Preview

Overcrowding In Prisons

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
582 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Overcrowding In Prisons
ENGL107
INDIVIDUAL PROJECT #1

Latita Carter
Cynthia Armes
AIU

ABSTRACT
This paper will identify the issue of overcrowding inside of prisons. This paper will explain how prisons accommodate space for prisoners after all cells are filled. This paper will elaborate on how overcrowding inside of a prison could threaten the lives of inmates as well as officers. This paper will also analyze overcrowding inside of a prisons leading to health issues.

Imagine yourself having to live in filth with thousands of complete strangers who are viewed by society as “Criminals”. Imagine being boxed-in and sandwiched between others due to overcrowding. Imagine not being able to secure your personal belongings. Imagine not being able to shower, eat, sleep or just not having a piece of mind. Many prisons are overcrowded due to holding more prisoners than they can accommodate. Many people often commit crimes and should be punished for their actions, however, overcrowding in prisons are unsanitary, unsafe and unjust.
…show more content…
People are being sentenced to prison for years for types of offenses that once received only probation or a couple of days in jail. Most misdemeanor cases receive less of a punishment than that of a felony. It seems that people, who commit misdemeanor cases such as driving with suspended license, are actually being incarcerated for long periods of time. Prisons have set up “made-up” dorms such as gymnasiums and dayrooms to accommodate space for inmates. Instead of transferring prisoners to prisons that has space, prisoners are forced into sharing a very small space with thousands of other inmates. Unsanitary cells, dirty lavatories, broken showers and mattresses on the ground are all negative effects of overcrowding in prisons. Prisoners are being treated like

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Kennedy, E. (1985). Prison Overcrowding: The law’s Dilemma. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 478(1), 113-122. doi: 10.1177/0002716285478001010. Sage Publications.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One of the greatest challenges currently facing the American criminal justice system is overcrowding. America has the largest prison population in the world with over two million inmates which have led to major challenges in housing the many inmates. The many challenges being faced by the correctional system include insufficient prison beds for inmates and lack of prison space as well as inadequate funding, and resources. The causes for the extreme overcrowding have been blamed on retributive sentencing polices, new legislation, the War on Drugs, and the criminalization of the juvenile offender.…

    • 1665 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although criminals should pay the consequence for their behavior, it should not mean that they should live in overcrowded prisons. An example of an overcrowded prison is shown in Angola, where the max occupancy was for 800 prisoners, yet they had 1,750 prisoners (Stern, 2006). When this happens, the lack of resources, space, and training from needed officers increases. Therefore, conditions become hazardous and prisoners and officers are at higher risk for diseases such as HIV and Tuberculosis (Stern, 2006). Although society feels safe with criminals locked up, they have to realize that a main purpose for prisons is to help reduce crime by showing prisoners that breaking the law will cause them the loss of freedom. Ultimately, leading those criminals who are able to get out, to come out with a sense of a change behavior. However, the system that puts these women, men, and young people in overcrowded prisons are not even worried about the criminal. Instead, they keep increasing the definition of “crime”, which increase the number of criminals in an ineffective prison…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With prison populations growing at an alarming rate and crime rates on the rise, one has to stop and wonder if there will soon be a prison decorating every town or city. America’s prisons have been called the “graduate schools for crime” and with the recidivism rate, one has to agree that this term was not coined flippantly. It stands to reason: Take a group of people, strip them of their possessions and privacy, expose them to constant threats of violence, overcrowd them onto a concrete block as long as a street, deprive them of meaningful work, and the result is an embittered underclass more intent on getting even with society rather than contributing to it. Take out the word “prison” and replace it with inner city and you have just described the lower class. Could it be that we are treating our prisoners and our lower class the same? In the course of my research, and well known to our legislators, Americans pay a great deal to keep this cycle going at the cost that is far greater to society as a whole. Like most of the government solutions today, they are expensive. What our legislators neglect to inform us of is that it costs approximately eighty-thousand dollars to build one cell. Our legislators depend on the voters wanting a quick fix with little question as to the cost over a long term fix that will take patience and tolerance, yet be beneficial in the long run for society as a whole. They hide the fact that crime is the result of a morally negligent government and people making morally wrong decisions, for which they must be held accountable. The response should be a quick response to such behavior is punishment, which may include restitution, community service, stiff fines or in the case of violent offenders, prison. Let us not fool ourselves into a false sense of safety. Nonviolent and drug offenders are eventually…

