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Essay On Mass Incarceration

1125 Words5 Pages

One of the many ways that scholars determine how well a country is doing, is by how they treat their criminals. These are the people that no country wants. These are the people that make a country look bad. These are the people that drain resources and cause chaos. It is a good metric to how well a country is doing by how well they treat these undesirable people. The United States of America is failing. We are not doing a good job taking care of our undesirable people. We have seen a decrease in crime since the late 1980s but there has been an increase in incarceration rates since that time. Currently, we have over two million people incarcerated (Wagner & Rabury, 2017, para. 2). If you look at how many people come through the jail system each year, that number is …show more content…

The funds are still not enough to properly take care of the prisoners we have. This is leading to many problems. I will discuss issue of overcrowding, problems it has created and ways to fix these issues. Overcrowding in prisons may seem like an easy fix if you fail to fully engross yourself in every aspect of this situation. At first, I was naïve and thought that if you just released people, the problem would fix itself. However, we are far from that being a viable solution. Mass incarceration in the United States has ruined lives. It has ruined the lives of the people who are put into prison and the lives of those around them. There is also a racial component to this. African American men are disproportionately incarcerated above any other racial group. There are also a disproportionate amount of people from low-income urban areas. This has created pockets of areas that are deemed unsafe to walk around as people feel harassed my law enforcement. What does this yield? This has created an unsafe environment within prisons. The people who are put into prisons feel victimized. The people put in prisons feel hatred towards the

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This high population rate is not good for anyone, in or outside the walls of these confinements. Overcrowded prisons undoubtedly create worse conditions for the prisoners. For the rest of us, as taxpayers it is very costly to fund all of these facilities. I suggest we rethink our current concept of prisons. As, I am interested disgusting racial discrimination, I will focus on the African American prisoners, but the benefits I will discuss are not secluded to one group.

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PHILI PPINE COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY GRADUATE SCHOOL MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE MAJOR IN CRIMINOLOGY PREPARED BY : Franz Fernando A. Kalalo SUBJECT CODE : MSCJSC4 INSTRUCTOR : Shirlene S. Esplana, PhD TOPIC : Policy Analysis on a Contemporary Issue in Modern Penology - Overcrowding in Prisons Introduction One of the most imperative contemporary issues in modern penology is the problem of overcrowding in prisons. Overcrowding occurs when correctional facilities exceed their intended capacity, resulting in numerous challenges for both inmates and staff. This policy analysis will examine the causes and consequences of prison overcrowding, evaluate existing policies, and propose potential solutions to address this issue

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Taking a further look into the incarceration system we know today in America reveals layers of propaganda enforced by our government and drilled into our minds since birth. Contrary to popular belief, prisons—as we know them today—are unsuccessful in reducing crime rates. Liz Benecchi from the Harvard Political Review details the ineffectiveness of prisons for preventing crime rates, stating, “...76.6% of prisoners are rearrested within five years.” Prisons don’t keep criminals from committing crimes as they claim to: they’re just a penalization system. The way to keep the public more safe is not by locking away these threats for however many years until it’s time to release them, just to lock them back up again when they are inevitably rearrested; we should be pursuing a more humanitarian and efficient method of reentry to daily life that decreases the risk of recidivism.

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583 Words | 3 Pages

This article describes mass incarceration as a trend. How the development of prisons are on the raise due to the trend. Increasing criminalization in communities and imposing cruel punishments for minor offenses. This article explores how cultural productions of poverty and exclusion intersect with prison development. How those in poverty are more likely to be targeted due to their race, ethnicity, and class.

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However, besides the factors that have contributed to the growing rates in prisons, it is equally as important to note how mass incarceration has affected the communities of those incarcerated. Clear (2008) discusses various effects inflicted on ones community once they are incarcerated and mentions “These destructive effects are felt in the lives of children, as well as in family functioning, mental and physical health, labor markets, and the economic and political infrastructures of these places. (Clear, P.102). In other words, it affects the community largely in the sense that those children do poorly in their education and could even end up on the same path. As for family functioning, incarceration can affect the family dynamic because loss of income, and the socioeconomic view of the community could decrease even more due to the fear of further crime and as a result, it will be a challenge to obtain a decent living.

