...Prison’s Melanie Fife American InterContinental University March 17, 2013 Chad Faries ABSTRACT I’m writing a paper that has 5 different sources, that have books, newspaper articles, and Government papers, that has something to deal with America’s prisons today in society. America has a huge problem with our prison system being overcrowded. The crime rate has increased so much and we are just making me people go to jail or prison. The topic I chose was the prison system being over-crowded. I know many people that have been on both sides of the prison's walls, which allows me to see both sides of the prison system. Prison's in American are very over-crowded due to crimes being committed more often than what they were ten years ago due to not being staffed properly, not having enough room for all the inmates, and the system just trying to have you do your time and not trying to get you back to society. Prison Overcrowding has so many issues understaffing can lead to security and control difficulties. It can also cause heath and the well-being of the inmate’s problems. They will have more violence and conflicts because they are understaffed and cannot be watched properly. Not enough security can make it harder to manage the prison. They can increase opportunities for exercise, sports, and church. Active inmates are less likely to feel stressed or hostile. We can also classify offenders due to the level of their risk and their crime. Improve organization and train inmates on...
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...offender. Overcrowding in the criminal justice system is at an all-time high with no end in sight. Laws are changed through trial and error. Change does seem to be evolving with the focus and understanding of the dangers when it comes to overcrowding. The Dangers of overcrowding: Prison Murders, Rapes, Suicides, (Offenders and Correctional Staff), are increasing within the prison setting. There appears to be fewer officers, nurses, and psychologist to meet the needs of the prisoner. Too few staff members not only promote violence, but also place the community in harm’s way. Prison escapes seem to be a special concern when it comes to the safety to victims and families involved. Mental Patients: In many cases mentally challenged offenders are misdiagnosed or simply housed with the regular population due to overcrowding and lack of staff. This lessens the likelihood of rehabilitation prevailing, without proper medical care and counseling. In these cases violence could present or incite riots, escapes and death. In California, there have been several mental patients who were found dead due to suicide incidents. In these cases it would seem to be easy for a prisoner, who has a mental challenge to be misdiagnosed and not given medications that could assist with rehabilitation. For a newly released offender, this could continue his or her path to criminal behavior. An innocent life may be lost for no good reason except the real life issues of overcrowding of jails...
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...Paper Every day, all across America, prisons are facing an overcrowding problem. The prisons are receiving more inmates than they can handle. Once in jail or prison an inmate can be released or given parole. When arrested you can be sent to jail or prison or you can be given probation. This leaves us to wonder, what happen between prison and probation. Over the past thirty years, other sanctions have been used to fill the gap between prison and probation; this has led to an expansion of many formal community corrections (Foster, 2006). Community corrections are sanctions that are imposed on inmates that occur in a community setting outside of prison or jails. They are usually enforced by the court or agencies that have legal authority over the inmate. These programs are usually operated by probation agencies and parole agencies (Crime solutions, 2014). So how does these programs affect the community and do they really work? Thinking about having a bunch of criminal set free to serve under community supervision is kind of scary. Many people believe that they should stay in prison under lock and key, and not set free in the community. I believe that community corrections can affect the society in both positive and negative ways. The only negative is that if they let out an inmate and they reoffend. A positive is that, it can save the community money because it is cheaper to have them be free than to have to pay to keep them in prison. Secondly some community corrections...
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...Prison Overcrowding Final Project Terence Ingram Professor Karina Arzumanova, Esq. March 17, 2013 Strayer University Prison Overcrowding Final Project Criminal Activity is on the rise. With prison populations growing at an all-time rate, the federal prison system has not been able to keep up. As a result, this is a serious problem which puts inmates and guards in danger and holds back efforts to rehabilitate convicts. (McLaughlin, 2012) Violence will be on the rise as more inmates are squeezed into small living quarters. Increased inmate misconduct is a direct result of prison overcrowding which negatively affects the safety and security of inmates and staff. If prisons don’t find a solution to this problem, it will create more tension and could potentially cause an inmate to snap and create a violent incident. With more prisoners confined in small spaces, prison officials are forced to cut back on inmate’s cafeteria time, time in the recreation yards, and television rooms. Multiple inmates are put in cells that were specifically created for one individual inmate. Common areas that were not meant to be used for inmates are being used for living arrangements even though it was not designed for that. Crowded cells and the loss of privacy increase the odds that inmates will lash out, threatening the guards keeping watch. ( McLaughlin, 2012) Policies have been put in place to make sure that inmates are not being violated. Some may say that overcrowding in prisons is inhumane...