    • 4910 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In society today, it is commonly known that crime rate has increased dramatically by the years. This is where many of us look for ways to solve such issue. It is the last place anybody would want to be in. but unfortunately we have hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions around the world. Thousands in just the United States, Those are prisons. Just hearing that word makes us think bad things right away. Murder, theft, violence, and everything bad that happens in this world. We live in a world where prisons and jail are very important and almost every country, state, county, or city must have at least one. Prisons now are much more crowded than they were 20 years ago. The number of inmates in just the United States has doubled between the years of 1992 and 2011. The question many of us should ask ourselves is why do we need prisons? Are prisons effective in any way? Are prisons causing economic issues? Are prisoners getting proper treatment while incarcerated?…

    • 1556 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Current research regarding overcrowding in prisons and jails is relatively limited in its scope. Most research focuses on only prisons and is primarily quantitative research. Quantitative research is incapable of examining personal opinions of inmates who serve time in overcrowded institutions; and ask whether or not inmates accredit their failure to rehabilitate to overcrowding. Qualitative research would help better understand how inmates perceive the issue, and whether or not the statistical issues are reflected in their minds. Quantitative data clearly shows that overcrowding in prisons has negative effects such as lack of resources, poorer living environment, and ultimately higher recidivism…

    • 1824 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    These issues are having an effect on the government and U.S citizens. Overcrowding is among the most controversial issues in America’s prisons. Barden wrote, “Between 1979 and 1984, 126 new prisons were built in the United States. Yet these prisons have not met the demand for more prison space. By 1986 our prisons were operating at between 107 and 121 percent of capacity” (Barden 50). Overcrowding of prisons does not only affect the outside world, but also the prisoners inside due to increased violence resulting in many deaths. Barden said, “Prisons continue to be overcrowded to this day. In more than 40 states, courts have issued orders to reduce prison overcrowding. But the states have been slow to comply” (Barden 50). The reason for not taking action is due to the expenses that come with increasing prison space. Most states do not have the money to reduce overcrowding, especially after the recession. Violence is most likely the best known issue in prisons. The author stated, “In the old days, prisoners feared brutal guards. Now the fear permeating American prisons comes mostly from fellow convicts. Beatings, stabbings, and homosexual rapes are everyday occurrences” (Hjelemeland 52). Violence leads to deaths and suicides in many of America’s prisons which also affect those convicts’ families. Another fact Andy wrote was, “Overcrowding is a major factor in…

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prisons are already filled beyond maximum capacity, and we continue to keep incarcerating more people. What can be done to end the problem of prison overcrowding and maintain the safety of the public? I chose this topic because I wanted to shine a light on what I consider to be an injustice. I believe that the criminal justice system needs a complete overhaul. When I chose this topic, I wasn’t fully aware of the mandatory sentencing guidelines or how harsh they were. I always believed that judges had more leeway in deciding sentencing. Originally, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of criminal corporal punishment, because I believed it was cruel and something that other less civilized countries would do, not America. I believe that the prison overcrowding problem can be resolved by changing our laws regarding nonviolent offenders, abolishing the mandatory sentencing guidelines and using alternative solutions that do not involve incarceration.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Incarceration In Jail

    • 178 Words
    • 1 Page

    In recent discussions of over populated jails, a controversial issue has been it would make the world safer. On the one hand, some argue that it could be dangerous. On the other hand, however, others argue that it could help in the long run. In sum, then, the issue is who we should be sending to the slammer.…

