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Are Prisons Overcrowded

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In the United States, a myriad of people are being admitted to state or federal prisons that exceeds the finite space within these facilities. Thus leading to prison overcrowding. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 2.2 million people in prison and for every 100,000 people in the population, 481 of them are incarcerated (McCarthy, Niall, 30 Jan. 2018). Imprisoning those who have broken laws may seem like an effective strategy to keep our streets safe, however that is not the only option that can be utilized. Overpopulation in prisons lead to lack of beds, lack of living spaces and overall insufficient living conditions. Despite a 40% decrease in crime over the last 20 years, prisons are still becoming overcrowded (Price, …show more content…

Mandatory minimums and lack of parole are also a large reason on why prisons are overcrowded (“Criminal Justice Facts.” The Sentencing Project). Since 1980, the number of inmates incarcerated for drug offenses has increased drastically. In 1980, there were 40,900 people in jail for drug offenses and in 2015, there are over 469,545 offenses. Today in U.S. prisons there are more inmates behind bars for drug offense chargers than there are the prisoners in jail for any type of crime in 1980 (“Criminal Justice Facts.” The Sentencing Project). We have inmates with drug offenses serving longer sentences than those who had more serious crimes like sexual assault, or robbery or sometimes even manslaughter. Is that the case all the time? No, of course not, but our prison system is filled with individuals with drug charges facing maximum sentences instead of providing drug rehabilitation. When those who are facing drug charges are placed into prison they are not given the opportunity to get clean the right way. There is no rehab for them, they are just placed there and expected to serve their sentence, which are often very excessive. Despite the extremely large rise in the incarceration rate over the last forty years, it has not shown an effective way of achieving public safety. It only creates financial burden on the state and also results in creating more overcrowding the prison system (“Criminal Justice Facts.” The Sentencing Project). Below is a chart from “The Sentencing Project” to show the prison population since

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On the state level the statistic isn’t nearly as high but still shocking to read as drug crimes alone are the cause for half of the rise in the states jail systems. There has been a 1,100 percent increase in the population of inmates at either a state or federal level serving time for drug charges. Alexander points out that 31 million people have been arrested for drug crimes since the beginning of the War on Drugs. I do wonder if this number is individual people as opposed to repeat offenders but either way, this large of a number clearly signifies another issue in the United States besides the massively disproportional population arrest rates, a drug problem that clearly has not been fixed. Instead of helping people in communities through community service or keeping tabs on them with probation we have been locking them into prisons at four times the rate we used

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Similarly, other possible drug-related crimes, such as theft, burglary and robbery, are all extremely serious offences which carry severe penalties. However, the imposition of punitive penalties fails to adequately respond to drug-related crime. This is because punitive measures fail to address the complex nature and causes underlying the commission of drug-related offences. It has been found that after release from prison, without accessible, integrated and consistent drug treatment and support such as access to housing and employment, people with substance use issues are at higher risk of re-offending and returning to prison, or dying from a drug overdose.

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With these crimes being so heavily criminalized and the mandatory minimums set with them, it creates a cycle of people in these communities having to deal with the criminal justice system for long periods of time. A simple charge of possession can be a minimum of a year in federal prison. A perfect example of these mandatory laws for drug offenses is New York’s Rockefeller Drug Law, which would mandate judges to give longer sentences to people convicted of drug

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The current system that incarcerates people over and over is unsustainable and does not lower the crime rate nor encourage prisoner reformation. When non-violent, first time offenders are incarcerated alongside violent repeat offenders, their chance of recidivating can be drastically altered by their experience in prison. Alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders could alleviate this problem, but many current laws hinder many possible solutions. Recently lawmakers have made attempts to lower the recidivism rates in America, for example the Second Chance Act helps aid prisoners returning into society after incarceration. The act allows states to appropriate money to communities to help provide services such as education, drug treatment programs, mental health programs, job corps services, and others to aid in offenders returning to society after incarceration (Conyers, 2013).