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...Strike Law was put into action, it have been millions of people persecuted because of it. Even though The Three Strikes Law cause overcrowding , The Three strikes law has been a great rule that is beneficial for the this country because it causes a deterring effect , it protect communities, and help the economy. The Three Strike Law is law that can benefit the United States in a positive way, and one of the unique advantages the Law have is that it help keep communities safe. This rule help keep communities protected because it allow felons to stay in jail longer. If criminals stay in jail for...
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...large majority are non-violent offenders. According to Adam Liptak in his article “U.S. Prison Population Dwarfs that of Other Nations,” “The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London.” Americans are often locked up for things such as using drugs or writing a bad check. Sending someone to prison should be our last resort because it’s expensive and can increase risk for future criminal behavior. Yet, even as the crime rates decrease, prisons are still overcrowded. The reason for this, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council in the article “Prison Overcrowding,” is: During the late 1980s and early 1990s, state and local governments passed tough crime legislation. For example, California passed the “three strikes and you’re out” law which called for mandatory sentencing of repeat offenders, and New York adopted the “Broken Windows” strategy that called for the arrest and prosecution of all crimes large and small. Policy such as this led to reduced crime rates, but increased populations in jails and prisons. While mandatory sentencing laws are being passed, laws criminalizing an increasing number of behaviors are also being passed. The result is that, not only are judges forced to send people to prison in cases where it might not be necessary, but they are forced to do so because there are...
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...Jail and Prison Mary A. Webster CJA/204 November 9, 2014 MARY ELLEN DE FRIAS Jail and Prison There is a deference between jail and prison. The federal government is in charge of the prison system in the United States where local and state governments are in charge of jails. There is many different types of prisons, where there is only one type of jail. The United States has an issue of over crowed prisons and jails. This in turn has led to many different kinds of prison violence which has but both the inmates and the correctional offices in danger. Two of the ways the government use to reduce prison and jail populations are probation and parole. It is important that the government finds other a ways to reduce the populations of the jails and prisons. In the federal government, there is several deferent types of prisons such as federal prison camps, federal correctional institutions, low security facilities, medium security facilities, high security prisons and administrative maximum (ADMAX) facility. (University of Phoenix, 2014) (Schmalleger, F, 2011) Then there is state and local jails that house prisoners with a sentence that is typically a year or less. (Schmalleger, F, 2011) These jails are low security where prisons can be anywhere from low security to maximum security. In Martinsburg WV, there is the Eastern Regional Jail, and then only a few hours away there is a high security U.S. Penitentiary Known as USP Hazelton, which is located in Hazelton WV. ("The Eastern Regional...
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...amongst other countries I would have to say would be that there is not enough room to hold all of our criminals. Over population of inmates in prisons is an issue that is hard to control as you cannot control people from not committing crimes. There are many different problem and issues that should be addressed within our correctional system. Its very difficult to only focus on one problem/issue to focus on. One main issue that seems to pop up where ever you research for the top issue within the American correctional system is how many inmates out prisons are holding. The population of prisoner is growing much faster than we are constructing prison. Criminals such as murders who are hardly serving their complete sentences are over crowding these prisons. These murderers are being release early from these prisons because of how over crowed they have become and they now need room for other inmates that are now coming into the prison. Many problems come from releasing criminals earlier than they were supposed to. Let me set up a scenario where this may make a citizen uneasy, lets say that a person tried to kill you and your spouse but they were only successful in murdering one of you and this inmate is let out early because of “good behavior” while he was incarcerated. Why should the citizens life now be at risk because of our prisons systems inability to house convicted killers in their facilities?! Our correctional system not being able to house the inmates for the time necessary...