    • 178 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    From the mid-1980s drug offenses increased primarily due to the pressure put on by the war on drugs (Neubauer & Fradella, 2014). This has contributed to overcrowding of prisons across America. In order to ease the overcrowding in prisons, rehabilitation through court sentenced drug treatment programs is a practical and economical alternative. Assigning offenders to applicable drug treatment programs would decrease overcrowding caused by drug offenses, lower recidivism rates, and provide savings for the criminal justice system.…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life In Prison Essay

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prison cells are far beyond just grimey, but often completely unsanitary: covered in urine, feces, and even vomit. Prison food often leads to nutrient deficiencies and is often described as utterly foul. Inmates on bad behavior are put on nutraloaf, a cruelly disgusting food used as punishment for days or months at a time. Prison life is also difficult because the guards are very rarely rebuked for being hostile to the inmates and incomprehensive to their needs or complaints. This negligence is made even more dangerous because of the threat of some potentially dangerous inmates. Prisons and jails, inevitably is a place where people have violent backgrounds and tendencies. In jail there are a spectrum of people there, from people who have done unforgivable actions to those who may have committed crimes out of necessity, to those who may have been incorrectly convicted. The negligence of guards coupled with this spectrum of people, in such unpleasant living conditions create a powerfully terrible and dangerous situation to be in. People have been stabbed, beaten, raped, and even learn how to become better crime, in a facility with the purpose of preventing people from evil actions. The United States has a recidivism rate of nearly 77%. The current dangerous and unwelcoming state of United States prisons have very evidently failed as correctional…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In an overpopulated prison inmates obtain a higher level of stress and elevate blood pressure. This leads to physical and psychological impairment and in an increase in medical complaints. Errors in social judgmentsand interpersonal mistakes are made. The resources for prisoners deplete rapidly due to availability. The screenings for inmates are overlooked and the management for possible problematic prisoners is skipped causing an uneasy environment when mentally ill prisoners interact with the general population. Systems that grow at this lightening speed are at risk for losing their organizational stability and unable to maintain the grounds they guard with authority in place. There are a few simple solutions to help the population from increasing without costing the California taxpayers more money to build new construction prisons that appear to be…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The United States has some of the highest incarceration rates in the world with currently 2.2 million people in US prison and jails – a 500% increase over the last forty years. According to The Sentencing Policy, changes in sentencing and law policy, not changes in crime rates, explain most of this increase. This has resulted in overcrowding in prisons and has become a financial burden on states because they have to adjust to the growing prison system, even though it has been found that high incarceration is not an effective way to achieve public safety.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overcrowded Prisons

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Millions upon millions if Americans have been sent to prison without a victim ever claiming damages. It is important to look at the burden this mass level of incarceration places upon our society. Viewing the statistics, demonstrates just how the destructive mass of incarceration of victimless crimes have been high not only in women but in men as well. Drug offenses are self-explanatory as being victimless, but so are public order offenses, which also follows the victimless crimes. Public order crimes are those that are crimes against the society one is within, in the United States, such as prostitution, immigration, drunk in public, drug use and abuse. According to 2006 statistics, one in thirty-six Hispanic men are behind bars, as are one in fifteen black men. If we limit the data to black males between the ages of twenty to thirty-four, that would determine that one in nine are behind bars. Keep in mind that eight-six percent of those men are behind bars for victimless crimes, meaning they have not stolen any property or harmed anyone directly by their actions.…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It has become a growing concern for many Americans, as well as a political platform for many public figures in the past years. Evidence supports the fact that prisons in America are severely overcrowded. This evidence establishes a need for prison inmate rate reduction through the reduction of long prison sentences and the increase of rehabilitative options in the criminal justice system. Through the process of reducing prison sentences and offering more rehabilitative programs, there would be a significantly lower rate of incarceration in the United States. This would lower the current cost of managing prisons as well as increase the quality of living within the prisons. Without as many inmates, prisons could put the money towards probational programs and the inmates currently residing in prisons and jails would receive better attention, more living space, and a better chance at getting into prison programs meant to aid prisoners in getting out and staying…

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics