Prison Overcrowding Free Essays

â€Å"Overcrowding in Americas Prison System† ABSTRACT In the early years of this country flogging, exile, branding, and the â€Å"stocks† were some of the ways used to punish a guilty offender. Today, though, these types of punishments would quickly be labeled as cruel and unusual forms of retribution. Since we can no longer utilize such forms of punishment, the criminal justice system has turned to; imprisonment, probation, fines, and even the death penalty to help and deter offenders from a life of crime. We will write a custom essay sample on Prison Overcrowding or any similar topic only for you Order Now As the prison population continues to rise in this country health and safety questions rise as well. Not only for the prisoner but for also for the guards that are there to watch over and protect the inmates. It is time to ask some very important questions regarding sentencing alternatives including; â€Å"Do we rely too much on the prison system†, â€Å"Are there better ways to punish some crimes? † and probably most importantly, â€Å"Does prison truly act as a deterrent to crime? † The Bureau of Justice’s statistics in the recent years have shown a dramatic increase in the prison population which has led to a large amount of United States prisons being overcrowded. State prisons, on the average, are 16 percent over their capacity with Federal prisons holding an average of 38 percent more inmates than their original construction capacity. (Bureau of Justice) Overcrowding, though, is just part of the problem. Many of the prisons in America today are rundown and substandard. Inadequate security is also an issue, often times lacking the personnel to keep the inmates safe from assaults and other violations. For years, it has been the belief of the American public, politicians, and criminal justice authorities that crime rates in this country were just too large. It has also been the general consensus that in order to stop the rising crime rates, there had to be a great push in the severity of sentencing in the courtroom. Mostly this was done by way of utilizing the maximum sentence for a crime in hopes of deterring others and decreasing the amount of recidivism. One other method was to impose a minimum sentence for certain nonviolent crimes including; driving while intoxicated, drug offenses, child molestation, spousal abuse, and sexual assault. â€Å"Over the past three decades, the United States has built the world’s largest prison system. This system is ten times larger today than it was in the mid-1970s. † (Lynch, 2007)As America’s prison population has grown there has been a lot of debate on whether or not prison is working. Arguably, all intents and purposes of a prison system are to deter crime. The hopes of our criminal justice system, all of its judges, lawyers, and even the American people is that either someone will not commit an offense with fear of going to prison or that if they do, they will not do it again once they have stepped foot inside a correctional institution. Is this the case? Do prisons in fact act as deterrents and reduce crime rates? Lynch goes on his book after a review of several studies on the effects of prison as a deterrent to say, â€Å"While sentencing reforms seemed to reduce crime, they did so only by substantially increasing the size of the incarcerated population. In light of this observation, and in an effort to avoid the problem of extensive prison growth, the use of selective incapacitation strategies that carefully target specific kinds of offenders may be of the more benefit. (Lynch, 2007) Michael Jacobson is a former Commissioner of Probation for the City of New York, appointed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, supports the fact that the use of prisons may not be the deterrent we have been hoping for and is best suited for the most violent of offender. In his book, â€Å"Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration† Jacobson explains; After all is said and done, the number of people in the U. S. jails and prisons-almost 2. 2 million at the time of this writing-reflects a public policy gone mad. Prisons and especially long prison sentences should be reserved for the most violent among us. There is no need to lock away for years hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders or to keep people in prison well past their crime-committing years, effectively turning some prisons into the equivalent of secure nursing homes. (Jacobson, 2005) It is easy to see that the use of harsh sentencing guidelines does not necessarily have the effect that it once was thought to have. Not only that ut now we are using and already overcrowded prison system to punish minor crimes and to house parole violators. What is the cost of such action? The answer simply put? Way to high. Over the years, the costs of running a prison have increased dramatically. Today, it can cost well over $75,000 to build a single cell and over $25,000 to house a prisoner for a year. Let’s put this in an even better prospective by saying that, in today’s society, it could cost well over $330 million to bu ild and run a 500 cell prison over a period of 30 years. If a state struggling to run a prison has to obtain money, where does it come from? More and more states are starting to shift funds from their higher education departments. If states are taking money away from schools to fund prisons, it may be time for a change. There has to be to reduce the American criminal justice system’s use of prison. Community corrections legislators believe that there are several alternatives to prison from which the court can choose from. One of the most popular types of intermediate sanctions is, of course, probation. Probation is used in lieu of incarceration and affords the offender the ability to be supervised in their community by a probation officer who works as an agent of the court. Other types come in the form of; house arrest, electronic monitoring, shock probation (boot camps), intensive supervision, day-reporting centers, community service, fines, restitution, and forfeiture. To make intermediate sanctions work and to decrease the reliability on the prison system, there has to be a change in the sentencing guidelines