ipl-logo

Overcrowded In Prisons

2567 Words11 Pages

I have learned a lot about prisons and how they function within this chapter. Prisons today compared to prisons back in the day show a drastic change. Take into consideration the Penitentiary Era (1790-1825), Mass Prison Era (1825-1876), Reformatory Era (1876-1890), Industrial Era (1890-1935), Punitive Era (1935-1945), Treatment Era (1945-1967), Community-Based Era (1967-1980), Warehousing Era (1980-1995), and the Just Deserts Era (1985-present) (Schmalleger & Smykia, 2015, p. 214-217). The Just Deserts Era is punishing criminals because they have earned the right to be punished. They are simply given what they deserve. Prison population is also a key topic because controlling jail population is one very important factor. Why are jails overcrowded? …show more content…

They could be a used as a therapeutic outlet for an inmate. “Recreation, and in particular leisure education, is viewed by professional recreators as a tool to aid in the management of stresses associated with institutional life and as the avenue for inmates to return to society better able to manage life's demands” (Carter & Rusell, 2005). This could be a stress reliever for the individuals who struggle with mental illness. Next, there are health care programs for prisoners. According to (Schmalleger & Smykia, 2015, p. 241), “For the nation’s one-half million correctional employees and thousands of daily visitors to prisons and jails, good health care also reduces their risk of becoming infected from inmates with communicable diseases.” I definitely point out a great reason on why the prison health care programs shouldn’t be abolished. “Jail and prison inmates experience disproportionately high levels of both physical and mental symptomatology, including infectious diseases,1-3 chronic conditions,3,4 severe psychological disorders,5 and mild psychological symptomatology” (Lindquist & Lindquist, 1999). We want to run a safe environment while ensuring we maintain good health within the prison walls. Staff health and safety is just as important as a prisoner’s. Also, those with mental health issues deserve treatment as it will assist with their behavior and how they function. I am in favor of all the programs because they each play their part in assisting with the health and needs of those within and they can be cost efficient.We begin this chapter reading about parole and the two types of release options which are mandatory and discretionary. Also, we learn about the issues released offenders deal with trying to lead normal lives after prison. For that reason, programs are created to assist with job search, education, and training. Such programs allow the offender to obtain jobs in prison and/or the “free world” while

Show More
Related
1128 Words | 5 Pages

The prison system itself is corrupted and unfair to those individuals in it. Even though there are reform programs within the prisons, many prisoners return to prison due to inconsistent follow ups and the absence of these programs outside of prison. This creates high recidivism rates because they have a place to sleep and guaranteed meals and outside of prison it’s harder from them to have access to all of that. Elliot Currie states, “As we have crammed more and more offenders into prison, we have simultaneously retreated from the already minimal commitment to help them reenter productive society.” When the Eastern State Penitentiary was first opened in 1829, its main focus was to rehabilitate prisoners so they could reenter society (Eastern State Penitentiary).

Read More
881 Words | 4 Pages

With all of the issues the government must worry about, prison overcrowding should not be one of them. The lazy and effortless attempts of the justice system that resulted in the outstanding number of people inside prisons is overbearing. There needs to be a change. Mandatory sentencing laws, lack of awareness and inhumane treatment of prisoners is unjust. For society to progress, new laws must be passed, recognition must happen, and action needs to take place.

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

With such traumatic experiences or undiagnosed mental illnesses, inmates who are released from prison have an extremely hard time readjusting to society and often lash out and commit crimes as a result of their untreated problems. It is for this particular reason that Davis says we must focus on rehabilitation and provide services for inmates while incarcerated and before they are released. Solutions she proposes are shorter sentences, education and job training programs, humane prison conditions, and better medical facilities and service. With adequate care and conditions, released inmates will able to find jobs, start families, and become functioning members of society rather then returning to

Read More
300 Words | 2 Pages

This website covers the issue of prison overpopulation. This issue affects prisons all across the country. The first feature the website provides a list of each of the fifty states. Choosing a state will take you to a page that provides the number of incarcerated prisoners currently being held and the total cost to run the prison per day. The website also has a section that has articles explaining why prison overcrowding is a problem.

