Overcrowding in the United States Prisons
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For those who commit major criminal offenses, prison seems to be the most humane solution for justice. With longer sentences and increasing mandatory minimums, the overcrowding of US prisons is on the rise. Furthermore, statistics show that the United States already has the world’s highest prison rates at 724 people per 100,000. In some states such as Texas, prisons faced an extreme shortage of nearly 17,000 beds for their inmates in 2007 alone. Lawmakers must now heed the outcry for change due to the culmination of prison overcrowding and the lack of larger institutions being built. This situation, one that continues to weigh heavily on our nation’s moral conscious as well as our individual taxes, must be rectified. Without progress that is swift and accommodating, the current trend will lead to further concerns. As long as the sentences for crimes remain unchanged and the lack of a correctional facility construction remains an issue, prison overpopulation will continue increasing every year. Without proper attention to this problem and its causation, a point will reach where there will be no room no new inmates.
The rise in the prison population is a consequence of the government’s actions of prosecuting and convicting offenders brought to justice. As a result, prisons are being supersaturated and often times are unable to accommodate inmates. These issues are causing various effects that will continue to occur if it is not dealt with. According to reports, overcrowding also contributes to increased misconduct of the inmates that affect the security and safety of all inmates and staff negatively. Caumont says ‘increased misconduct may be explained by the soaring numbers.’ This not only puts a burden on the facilities financially to be able to handle its responsibilities, but it is counterproductive when analyzing the purpose of an offender serving time. The primary reasons offenders are sent to jail are first to protect the rest of the contingency from potentially dangerous individuals. Secondly, it allows the offender to use time served as a method to instill a greater code of conduct in them-selves. As the numbers of inmates increase, the violence rate within the jails increases with a wave of prevalence of gangs causing more violence and disarray amongst the prisoners. This sharply contradicts the rationale for jailing an offender: to deter them from committing a similar crime in the future. Instead, the current situation is even putting them in a position to carry out even more serious crimes. Due to the overcrowding, some individuals are fearful of jail sentences because they will be in proximity to the various violent gang members and other violent offenders. The jails are being bombarded with more and more violence and crime within its walls. The influx of prisoners results in an unbalancing equilibrium between the supply and demand of prison places. Without properly addressing this issue, the problem will continue to grow, and a solution will never be found.
A large proportion of the money allocated to prison should be used mainly for rehabilitation. Lack of budgeting for the problem at hand has prompted several states to explore early release options for prisoners. A report in the New York Times suggests that the State Legislature decide to change its approach to parole violations by providing drug and alternative treatment for nonviolent offenders rather than budgeting for constructing more jails around the nation. This approach projects a sharp drop in the number of prisoners being admitted to these jail institutions. Statistics show that investments in rehabilitation programs have had a positive impact on reductions in reconvictions. (Goode) This can affect the inmate’s process to rehabilitate the back into society. Alongside these projected changes, Congress needs to budget for delivering more efficiency in operational management of our nation’s prisons. With the help of lawmakers, institutions will be making budgets for programs for all the inmates. Funding for these programs and other jail services needs to be departmentalized to help regulate the flow cash. I hope that this will result in creating a cash flow that will begin at the top and have a trickledown effect towards other forms of change.
Rehabilitation in the prison system may be the most crucial yet overlooked aspect in the entire system. Rehabilitation should be the goal in the jails rather than trying to incorporate rehab on inmates after they are released. The way the systems works right now has many inmates reverting to old habits because they were not properly rehabbed while being locked up. Halfway houses were developed for a way to help transition pervious convicted inmates back into society; however, drug trafficking and other illegal activities that are prevalent in these designated houses only exacerbate the problem. (Carson) The immediate surrounding community does not benefit from the halfway house if convicts are not conditioned for rehabilitation while they were serving their sentences in jail. Allowing convicted drug-uses to live in these houses amongst the public actually helps spread the drugs around the community. It has been suggested that they become a place where drugs of all kinds can be found, rather than drug-users of the past trying to get back into normal life. Halfway houses would cease to exist if the inmates were able to return as an asset to society rather than another ex-convict who happens to live in the area.
