Disadvantages Of Mass Incarceration

The blunt facts of mass incarceration for criminal offenders in United are very well known as they house the world’s largest prison population (Raphael & Stoll 2011). As of March 2010, the incarceration population in United States are as high as 2.3 million, making them the world leader in incarcerating its citizens. The jurisdiction believes that prison has an important role to play in protecting the community against offenders and in punishing them for their crime (Foucault, 2009). However, research and evidence have shown that the use of imprisonment has many disadvantages. The rate of growth in criminal justice system has slowed in recent years and the call for prison reforms have largely fallen on deaf ears (Raphael & Stoll, 2011). Raphael

The main purpose of mass incarcerations is to teach them a lesson that “crime does not pay” (Cullen et al., 2011). However, research shows that there is little evidence prison reduces recidivism and at least some evidence suggests that imprisonment have a criminogenic effect, causing them to reoffend (Foucault, 2009). One of the challenges of prisons is helping the prisoners to transit successfully back to society (Woodall et al., 2012). Released prisoners are more likely to return to densely populated urban areas, and deal with overburdened of substantial housing and face high rate of unemployment. Woodall et al. (2012) argued that more often than not the prisoners are unprepared for release and some of them are not entirely well equipped with necessary skills and resources that are essential for their reintegration. Many of the prisoners are reported that they have poor family connections due to the imprisonments and have to arrange temporary accommodation in probation premises or hostels. These settings are assumed to be preoccupied with drug users which increases the possibility of the ex-offenders associating with the drug-using resident and would undo the positive rehabilitation work which has been done in prison (Woodall et al., 2012). As for the offenders who have lost everything to prison and without an appropriate accommodation, Woodall

Ohio has one of the sixth-largest state prison populations of 51 thousands in United States. Using Ohio prison as an example, in fiscal year 2009, Ohio has spent $1.8 million on its prison operations, including both operating and capital expenses (Trout, 2011). The annual per capita cost of incarceration was $26,868. The greatest single component of cost for the department is its staffing cost. In February 2010, the department of Rehabilitation and Correction department employed approximately 13,400 personnel as correction officers and parole officers. The total staffing cost for 2010 amount to $936 million, representing 55% of the budget (Trout, 2011). Prison programs can take many forms and these program activities may require inmates to perform necessary work for the prison operation, learn vocational skills or complete unfinished education. The prison spent $31 million on education such as High School Diploma, vocational and apprenticeship training in 2010. The facility costs are significant factor that cannot be ignored by the state. A medium-security prison housing 2,000 beds would reasonably cost approximately $180 million and the construction, renovation and maintenance of existing facilities cost the department $21 million in fiscal year 2010. The prison also have significant infrastructure to maintain. The cost of water utilities for all