for some crimes. We can no longer look to prison to punish every crime that an offender may commit. Drug offenses, theft related crimes, driving while intoxicated, parole violations, and other nonviolent crimes need to be handled in the community with a combination of the intermediate sanctions mentioned earlier. Michael Tonry, in his book, â€Å"Intermediate Sanctions in Sentencing Guidelines† supports this conclusion, â€Å"For offenders who do not present unacceptable risks of violence, well-managed intermediate sanctions offer a cost-effective way to keep them in the community at less cost than imprisonment and with no worse later prospect for criminality. † (Tonry, 1998) While prison has been leaned on for many years as a way to deter crime and to punish offenders of the American criminal justice system, the increase reliability has led to a very dangerous and expensive prison system. Overcrowding has led to violence, health concerns, and substandard prison conditions. It is now time that we look to other means to punish offenders who are not a great threat to society. Through the use of intermediate sanctions, I believe that America can lower its prison population while at the same time punish offenders of state and federal laws. Bibliography Anderson, D. 1998). Sensible Justice: Alternaives to Prison. New Press. Bureau of Justice. (n. d. ). Bureau of Justice. Retrieved 03 09, 2011, from www. ojp. usdoj. gov/bjs Jacobson, M. (2005). Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration. NYU Press. Jusitce, B. o. (2010). Bureau of Justice. Lynch, M. (2007). Big, Prisons, Big Dreams: Crime and the Failure of America’s Penal System. Rutgers University Press. Paulus, P. (1988). Prison Overcrowding: A Psychological Perspective. Springer-Verlag. Tonry, M. (1998). Intermediate Sanctions in Sentencing Guidelines. Oxford University Press. . How to cite Prison Overcrowding, Essay examples Prison Overcrowding Free Essays Nowadays, overcrowding in prisons has become a serious concern in the United States, especially in California where there is not enough space for the increasing inmate population. And according to the most recent statistics from Californians Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state gives a bigger budget to prisons than any other state. With annual spending of about nine billion dollars and forty-five thousand dollars per inmate, California obviously pumps more money on prisons than higher education. We will write a custom essay sample on Prison Overcrowding or any similar topic only for you Order Now On average, murderers and violent criminals are jailed from four years up to twenty-five years. The more time they serve in Jail, the more money the state has to spend. Hence, in order to solve the prison overcrowding problem and save a lot of money, some solutions have been executed such as increasing prison capacity, restitution, or house arrest, but they have not worked so far. There is a better way that may work. That is setting up battle arenas in prisons and authorizing inmates to beat each other to death. The prize for the survivor is the immediate freedom and a certain sum of money. Thereby, we not only avoid prison overcrowding, but also cut prison budgets. It seems like an outrageous idea, but at least it would work because inmates have nothing to lose; thus, they are highly motivated to fight for their freedom. After all, there are three reasons why this cruel solution should be implemented. Firstly, by allowing prisoners to kill each other, every prisoner dies, it immediately decreases forty-five thousand dollars of the prison annual budget. If we had lessened the number of prisoners, we could have stopped deeding them and building new Jails. Through a simple computation, we will get almost five million dollars if one thousand criminals die per year. We could use the saved money to build more supportive housing for people in need, support returning veterans, open more public transportation, and spend more money on subsidies for higher education. Secondly, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice, there is seventy percent of felony defendants repeating their prior crimes. For this reason, inmates, who can’t survive in their fight, have no more Hansen to do their crimes again. Innocent people would be safer. The losses of family members caused by crimes would be reduced. Thirdly, prisons now look like a battlefield, and inmates fight to die, the entertainment organizations could take advantage of this to make the reality TV shows about life in prisons. This would attract not only Americans, but also other foreign countries. Because most people, especially those are under fifty, want to see violent scenes. Indeed, ninety percent of movies and sixty percent of TV shows today show depictions of violence (Nor, 1). For example, WE, a fighting show, has twenty million viewers in a single week. Nevertheless, WE is still staged by actors who are called superstars. On the other hand, we have real fighters in prisons, and they will try their best to fight for their life. Everything happening in prisons are real, and people would even love watching it more than WE for its reality and brutality. As many people watch these prison shows, it would increase the nation’s economy because people will spend money to see them. With all mentioned above, this is one of the best solutions for the prison overcrowding problem at the moment. How to cite Prison Overcrowding, Papers Prison Overcrowding Free Essays This paper will discuss prison overcrowding and what type of numbers have come about over the years when it comes to inmates being imprisoned. It will discuss the cost of a prisoner annually as well as the decision to add verses build when it comes to new facilities. The overcrowding in one particular prison will be touched on as well as whose responsibility it is for upkeep. We will write a custom essay sample on Prison Overcrowding or any similar topic only for you Order Now It will discuss how funding plays a role in overcrowding as well as the â€Å"three strikes† rule in California and how big of an impact it has made on the prison system.Lastly, society’s choice to vote will be touched on as how large of a determining factor it is in overcrowding prisons. State and Federal Prisons housed approximately 1. 