and reformatories is that prisons were meant to detain inmates as a form of punishment instead of helping them learn how to be contributing members of society. Today most correctional institutions offer programs for self improvement such as education, employment opportunities and vocational training which are just a few things that correctional facilities offer today. The
It offers recommendations for change, but its main value possibly lies in the depth and thoroughness of its research, which provides detached examination of the range of problems presented by mentally ill prisoners. The report provides a detailed look at the situation behind the numbers that have been compiled in numerous other reports. Prisoners have rates of mental illness two to four times higher than those occurring in the general population, and according to this report, there are three times more mentally ill people in U.S. prisons than in mental health hospitals. Between two and three hundred thousand people incarcerated in federal and state prisons suffer from severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. On any given day, about 70,000 are psychotic.
And prisons don't have the right resources for treatment of all these diseases. They are designed to rehabilitate and release prisoners back to society. Prisoners are required to follow-up with parole officers and receive other types of non-medical support to rejoin society. However, when a mentally ill patient gets released from prison, they are not provided any support groups or counselors to follow-up on their care. This can cause a relapse of the behavior and ultimately, a return to prison.
African Americans in particular are over represented in prison; though they are 13 percent of the population, they made up 38 percent of the population of state prisons in 2011. The crimes that landed them there are not too different from their White and Hispanic. Eighteen percent of African Americans in states prisons were convicted of drug crimes, compared to 15 percent of Whites and 17 percent of Hispanics. That doesn’t mean that Whites and African American use drugs at similar rates, and African Americans are much likely to be arrested for it-isn’t true, because it is. But African American is also more likely to arrested for other crimes.
Throughout most of the twentieth century, the dominant philosophies have been incapacitation, deterrence, and retribution. Prison overcrowding is one of the major global issues that we are facing today. Overcrowding is a major problem in the United States; however some countries have it worse than what we see, for example, Australia, Russia, Brazil, and most Asian countries see overcrowded prisons as a problematic issue. Housing more inmates in a cell than what it is designed for is common in the United States and anywhere else overcrowding is present. The average prison cell built today is at least 70 square feet, but only about 60 square feet are usable, resulting in only about 30 square feet of available space per prisoner if double celled (bop.gov) Since overcrowding is a major issue facing today’s prisons, it is sad to see that California’s prisons have the most overcrowded conditions, conditions so bad that it has been deemed a violation of the prisoners Eighth Amendment Right (the right against cruel and unusual punishment) To combat this problem, the Unites States Supreme Court has issued release of California inmates, in order to control the issue of overcrowding.
Patton and Mondale (1988) and Navasky and O’Conner (2005) illustrate that there are no straightforward solutions to a multifaceted, controversial, and confusing issue. People outlook about the mentally ill have been largely influenced by the prominent figures, their attitudes, and policies they had in place. Over time, policies have changed in response to some political parties and the pressure from ordinary people. Understanding the many uses of the asylums as a means to house the mentally ill have not been fully comprehended, but Patton and Mondale (1988) gives us a good