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

Those who find themselves sentenced to time in a penitentiary, jail, or prison are at risk of either being broken or strengthened by the time they spend behind bars. There is a great debate of whether or not the prison system in the United States is positive or negative. The following will briefly highlight the positives, negatives, and possible alternatives for our nation's prison system. First, there is a long list of negatives that the prison system in America brings. The prison system is filled with crime, hate, and negativity almost as much as the free world is.

Read More
1679 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
466 Words | 2 Pages

This program is to hope for the inmates to turn themselves to God, and allow them to become better human-beings when their sentence time are done. d. Drug treatment: an estimate of 1 out of 5 inmates are either doing time for using drugs or drug related case which made them enter prison in the first place. This program educates inmates about drugs and some sort of program treatment to help prevent them from coming

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

IV. What works? a) List who the prison system has worked for. b) Jail, rehab, community service, education, social services, Draconian

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

The issue of prison overcrowding has been an increasing in America. There are about 2.2 million Americans in jail or prison. The number of people in prison have gotten so large that about one in every 100 adults are behind bars. The increase in inmate population in the United States is a concern to me because some of these people have committed non-violent crimes or have drug related crimes. These people should be placed in rehabilitation centers or be counseled about drug distributing.

Read More
370 Words | 2 Pages

Thesis Hypothesis and Statement: Prisons in in the United States of America are definitely overcrowded, they are understaffed and I believe put very little effort on rehabilitation. The U.S. prison system was set up to rehabilitate prisoners so they can blend back into society as good people. But the factors as high crime rate and of course, mandatory sentences have caused a very high over crowding in our jail systems. This have caused a high increase in the budget deficit. Some citizens will say, where was the rehabilitation that we once used and it has all but now disappeared in our prison and jail system today.

Read More
209 Words | 1 Pages

1. A survey conducted in Washington; the survey showed that the majority of the public believed that treatment and job training programs in prisons must increase for the sake of public safety, so when an inmate is released they will be a productive citizen. The survey also showed that the public believes that there are too many low-risk and non-violent offenders in prison. 2. Correctional agencies reduce their operating costs by Reducing Unnecessary Consumption of Medical Services, tightening contracting and auditing, using in-house medical services when it is less expensive, reducing the inmate population, and decreasing parole revocation rate.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

Redemption for Inmates As a society we are so quick to judge incarcerated men and women, when we should be getting them the help the need. Many people believe that inmates still deserve another chance to be in society no matter the crime they have committed. These people rely on the prisons to lead the inmates back onto the right path, by having goals for their prison. The goals of prisons are many, however their overriding goals can be clearly seen which are rehabilitation, retribution, and deterrence.

Read More
1726 Words | 7 Pages

It was not until the 19th century that the penal system began to focus on education and training as a form of rehabilitation, which has progressed today into more formal programs to change the nature of individuals instead of focusing on the severity of punishment (320). Although prison is a form of punishment, by shifting the focus from strictly chastisement to developing the character and life skills of those incarcerated, prison education can be a resource for the betterment of society. Those most interested in the issue are policy makers, public officials, and correctional educations because they see how prison education can reduce cost toward warehousing inmates, create a more harmonious environment for those incarcerated, and eliminate those individuals from returning to prison by equipping them with the skills to gain jobs once

Read More
2091 Words | 9 Pages

This approach also prevents overcrowding in prisons because it also deals with rehabilitative

Read More
1737 Words | 7 Pages

  Abolish parole draw a lot of attention when it came to whether or not parole work. We first must understand what Parole is. Parole is considered to be “the conditional release of a prisoner, prior to completion of the imposed sentence, under the supervision of a parole officer”(Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). “We infer that parole probably has several purposes, not least of which is to save money for the state by freeing up prison places by releasing prisoners early”(Ellis & Marshall, 2000). “It can also contribute to maintaining order or control in prison, by offering an incentive for good behavior”(Ellis & Marshall,

Read More

More about Overcrowded In Prisons

Open Document