3 million inmates in the year 2000, not to mention the jails had an estimate of 600,000 as well. Ten years previous the prisons housed 700,000 inmates and jails were at about 400,000. At that rate, the population of people being incarcerated almost doubled from 1. 1 million to 1. 9 million inmates. The last count in 2008 jumped again to an astonishing 2. million imprisoned within the country (Diiulio, Jr. , J. , 2010, March). Factors that contribute to prison and jail overcrowding is that so many people are incarcerated each year, funding, upkeep of a facility, the three strikes rule and tax payers are unwilling to pass levees. One of the largest reasons prisons are overcrowded today is that it is reported that one out of every 99. 1 adults are currently in prison or jail. This is the largest number in nation’s history and seven times the inmate rate from 1973.Amazingly ninety-five percent of prisoners are released back into communities to continue living their lives. They are not thrown to the wolves; they are released â€Å"with a basic education, job training and preparation, improved pro-social pattern of thinking, adequate life/social skills, and a lowered risk for substance abuse, anger and self esteem issues† (Boehm, D. P. , Lampert, R. O. , 2008, October). If an inmate needs continued treatment once released, they are provided the assistance and resources to make the transition as successful as possible.Even when a prisoner was on a psychotic medication when released they are hooked up with a regional mental health and substance abuse center to make their reentry as flourishing (Boehm, D. P. , Lampert, R. O. , 2008, October). At 157 percent capacity, San Quintin State Prison, a maximum security prison is no doubt overcrowded and it costs about $49,000 each year for an adult inmate to be housed in the San Quintin State Prison (Sterngold, J. , 2008, July/August). Taxpayers are unwilling to pass levees to build facilities to house prisoners which lead to an overcrowding prison. The criminal justice system needs to have stronger sentences for crimes to deter people from offending to begin with and not release inmates early due to overcrowding. Inmates are being released early because there are not enough beds to hold all of the criminals. In the end it leads to a higher crime rate because the inmate’s count of being released early and they are not being reformed. A way to reduce funding problems is to have inmates take care of their own facilities like they would their homes.Cleaning supplies can be handed to the inmates and it can be their job to clean the showers. It should not be the responsibility of the prison staff to keep the facility clean, the inmates should be given duties and be held accountable or forced to live in the conditions they allow for themselves. Funds should not be taken from the taxpayers to pay someone to clean up after the inmates, the taxpayers’ funds could be used for security and building to prevent additional overc rowding. The problem with many jails and prisons today is the upkeep.Most facilities today do not have the funding to build a brand new facility but what needs to happen is to make the additions and upgrades more efficient. Replacing a furnace or air conditioning system for a place a huge as a prison could be extremely time consuming and expensive especially if the newer model is not the most efficient and then has to be replaced again and again prematurely. The best way to spend the taxpayers’ money is to buy the most energy efficient and best model and not replace it as often. As the age old saying, â€Å"you get what you pay for. The same goes for other materials when doing an addition or fixing an existing structure, the administrators need to take the time to research and see what the best materials are for longevity and spend money wisely (Lucas, R. , 2009, November/December). As Robert Lucas (2009) said, â€Å"Money spent well at the beginning of a project may save the facility from spending more in the future. † Like California, many other states have the â€Å"three strikes† rule and one of every nine of the inmates who are on their third strike get 25 to life sentence (Haerens, M. , 2010, May 15). This rule contributes to the vercrowding issue which an individual is taking up more space in jails and prisons. For example, if a person is charged three times with felony drug trafficking and is convicted that would be the third offence and would serve twenty-five year to life in jail. A violent offender, like a murderer, could that the place of that individual and rot in jail and make the community safer, it is the lesser of two evils. There are many factors that contribute to prison and jail overcrowding, funding, upkeep, three strikes rule, taxpayers not wanting to pass levees and the fact that so many people each year are incarcerated. Funding can be redirected if the upgrades were made more efficiently around the prisons. To help save money, inmates can do daily duties and have responsibilities around the prison and jail grounds. The three strikes rule needs to be revised to focus on violent crimes. Tax payers need to stop complaining about criminals in the community unless they are willing to pass the levees to build jails and prisons to lessen the likelihood of overcrowding.References Boehm, D. P. , Lampert, R. O. (2008, October). Thinking Outside the Cell: Expanding Safety and Security Beyond the Perimeter. Corrections Today, 70 (5). p. 4-61, Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Resource Center. Diiulio, Jr. , J. (2010, March). Prison Breakout. America,202 (6). p. 11, Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Resource Center. Haerens, M. (2010, May 15). California’s â€Å"Three Strikes† Law Is Fair. † Opposing Viewpoints: Mandatory Minimum Sentencing. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, Retrieved from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Lucas, R. (2009, November/December). To Build or Not To Build? American Jails,23 (5). p. 493, Retrieved from Criminal Justice Periodicals Index Resource Center. Sterngold, J. (2008, July/August). Worst of the Worst. Mother Jones, 33 (4). How to cite Prison Overcrowding, Papers