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...Jails and Prisons First Last CJA234 Month 00, 20XX First Last Jails and Prisons Jails and Prisons often seem like the same type of punishment if you do not know more about them and their differences. Jails have always played an important role in our criminal justice system dating back to the Colonial period. Prisons are used to contain criminals who have already been proven guilty and are going to be sentenced to more than at least a one-year sentence. Much like the differences between jails and prisons there are also differences between federal prisons and state prisons depending on the crime committed determines which they are located. Jails are not always a permanent punishment for offenders, sometimes containing inmates who will just be there temporarily while waiting for other arrangements or protective custody. In todays society we are also facing issues where we do not have enough space and money to be able to contain inmates going through our jail and prison systems. Jails have been used throughout history as a way of punishing not only guilty, but the accused and even to protect those who have not committed any crime what so ever. Jails have always been a local form of the criminal justice department rather than being part of the federal system. They are maintained and protected by the local sheriff department where they are located. Not everyone you would see in a jail is a criminal or an accused criminal; sometimes you may have a witness or someone who is receiving...
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...The Prison System Robert B. Weight II CJS/200 January 19, 2011 Ronald Rucker Even though the system has worked for 220 years, the American prison system is in danger of complete failure on its current course of development because overcrowding, low budgets, and changes in public sentiment are quickly placing the penitentiary system in an inoperable state. The evolution of the current prison system in the United States has had many subtle changes that have lead to the current crisis, but the system has been set up to fail since the beginning. There have been supporters and opponents to the prison system. There have been social movements that have created major adaptations in society’s idea of how prisons and prisoners should be handled. In the end, society faces the issue of not being able to sustain current sentencing practices and maintain the prisons through the increasing prison populations. (Norman Johnston, 2010) In 1790 sweeping reform went through Pennsylvania to change the jail system. Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush led the effort to change the old and corrupt ways of the penal system (Norman Johnston, 2010). The first prison was built in 1790 as a wing of the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Gaines, 2006). This prison operated on the premise that crime was caused by idleness, so the best method of treatment for a criminal was silence and isolation to force reflection on the criminal’s wrong doings and work...
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...all been taught about the possibility of being sent to jail or prison for any crimes we commit. While not all crimes end with incarceration, it is common knowledge that there will be some form of punishment for any crimes that we may commit. When it comes to punishment for crimes, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world when compared to the rates of other countries. The current incarceration rate in the United States is more than four times than the world average with some Individual states imprisoning up to six times more people than individual counties with a comparable population (National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2012). The Incarceration rate for countries with populations comparable to that of the United States is around 100 prisoners for every 100,00 people, however, The United States has a rate that is about 500 per every 100,000 people (Population Reference Bureau, 2012). The jail population within the United States is made up of mostly Males making up more than 90 percent of the population while females make up 10 percent of the population but that number is also steadily rising. The number of women that have been incarcerated has seen a dramatic increase rising from a little over 15,000 in 1980 to close to 118,000 in 2010 (The Sentencing Project, 2012). Many view prison as a place to impose punishments for those to have committed crimes but the original philosophy of prison was to rehabilitate those offenders to prepare them for life...
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...including law enforcement and the courts system. The criminal justice system will always be a significant part of social order. The world’s leader in incarceration is the United States. Prisons and jails operate around two philosophies of punishment vs. rehabilitation. The past tend was solitary confinement with no concern for inmate rehabilitation or any concern for the well-being of the inmates. Most of the increase has come from the changes in sentencing laws and policies, but not in the crime rates. These trends have stemmed in prison overcrowding and financial burdens on states to oblige a fast increasing penal system. The war on drugs sentencing policies resulted in an intense increase in incarceration for drug offenses. There was also the “Three Strikes and you Out” laws. Severe sentencing laws such as mandatory minimums are responsible for offenders to stay in prisons for a longer periods of time, also high recidivism rates. Woman in Federal and State prisons that have been incarcerated for drug offenses has increased. The women’s have histories of significant histories of physical, sexual abuse, HIV, and substance abuse. Even though violent crime has been coming down, the prisoners that are serving life sentences continues to grow (Carson & Sabol, 2012). With the prison populations increasing the new incentive is community corrections. Over the past decade the growth of offender populations has produced changes in the nature of punishment, which has an...
