The Pros And Cons Of Prisons

“There are about 2.3-2.4 million people in prisons in the United States in 2016” (Wagner 2); this prison population has increased by 700% since the 1970s.” (Henrichson 2). That massive increase in population also means an equally large increase in spending. Prisons are compulsory for society today to house criminals and prevent future harm, but the excess amount of money squandered on these people is overkill. “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,

“The U.S spends over $60 billion annually to maintain its corrections system reflecting the fact we imprison a greater percentage of our population; more than any other nation on earth” (Jacobson 1). That money is spent to put adults in a timeout for their wrongdoings. For most people, prisons and jails do not rehabilitate them, and “an estimated two-thirds (68 percent) of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of release from prison, and three-quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years, at some point”(Sipes 16). We should spend that money in more important places, such as helping people rehabilitate if they commit a crime. In the long run if that 68-77% of people get the help they need to get better it will reduce the prison population therefore lowering costs. Even if rehab costs more initially, over time, the amount of money spent on repeat offenders will be more. “The rate of growth of spending on corrections in state budgets exceeds that for education, healthcare, social services, transportation and environmental protection” (Jacobson 2). So as we spend more on corrections we spend less to improve our society. If we spent more money on social services or education, for example, maybe less people would be in prison in the first place. Again, less prison population results in

“The 40 states surveyed spent $39 billion on maintaining their prisons in 2010 that is $5.4 billion more than their reported state correctional budgets” (Henrichson 2). Since these costs keep rising, we continue to pour more and more money into our old, outdated prisons. Even if we build a new one it costs even more, therefore we need to find ways to cut these costs and make our prisons more efficient. Money for these prisons comes from taxpayers. “Taxpayers historically have had to bear the expense for offender apprehension, prosecution and detention. They are also burdened with providing food, clothing, housing, healthcare and other cost-related expenses to offenders housed and/or convicted of criminal wrongdoing. One might ask why law-abiding citizens should be burdened with the cost of incarceration when they never use that service or why taxpayers should be further victimized by supporting inmates who have the wherewithal to pay” (Sanborn 8). Despite some of the people's tax dollars going towards education, infrastructure, and other things, a good amount of state taxes goes towards paying for prisoners. The major question is, why do we have to pay for their mistakes; or why should law abiding citizens have to pay for the cost of incarceration? It is safe to say that we do not want these people roaming the street, but obviously the cost of