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The United States carries more than 20% of the world’s incarcerated population, even though they are only 5% of the world’s population. The United States government spends billions of taxpayers’ dollars on maintaining prisons and filling them up with people to meet their requirements. The War on Drugs was the cause for 58% of prisoners to be in there for non-violent drug offenses and most of these prisoners were Black and Brown people (Craig Gilmore, 18). Although there were prisons being built, crime was declining in the ‘80s so government officials had to create new laws to get new criminals. The shift in discourse and laws created, allowed for more policing and an increase in arrest rates and led to the problem of mass

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In the Time Magazine article titled “39% of Prisoners Should Not Be in Prison” written by Lauren-Brooke Eisen and Inimai Chettiar, they examine the issue of mass incarceration and give two practical solutions that they believe could work. The issue of mass incarceration is the greatest racial and ethical issue in the U.S. Many people are put in prison for a sustainable amount of time for non-violent crimes. With Trump’s campaign being focus on being tough on crime, there is some uncertainty on how the issue of mass incarceration will be seen from Republicans and nationwide. Previously there has been trans partisan agreement that the issue of mass incarceration need to be address.

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In my opinion, prisons are not the solution for most offenders of the law and the issue over use of the prison system can be resolved by looking towards alternatives. The system is in strong need of reform, especially for bail and prisons. Bail is very expensive and many people who are hauled off to jail are not able to pay to get out. It is estimated that around 11 million people go through jails in recent years, and the cost of holding them there is costly. (prisonpolicy, 2017)

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Overcrowded prisons are a serious matter to the system and people. Immediate measures should be deployed to address this menace. Despite the investigations done on the nature or situation of prison and prison system, in the United States, little has been done to determine the baseline of this problem. People generally think that whenever a person has been arrested and done their time they are rehabilitated. Unfortunately, it’s the opposite.

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Abolishing the death penalty will save money and keep innocent people from dying. Conclusion Three strikes laws, the war on drugs, lack of rehabilitation programs and mandatory minimum sentences have caused the prison overcrowding problem in the United States. Furthermore, the death penalty is not a solution to crime and cost society. Rehabilitation is key to preventing prison overcrowding, preventing future crimes, and offenders becoming a successful citizen in

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1206 Words | 5 Pages

This problem is getting worse and worse by the years and even former president Barrack Obama commented- “Over the last few decades, we’ve locked up more and more nonviolent offenders than ever before. Longer than ever before and that is the real reason our prison population is so high.” The United States has imprisoned more than 25 percent of all the prisoners in the world, even though we only have about 5 percent of the world’s population.

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1771 Words | 8 Pages

In the United States, there has been debate over prison reform for many years. In comparison to other large nations, the U.S. prison system is different due to the immense volume of inmates, the length and severity of sentences, and the conditions inside the facilities. This essay will explore the history of U.S. prison reform, compare the U.S. prison system to other countries, and discuss potential reforms that could improve the system. As of 2023, there are almost 2 million incarcerated inmates in the United States, the highest number of incarcerated inmates in the world. The result is an overcrowded, underfunded, and frequently inhumane prison system.

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“Prisons and jails consume a growing portion of the nearly $200 billion we spend annually on public safety” (“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet” 27). “About $70 billion dollars yearly.” (“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet” 26). “This is a huge problem in the United States currently and for only having only about 5% of the population of the World,

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This leads to first time offenders to commit additional crimes when being released from prison (English, 2010). Overpopulation can also cause safety issues to all correctional officers as well as safety of the inmates. All of these issues can be attributed to the overpopulation of incarcerated prisoners. These issues need to be addressed not only for the safety of correctional officers and prisoners, but to actually adhere to the philosophy of rehabilitation of prisoners, as well rebuilding the budget and qualities of the communities and states

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