The Pros And Cons Of The Conditions Of Prisons

The conditions of jails and prisons across the United States are too unsanitary and inhumane for any human to be forced to endure. The conditions faced by inmates can postpone or prevent rehabilitation, which could cause them to relapse and return. Over-crowdedness, lack of supplies, and under-qualified staff are just a few intolerable conditions that inmates face. However, there are more dangerous and severe circumstances that inmates must deal with such as violence and abuse. Contraband and corruption are also brought in my staff, which further prevent rehabilitation and cause inmates to relapse. Many outsiders do not have to deal with the terrible conditions of prisons, so they do not understand the brutality that inmates face. While there
Bryan Prince, a former inmate of nine years, describes his first night in Boot County Jail of Georgia. “It was overcrowded,” He said, “I slept on the floor the first night without a mattress. All I had was a thin blanket and the floor was cement, freezing cold.” He went on to explain how the supplies were so limited that he had to use the same styrofoam cup every day in this jail, which was refilled twice a day from a gasoline canister full of water. Over-crowdedness and lack of beds is also shown in the reality show “60 Days In,” which analyzes the conditions of a prison from the inside. There are so few beds in the facility documented that many inmates are forced to sleep on the cement floor like
Excessive force and unnecessary aggression is sadly common and is a struggle that can cause prisoners to lose hope for rehabilitation. The article “Inmate Abuse” shares an example from the Rikers Island Prison, involving a former correctional officer, Lloyd Nicholson. According to the article, Nicholson was found “guilty of orchestrating severe beatings of teenage inmates in an organized scheme he referred to as ‘The Program.’” The impact from this kind of abuse is proven through Kalief Browder, a victim of The Program. He was imprisoned for allegedly stealing a backpack and was on trial for three years before being dismissed. In this time, he suffered from abuse by correctional officers so much that he committed suicide as a result. Occurrences such as this one happen in prisons all over the United States, but violent assault is not the only struggle that prisoners face. Sexual assault is also an ongoing issue throughout many prison facilities and, according to “Inmate Abuse,” “4.4 percent of prison and jail inmates report being sexually victimized in the past 12 months.” However, many of these reports go unpunished. This kind of assault from government employees should not be tolerated or allowed among any prison