The Pros And Cons Of Prison Overcrowding

The U.S. has many problems with its prison system because of who they are arresting, what they are doing with them, the amount they are arresting and the cost of supporting the prisoners. U.S. prisons do not have the room to support as many prisoners as they are taking in. According to the article Horrors of Prison overcrowding, “Built to house roughly 80,000 people, California’s prisons were stuffed with twice that many residents…” In that same article it said, “In 2006, ‘a preventable or possibly preventable death occurred’ somewhere in California’s prison system ‘once every six days” The institutes do not have enough guard staff to prevent fights, and they also don’t have enough medical staff to treat prisoners. They are also costing taxpayers lots

The article, Yes, U.S. Locks people up at a higher rate than any other country says, “The network of social service programs is less developed in the United States than comparable countries.” The article, Why are so many Americans in Prison? Pointed out, “Though we have a smaller pool of people being arrested, we’re sending a larger and larger number of them to prison.” Because we don’t have as many correctional facilities, like drug rehabilitation, our only option is to put them in prison. Another reason so many American are being incarcerated is because the crime rates have increased. In the article, Yes, the U.S. locks up people at a higher rate than any other country it says, “The American police became worried when crime rates soared; the crime was among top voter concerns through the 1970’s.” In the same article it said, “The ‘get tough’ policies became politically popular.” The citizens of the United States became scared when the crime rates escalated in the 70’s due to the war on drugs, so the government had to become more stringent and arrest people for smaller crimes, and increase sentences. But, times have changed and the regulations need to change with