The government’s standard of moral and financial stability comes to odds when the prison population problem shows no sign of improvement. Politicians are known to debate the overpopulation crisis to render a political advantage over their counterparts. However, it seems these so-called solutions are not being put into actions. Both parties strategize to cut down their competition by showing that their opponents are not as tough on crime as they are. The public will absolutely be against all forms of crime. Without proper education, the political battlefield in our American two party systems will lead itself only to aggravate this issue. It would be beneficial to have a reasoned political debate on the contributions of criminal punishment to reduce crime rates. However, it seems hard to grasp in our political atmosphere where a political gain is the main goal rather than addressing the overcrowding. The true dilemma lies in the public’s opinion on crime and punishment. It is important to inform and educate the media and the public concerning the relevant concepts of sentencing practice. Politicians feed on the public’s desire to increase protection from criminals. In J.M. Hough’s book on tackling prison overcrowding, he explains that the heart of the problem of prison overcrowding is our political landscape. The landscape entails adding more and more inmates without coming up with policies of managing the numbers. He continues to proclaim the urgency in getting the government officials to enact policies to reduce overcrowding of jails.
The constant growing prison population is due in part to over-incarceration. American ideology is such that sending an individual to jail coincides with increases of public safety. This is not always the case, though. Oftentimes, individuals who are sentenced to jail learn more about how to attempt crimes while they are behind bars due to the inmates they encounter. For example, an alternative to imprisonment for minor non-violent crimes can be community service. This allows the criminal to repay their debt to the society for committing the offense. Alongside community service, other solutions should be brainstormed to help the justice system run correctly and efficiently diminishing the overcrowding crisis. Recent statistics the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics released indicates that American taxpayers may be spending over one billion dollars every year for the incarceration of their fellow citizens who smoke marijuana. This seems like a very large amount of money being spent to accommodate drug users who would not necessarily benefit from jail time. It is said that over one-half of prisoners in the United States are incarcerated for crimes involving drugs each year, as the Bureau of Justice Statistics has shown (Carson). Rather those individuals would greatly benefit from a more progressive rehabilitation service. If policies are put in place that will reduce imprisonment levels for minor non-violent crimes, perhaps jail cells will be left for offenders who are a high threat to society. This would leave behind the inmates who committed a severe crime and sentenced to jail according to how likely the individual could return to society.
Many alternative measures can correct behavior apart from jailing the offender. At times, even offenders who have been found guilty can be released or discharged. This is mainly applicable when the offence committed is a minor one. For absolute discharge, the individual is allowed to go scot-free even after being proved guilty. A conditional discharge, on the other hand, involves release that has strings attached like remaining bound to movement restriction. In addition, the offender can be put under probation, where he or she is given the chance to prove that living with fellow society members is possible and co-existing is one of his or her values. The judicial officer may also consider suspending the sentence. In this type of conviction, the judgment is passed, but the convict does not carry it out provided he or she has not yet met some requirements the judge sets out. A prisoner serving his or her sentence intermittently may be required to be behind bars for approximately 90 days, including all weekends. With improve in technology, electronic monitoring has also been introduced. A bracelet emits an electronic signal to a distant computer to supervise an offender whose arm has the bracelet. The idea is to force the prisoner remain in their houses during a particular period. Other modes of punishments include restitution by compensating the offended financially and performing community service. Moreover, some cases may be better handled by deporting the offenders or suspending some of their privileges. Such privileges include possessing a driving license as well as permission to carry firearms. If these alternative correctional measures could be adopted in our judicial systems, the problem of overpopulation in United States prisons could be solved completely.
Overcrowding in jails around the nation has resulted in America having the highest number of inmates in the world. It should not be a statistic prized. Once the authorities take time to address the problem, and set a solution in action, only then can our society develop and grow. We would be more efficient and be able to encompass all the needs of the public alongside all inmates. A balance of creating what punishment or sentence would most greatly affect the individual is what our jail system should try to achieve in doing that fix our overcrowding dilemma.