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California overcrowding prisons conditions has gain National attention. The U.S. Supreme court has found that California is in violation of the 8th Amendment. California has been required to reduce their prison inmates by 40,000 inmates. California has utilized many options to reduce the inmate population within the prison system. California has to two years to reduce the inmates count in the prison system.
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
When it comes to the aging inmate population we should look at their criminal history to make that determination. If they don’t pose a threat to society we should let them go home, using monitors to keep track of their movements. Once this is done then, they can be responsible for their own care, even though they may need to go on SSI or disability. Also, if they have served half their sentence or they are at least 65 then put them on parole.
INTRODUCTION The United States incarcerates a greater percentage of the population than any country in the world (CBS, 2012). According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 2.3 million adults were incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013. There are an additional 820,000 people on parole and 3.8 million people on probation (Wagner & Rabuy, 2016) Jail and prison differ primarily in regards to the length of stay for inmates.
Improving American Prisons When looking at the American prison system it can be seen that it is something that can and needs to be improved on. Compared to other countries around the world the United States is number one with the highest incarceration rates. In 2013, the United States Department of Justice, estimated that more than 1.5 million persons were in a state or federal prison. That is an increase of 4000 more than in the previous year. As we can see, overcrowding is one of the biggest problems that the government faces when looking at prisons.
One of the hardest challenges for the United States, in terms of the criminal justice system, is the overcrowding of prisons. In fact, the problem has become so big that the U.S. has more people in jail than any other country on earth – about 2.2 million people, to be exact. To deal with this growing issue, governments and correctional administrations began to invent creative alternatives and policies to handle the overcrowding and to reduce the cost. One of these alternatives has been the use of private prisons, where the individuals in charge of the ownership, operation, and responsibility shifts from the public sector (the government) to the private sector (a third party contracted by a government agency). In order to make profits, private
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
In conclusion, the prison suffers from weakness in many aspects which produced serious effects on inmates and staff. When you look at the prison staff you find people who suffer from lack of training, experience and interest in their financial affairs that led to security imbalance inside the prison. Moreover, the prisoners are suffering from health instability and forcing them to accept unacceptable food in order to reduce the costs spent on inmates that affected badly of the prisoner's behavior. The shocking part of this research is the presence of weapons and drugs in the possession of prisoners, which turned out to be a large part of weapons and drugs were smuggled with the guards' help. Private prisons care only about the income that receives
Interest in privatizing prisons started in the mid-1970s. A private prison is a correctional facility operated by an organization other than a government agency. The first private prison were opened in the early 1980s (Shichor, 1995). The United States faces a loss in the Vietnam War, gas and oil shortages, economic recession, and an increasing crime rate. People started to question and feel unsecure about the government after the Watergate Scandal.
Oliver also touches the subject of race relating to drug convictions and he states that whites and blacks use about the same quantity of drugs. Oliver states that Blacks are nearly ten times more likely to be convicted than Whites for drug offenses. Since the 1980’s, drug offenses have tripled and of those arrests marijuana accounted for about half of those offenses (Mcelrath, Taylor, & Tran, 2016). In some states, the use of marijuana accounts for nearly 60% of those convicted for drug offenses (Mcelrath, Taylor, & Tran, 2016). Those convicted of using a lower classification drug like marijuana should not be in jail or prisons with those convicted of an egregious crime like rape or murder.
“Most of us think prison is a place where bad people go which is what I thought for a long time until you really start to look inside the system and you see, this is not right.” ~Ava Duvernay. In the prison system they are getting paid for people that’s in prison, the more people in cells the more money they make. They give people a life sentence for little things like drugs so I just think the system is really messed up. The U.S Prison system is really unfair, and two of the most important aspects to understand about it are the war on drugs and private prisons.
In 2012, statistics showed that prisons were overcrowded by 41 percent, the highest since 2004. Overcrowded prisons can become highly ineffective as space becomes limited and the amount of inmates to monitor increases. This means more jobs that are necessary for guards which then equals more tax money invested into the penal system. CNN provides information acquired by the United States census which shows how much money is spent on students compared to prisoners per year separated by states. The lowest amount provided per prisoner is in Kentucky where each prisoner costs around $12,000 whereas each student costs a little under $10,000.
III. Literature Review Prison overcrowding has been a global issue for many years. We can all attest to the fact that incarceration is said to be the main deterrent for individuals who have committed a criminal offense. The sole purpose of this literature review is to identify prospective policies that may assist Ohio with the reduction of their overcrowded prison population. My aimed is to identify four best practices that other states like New York, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts have been using as alternatives to prison hence reducing prison overcrowding.
Prison population is also a key topic because controlling jail population is one very important factor. Why are jails overcrowded?
The overcrowding of prisons in California and the rest of America is the result of “manufactured crime”. These are crimes which have no victim yet are considered felonies and follow the three strike law. Many people do not know that there are more incarcerated people in America than any other country on earth. According to the American Civil Liberties Union “America contains 5% of the world 's human population while also containing 25% of the world’s prison population.