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...Issues Janet Peralta, Latisha Smith, Michael Winters, Sarah Berry, Trent Neffendorf CJA/394 November 24, 2014 Becky Killian-Willis Correctional Issues Introduction The issues of mandatory sentencing have been affecting the prison forecasts, tax revenue, over-crowding in prisons, as well as flooding the court systems and backlogging cases. Mandatory prison sentences take the discretion away from prosecutors, as well as judges. An Inmate who is sentenced under a mandatory sentence does not qualify for early release, good time while in prison, and in most cases, the offender is not required to complete any supervision after release, due to the fact that he or she has fulfilled the obligations of his or her sentence. Several states, including the State of Oregon, have introduced legislation to reform their mandatory minimum sentences. With budgetary constraints in the volatile economy, the government cannot afford to continue to incarcerate individuals without the ability to modify sentences, supervision, etc. How courts are affected by mandatory minimum sentences Congress, as well as some of the state legislations introduced mandatory sentences in the 1970s and 1980s. These mandatory sentences forced the court system to hand down fixed prison sentences to those convicted of certain criminal acts. The lawmakers felt by enacting these sentences then it would help in the battle against the drug trade and hopefully prevent individuals from entering. However, while it did...
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...Overcrowding of our nation's prisons is one of the biggest challenges tackling our criminal justice system today. During the 1980s, the public's disappointment over an apparent failure of the nation's prison system to rehabilitate prisoners and an unwillingness to provide more money for correctional institutions. One proposed solution that emerged was the privatizing of prisons and jails by contracting out, in part or in whole, their operations. In 1987, the number of inmates incarcerated in privately operated correctional facilities worldwide was 3,100; by 1998 the number had risen to 132,000 (Assistance, 2001). In the United States today there is a total of 158 private correctional facilities. Proponents of privatization have suggested that allowing the facilities to be operated by the private sector could result in cost reductions of 20 percent (Assistance, 2001). Since 1984, the U.S. prison population has more than tripled, according to U.S. Department of Justice data (Gad, 2009). The ultimate amount a government pays to a private company to run a prison can be less than if the government were to run the prison itself. Factors such as lower labor costs affect that. Public service employees usually make more in overall wages -- salary plus benefits -- than private employees do. These wages add up to more than half the operating expenses of a prison. Private firms still pay similar salaries as governments do, but payments for overtime, health care and workers' compensation...
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...long been a controversial topic in California. It has spurred debates as to whether it is considered cruel and unusual punishment for the thousands of repeat offenders sentenced every year. Proposition 184 is a cruel punishment for the thousands of inmates packed into state prisons, and the taxpayers spending billions to keep them there. Over the years legislators have sought a way to reform the 3 strikes law. In November of 2012, Proposition 36 was enacted as an initiative designed to preserve the original idea. The idea was to impose life sentences on serious and violent offenders without imposing excessive sentences on non-violent offenders. As California searches for ways to decrease the recidivism rate of serious and violent offenders, we have to consider the current laws and the impact these laws have on the state of California. Currently 4,000 men and women who are serving terms of 25 to life in California state prisons are non-violent offenders. Among these offenders are those who committed acts such as; stealing a pack of batteries or socks. Crimes that in most states would warrant only a slap on the wrist, instead of the life sentence you would receive in California. In 2004, 26% of the prison populations were non-violent offenders serving a life term (Miles, 2013). Under the 3 strikes...
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