The Pros And Cons Of Prison Overcrowding
Can you think of an industry that wants to keep Americans behind bars so that money can be made from them? Overcrowding has become a huge problem in America due to the rise in the prison population. The United States houses an estimated 2.5 million people behind bars. When given the task of incarcerating this amount of people, the state has only two options. The first option requires state employees being used to staff state run prisons with guards. The second choice is to contract a private corporation to staff and manage a prison and its population, otherwise known as Privatization. Prisons that are run by corporations will have a business model of cutting costs to continue to make a profit. In order for their business to be successful they
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Simply, prison inmates are not getting rehabilitated in prison. With such high rates of recidivism, many social critics and politicians argue that the American prison system should be proactive in rehabilitating prisoners. The number of convicts released every year, fifty five percent will commit another crime within a week of being released and almost eighty percent will be back in prison eventually. There are advocates that worry when we sentence criminals, there is no reform efforts to be made. With private prison contracts requiring a ninety percent full capacity rate of beds, they will lose money. Prisons are getting way over crowded and gymnasiums are being modified to house more and more prisoners. However there are experts that argue with these requirements that are in place, the focus will be more on filling empty beds, as opposed to any long term change such as sentencing reform, which would ultimately reduce the prison population. The Huntington Post interviewed a criminal justice expert that said "If there are these incentives to keep the private prisons full, then it is reducing the likelihood that states will adopt strategies to reduce prison costs by keeping more people out. When the beds are there, you don't want to leave them empty." When profit is to be made and strict laws for non-violent crimes, recidivism seems likely for repeat
Simply, prison inmates are not getting rehabilitated in prison. With such high rates of recidivism, many social critics and politicians argue that the American prison system should be proactive in rehabilitating prisoners. The number of convicts released every year, fifty five percent will commit another crime within a week of being released and almost eighty percent will be back in prison eventually. There are advocates that worry when we sentence criminals, there is no reform efforts to be made. With private prison contracts requiring a ninety percent full capacity rate of beds, they will lose money. Prisons are getting way over crowded and gymnasiums are being modified to house more and more prisoners. However there are experts that argue with these requirements that are in place, the focus will be more on filling empty beds, as opposed to any long term change such as sentencing reform, which would ultimately reduce the prison population. The Huntington Post interviewed a criminal justice expert that said "If there are these incentives to keep the private prisons full, then it is reducing the likelihood that states will adopt strategies to reduce prison costs by keeping more people out. When the beds are there, you don't want to leave them empty." When profit is to be made and strict laws for non-violent crimes, recidivism seems likely for repeat