The prisons in America seem to cause more problems than assistance in today's society. The country's penal system is overcrowded, expensive, and some argue that is ineffective as well as inefficient. The costs to staff and support these facilities increase dramatically every year. Prisons, which are supposed to be correctional facilities, are currently filled with violence and hostility. These institutions are created to control crime by deterrence, incapacitating criminals, which protects society from potentially dangerous criminals, but it is hard to tell if this is being
Less than 25 percent of the average daily population of sentenced offenders is incarcerated; the majority are supervised in the community. For the past 20 years, Connecticut's prisons have operated at or over capacity despite the addition of thousands of new beds since 1990 and a steady 10-year decrease in crime and arrest rates. Department of Correction lacks both a sufficient number of beds to house total inmate population and an adequate system of high security beds to manage high-risk population. Correctional system is hampered by inaccurate population projections and lack of a needs analysis of total offender population, but in particular of the inmate population. The number of inmates released early from prison to community supervision or parole has dramatically decreased.
Since the mid-1970s, the prison population in the nation’s largest state has risen by more than 750%, from about 20,000 to more than 160,000 (Equal Justice Initiative, 2010). California’s prison system is among one of the worst in the system and part of it is due to their adaptation of their “Three Strikes” laws. The laws are harsh and the criminals, especially the ones already having two strikes don’t seem to care about the seriousness of committing crimes. California’s prisons, 33 total, are operating at almost twice their design capacity. Overcrowding is a very serious issue that worries the state officials such as Governor Schwarzenegger.
Policy Development Paper Vance Reed CJA/464 Criminal Justice Policy Analysis 04/22/2012 Thomas McGrath Abstract Overcrowded prisons have been on an up rise for the last two decades. Overcrowded prisons are blamed for a number of reasons, such as the war on drugs, and the Three Strikes law, and the new laws regarding drugs crimes. Financially speaking, the cost is rising every year, even with new prisons and remodeling the population is steady rising. Crime peaked in the early 1990’s and this added to the high incarceration rates. Strangely enough, though the crime rate is now on a downward slope the overpopulated prisons are still increasing.
The growing epidemic of homelessness affected Dallas. According to estimates, 14,000 homeless were on the streets in the year of 1986 with 40 to 60 percent of them having mental problems (November 23, 1986). On a typical day, 4,000 homeless have to compete for only 1,400 shelter beds (November 27, 1986). Thousands of others are on the verge of being homeless by being a rent check away from losing their homes. The government of Dallas became frugal with their spending due to funding.
The prison industrial complex Every year more and more inmates are being locked up behind bars and eventually the prisons become over populated this is due to the prison industrial complex, fear is built up in peoples mind that all the criminals should be cleared off the street and put behind bars, however the question here is, whether that is the right solution. Statistics show that today the United States has approximately 8.1 million people behind bars. (Eric Schlosser). This shows that crime rates are significantly increasing in America and prisons are becoming full. One can argue the issue of racism in America is emphasized to be the cause for more violence and eventually more crime rates increase.
Recent reports have concluded that the United States has the highest incarceration rate throughout the world at 2.2 million inmates. This increase is causing major concerns for corrections statewide, as prisons are seriously overcrowded ("University Of Phoenix," 2003). Prison populations are steadily growing year by year since the 1980s. However, the reason for this increase is a result of the Sentencing Reforming Act of 1984 (“Seller, R. P.” 2011). Once this act was put into use there was a significant increase in the incarceration rate, which resulted in correctional staff becoming burdened and overworked as a result of the extreme overcrowding.
The laws because of advancing technology has caused more criminals to be brought to justice. State prisons are overcrowded because they hold the most dangerous criminals. Overcrowding of prisons posses a safety issue for inmates and correctional officers. The overcrowding of prisons does not allow proper rehabilitation of inmates so that they can become law abiding members of society. It is also a health concern for everyone in the prison because of the sewage and water system becoming
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.
Criminal Justice April 4, 2011 Term Paper For many years, abuse in prisons has been a serious issue and over the years, the abuse has only gotten worse. We see on the news of this happening in other countries but many Americans do not realize this is happening in our country as well, right under our noses. Some of the most unimaginable things take place in prisons not too far from where we live. Everyday, inmates undergo a variance of different forms of abuse. According to www.hrw.org, some forms of abuse are being beaten with fists and batons, stomped on, kicked, shot, stunned with electronic devices, doused with chemical sprays, choked, and slammed face first onto concrete floors by the officers whose job it is to guard them.