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Prison overcrowding in the united states
Prison overcrowding in the united states
Prison overcrowding in the united states
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Private prisons were constructed as a response to the overcrowding in federal prisons during the 1980s; many people speculate whether or not private prisons are good or bad. Critics argue that private prisons like any business are driven by profit, and prisons profit from the amount of criminals they are able to contain which gives the private prisons and their shareholders incentive to keep the prison population high and expenses low. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency estimates that over the next ten years state and federal expenditures on prisons will amount to $351 billion6. These government subsidies along with the support of private prison shareholders allow the prison industrial complex to keep their power and influence
The demand for private prisons has grown tremendously over the years. The government has relied on prison privatization to help address growing issues of overcrowding and financial stress in public prisons. However, many believe that privatizing prisons has led to and will continue to cause legal issues for our judicial system. In this paper I will discuss three potential legal issues associated with privatizing prisons. Privatization of prisons affects inmates negatively by neglecting and violating their rights.
The United States has around four percent of the entire population world’s population and yet it locks up around twenty-five percent of the entire prison population. That is in large part because the prison industry is now made up of for-profit prisons. For-profit prisons are privatized prisons where the owners get paid to keep their inmates as long as possible. Many
The private corporations do not care, and maybe they never will, for the inmates they are forcing into their facility. The use of private prisons are not the saving grace the government expected it to be; in fact it may be the devil itself. Private prisons are more relaxed with their safety and health guidelines. As a result, the inmates suffer the consequences of neglect. Private prisons are known to cut corners, and when forced to change they retaliate.
As of 2008 there was 126,249 state and federal prisoners held in a private prison, accounting for 7.8 percent of prisoners in general. So the private prisons quickly stepped up and made the prisons bigger to account for more prisoners. It is expected that private correctional operations will continue to grow and get stronger, due to a number of factors. With that being said the growth in the number of state and federal prisoners has slowed down in the past two to three years, there is still expected to be a huge increases in the number of inmates being held and with state and federal revenues down due to the recession, very few jurisdictions are constructing new prisons. Tightening the government’s budget forces them to look for other ways to make up for the
Years later, an investigation into for-profit prisons discovered that many of them were too crowded. In other words, importing prisoners, bribing judges and inflating sentences has led to there being too many inmates to house safely. Instead of owning up to this, the corruption inherent in this industry causes prisoners to be in unsafe conditions. It's not hard to imagine what happens in an overly-crowded, improperly maintained facility; tensions flare, fights increase and germs are more easily
Private prisons have exponentially expanded throughout the U.S. in the past decades and with the expansion of a corporation there will be setbacks. The YouTube video by John Oliver he enlightens the viewers about the negatives of private prisons and the companies who operates them like GEO group and the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Oliver states that in 2012, about 8.7% of inmates were held in private prisons. Oliver reiterates that GEO group and the CCA had a combined revenue of over 3 billion dollars. It’s unfathomable that some corporations that are supposed to be taking care of the inmates with healthcare and decent food are essentially profiting from inmates.
As stated here “The more money a state spends on building and running prisons, the less there is for everything else, from roads and bridges to health care and public
Some of these prisons cost more or cast the exact same as regular prisons and don't offer rehabilitation. Other prisons also have high death rates and more violence even though there's less inmates in the
The use of private corrections does have benefits however; it should not be at the cost of the inmates that are being housed there when their basic rights are being violated i.e. medical care, educational needs and rehabilitative needs. It seems as if these facilities try to cut corners when it comes to saving money, even at the expense of their own officers that are
After all, some repeat offenders will continually resist rehabilitation from a criminalistic-lifestyle, leaving society no recourse but separation through incarceration to incapacitate them from affecting the lives of law-abiding free citizens. Regretfully, the adage “a few bad apples spoils the bunch” does prove true regarding criminal behavior and separation from society is the only remedy. However, through privatized corrections, society benefits from creating numerous jobs that also serve a vital function for their communities. Granted that, opponents of private or corporate run prisons argue that they are for profit resulting in two distinct objections. First, a corporation has no authority to administer and oversee sentences imposed by the government.
A large number of criminals who serve their first jail prison sentence, leave jail to recommit crime again. This is mainly due to the lack of rehabilitation policy by the jail authorities and lack of job opportunities. There are numerous possible solutions which should be implemented to deal with criminals who reoffend. Firstly, when the prisoner is released from the jail attitude of the nearby people is changed towards them and they do not accept them as a part of the mainstream society.
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.
The prison system is a very complex industry and, believe it or not, is one of the main reasons that the incarceration rates of people continue to rise in the United States. Interestingly enough, the system that is created to punish the offenders, actually helps the prisoners learn from within the system only to return to jail when released into society because of its culture. Furthermore, the real reason for the increase in occupants is because of what is currently an epidemic in the United States. Are there any factors that shed light onto why this is? For example, does race play a factor since there are more blacks in prisons than whites?
Finally, the privatization of prisons has also contributed to the high incarceration rate in the United States. In recent decades, many states have turned to private companies to operate their prisons. These companies are motivated by profit, and as a result, they have a financial incentive to keep their prisons full. This has led to an increase in the number of people being incarcerated, as well as a decrease in the quality of care and rehabilitation programs offered to those who are
