Assembly Bill 109 is a public safety realignment that will help state prisons overcrowding by shifting low-risk inmates to county jails.Since California prisons are overcrowded, medical and mental health care is lacking and prisoners Eighth Amendment rights are being violated. In the case Brown v Plata, Marciano Plata and other prisoners claimed that California's prisons were in violation of the Eight Amendment, but later it was determined that California's overcrowded prisons was the primary cause. The court ordered the release of enough prisoners so the inmate population would come within 137.5 percent of the prisons' total design capacity.…
When people think of prisons, they imagine that the occupants inside deserve to be there. That a person is doing their time for a crime committed. When it comes to privately owned prisons, the time doesn’t always fit the crime.…
Clearly there are several issues of Mandatory Minimum sentences. Moreover, there is evidence that says it decreases drug possession and violence, federal judges can argue otherwise. Often, innocent people go to jail for harmless acts for an unreasonable amount of time in jail, for a one time use or a non-violent act of drug use. If federal court systems continue laws of Mandatory Minimum sentences, they need to question and use evidence to support whether the individual is really guilty or innocent.…
Your post was very interesting and I do see your point of view in regards to making inmates work if they are not willing to do. It can cause them to be resentful and possibly take out their aggressions on fellow inmates or staff making the situation as a whole worse. However, I still feel that if they are able and willing to work then they should do so. As Thomas Townsend, former president of the Corrections Industry Association comments, “inmates who worked in prison and gained new skills have a better chance of not returning to crime and prison” (du Pont, 1995).…
Parole is a stage in the system that more people hope they get while in jail. Parole is the stepping stone to prove that the criminals are capable of being back into society after being in jail. This gives the criminals the opportunity to prove they learned their lessons and can handle life on their own. With parole, we are capable of keeping track of certain criminals after being released, but allowing them to grow back into the real world without any help.…
Adult prisons and jails are not constructed with adolescents in mind, and they do not satisfy the needs of juveniles. Officers of juvenile detention centers are properly trained to deal with the specific needs of teenagers. These centers are equipped with workshops, therapy, family services, education, etc. Dana Liebelson, a Huffington Post reporter, wrote that “Staff in juvenile facilities are more likely to be trained to deal with teens. And after they were released, those who had served in the adult system were 77% more likely to be arrested for a violent felony than those who were sent to juvenile institutions.” (Liebelson) Furthermore, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, adolescence that are in adult prisons face increased risks…
Supermax prisons are often referred to as the prison within a prison. With the increase of prison population throughout the nation and the increase in violence, prison officials sought to curb the rate of violence. Their answer was the supermax prison system. Designed to hold hundreds of inmates in Administrative Segregation, prison officials sought to lower violence by housing the worst offenders in solitary confinement (Latessa and Holsinger, 2011, pp. 79-81).…
In the book, A place to Stand, by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Baca writes about prison and how being incarcerated can have impact on a person and their family. With the most beautiful, strong and poetic language, Baca tells us the story of all the people who faces difficult times in order to find their place in the world. Baca always felt like he had no place to stand in society because, all of his life he was put down by his family and friends. From the age of five Baca experienced his dad and uncles going in and out of jail from being addicted to alcohol. Baca knew he would eventually end up in jail sooner or later because that’s what he had experienced all of his life. Baca writes, “Whether I was approaching it or seeking escape from it, jail always defined in some way the measure of my life” (3). Baca felt that his life would always head in the wrong direction because of his family issues. Baca shows being in prison can cause a lot of emotional impact on a person’s life, as well as affect the community.…
The private prisons industry is growing rapidly, in the year 2011, companies that were a part of the private prison industry brought in "$1.7 billion: [in] total revenue recorded by CCA" (Lee) and many have questioned the intentions of the companies that own and operate those facilitates. The history of private prisons can be traced "as far back as 1852 when San Quentin was the first for-profit prison in the U.S." (“Private Jails”). Private prisons did not become popular again until the 1980s, when a "wake of wide-spread privatization" happened (“Private Jails”). Since the resurgence of the private prison, there have been two primary sides. Those who oppose private prisons state that profit drives the companies who operate and construct the…
Every situation in life is unique and has its own set of circumstances. Crime is no different, which is why it often difficult to effectively use policies like mandatory minimum sentences, because not every crime is the same. It is acceptable for their to be some disparity in sentencing for similar crimes, but there still needs to be some consistency. The initiation of mandatory minimum sentences was due in large part to the fact that judges had too much discretion and it led to many similar cases having wildly different sentences.1 There was sound reasoning for enacting mandatory minimum sentences, but they “are the product of good intentions, but good intentions do not always make good policy; good results are also necessary.”1 Mandatory…
Mass incarceration reveals the essence of the problems in America’s criminal justice system. It shines light on the presence of inequality as well as the flaws in the policies. Mass incarceration became a huge problem in the US with the onset of the War on Drugs. Since then, the number of prisoners has increased significantly and a great proportion of the prisoners include drug offenders. Beckett and Sasson argue that the inequality here lies in the fact that members in the minority populations are sought after because unlike many private transactions that happens amongst upper class individuals, those that take place between members of the lower class tend to be more visible.…
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…
The topic we chose was an important time in history dealing with prisons. We chose MASS INCARCERATION and focused on the legacy of Ronald Reagan and the escalating war on drugs. Today we are going to talk to you about the policies surrounding the war on drugs and how they have affected mass incarceration and policies that devalue the meaning of the 4th amendment.…
Prisons today are not as bad as they should be, prisons provide food, shelter, a bed, and even time outside. Criminals in prison do not have to pay or work for their food and shelter, tax payers and law abiding citizens pay for it all. So if prison is not that bad then why would criminals fear the consequences of breaking the law, but with the death penalty criminals are forced to think twice about committing any severe crimes that would land them on death row. Most people even criminals do not wish for death. Life in prison is not ideal but losing one’s life is horrifying. Therefor in states with the death penalty people thing before they commit a serious crime.…
Prisons are expensive to keep open, and most of the money to keep them open comes from the taxpayers. A study in 2012 showed that prisons cost American taxpayers approximately 5.4 billion dollars each year (Henrichson & Delaney, 2012). These cost include various expenses that include maintaining the prisons, employees salaries, educational training, providing benefits for employees, Providing retirement and pensions for the employees, housing the inmates and providing basic needs for the inmates (Henrichson & Delaney, 2012).…