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In 2019, it was recorded that the average annual cost to incarcerate a single inmate in an Ohio prison was about 29 thousand dollars (Meeker et al., 2020). The price tag of housing a single inmate is not cheap, meaning that overcrowding is an issue that Ohio must work towards solving. The overcrowding of jails and prisons has contributed to unmet regulations required by Ohio and has placed stress upon short-staffed facilities (Ackley et al., 2023). Ohio’s overcrowding causes poor conditions and substandard treatment, as well as continued high rates of recidivism and unfair environments for released offenders. Ohio must utilize effective programs in order to prevent these ongoing issues and place more emphasis on treatment options for those seeking it, thus helping

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The reasons for prison congestion are not restricted to the furthest reaches of criminal justice, but rather stretch out to different circles of state obligation. Figure 1: This chart was utilized to decide the best alternative chose. Alternatives Effectiveness Equity Political Acceptability Financial Feasibility Building more correctional facilities for rehabilitation Low Medium Medium Low Termination of Mandatory Sentencing for minor crime Medium Medium Low High Expanding Good Time Credits

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According to Portland State University, “Approximately one in 35 U.S. adults are incarcerated, on parole or on probation”. B) According to Penal Reform International, “In most prison systems, prisoners do not have the minimum space requirements recommended by international standards, spending up to 23 hours of the day, if not all day, in overcrowded cells. Overcrowding can be so severe that prisoners sleep in shifts, on top of each other, share beds or tie themselves to window bars so that they can sleep while standing”. Transition to Second Main Point: Now that we have defined what prison overcrowding is, let’s identify common causes.

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Introduction The rate of prison population has been increasing each year and it is causing problems not only with the prisoners but with society itself. People are being thrown into prison for petty crimes and given small to large sentences to be taught a lesson to not commit crimes. The prisons are being overcrowded with people, affecting the mental state of a person. Not only is it hurting the prisoners, but the amount of money to run a prison is increasing so we can keep the prisoners alive and well.

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Imagine being placed into an old run down building with thousands of men or women. A mixture of murders, rapist, drug dealers and just plain criminals, not having enough space to do anything. Welcome to prison. Prisons nationwide face many issues such as overpopulation which can lead to violence and millions of dollars being plunged in these institutions.

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In order to decrease the number of people in prisons as well as mentally ill inmates. In the United States, the number of the general prisoners population has increased from 220 per 100,000 in 1980 to 700 per 100,000 in 2012 (University of Bergen,

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“Over two million men, women, and juveniles in the Unites States live behind bars” (ACLU). The current situation in the United States’ prison system is not an ideal one and there is little being done to fix it. Incarcerating that many people has many consequences to our economy and mostly our society. Being a developed nation, we should not have so much people in prison. The United States imprisons more people than any other nation on earth and that is a sign that the prison system is broken and defective.

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I enjoy reading your post. The terms drugs and prison are often mentioned in the same sentence because of the close association that exists between the two. Not only are people sent to prison due to involvement in drugs in some manner or another, there is some evidence that shows that a large number of crimes are committed under the influence of a drug. It may surprise many to know that the 85 percent of the estimated 2.3 million prison inmates have had or still do some kind of serious drug abuse history. This is a massive number.

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Prison overcrowding is the escalating number of inmates incarcerated beyond the prison’s capacity. Some reasons causing the increase of prisoners are tough on crime laws and drug offenses. In this report we’ll go over the history of California’s inmate increase. The steps taken to help reduce the high numbers of incarcerated prisoners within the years. Although, it’s an open discussion within society, race has a huge impact on incarcerated prisoners, especially in drug offenses.

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Having individuals locked up and hidden from society is not the right way to go about punishment. Instead the correctional system should guide and mentor those convicted and should help alter their behavior so that they are more suitable to live in society. Sentencing someone to prison without giving them the tools to correct the behavior that was problematic in the first place actually defeats the purpose of the punishment because the individual will likely repeat the same offense over

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The American prison system incarcerates more people than any other country, being the 5 percent of the world’s population yet is home to 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. There is approximately 2.2 million inmates incarcerated in The United States, the grand majority serving minor nonviolent offenses. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate statistics, drug offences make up 46.4 percent of offences in prisons combining that of homicide, aggravated assault, immigration, embezzlement, sex offences, burglary, weapons and extortion all combined.

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