ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of United States Prisons

1833 Words8 Pages

United States Prisons: A Mental Cage The United States is one of the world’s most recognized and powerful superpowers since its industrial and commercial production along with their nearly limitless military budget make them practically invincible. This demonstrates the power of the United States on foreign soil and problems, yet many internal problems in the United States are left disregarded and neglected, simply thrown away. Citizens and lawmakers remain silent on several key social issues and on one of the biggest shameful topics of neglect, America’s incarceration rate. The United States is the country with the most people incarcerated in the world. Many of these people who are imprisoned do not deserve prison, since, in reality, …show more content…

Currently the World Health Organization claims that 450 million people around the world suffer from some kind of mental or behavioral illness, and this impacts 15.4 percent of the lives lost around the globe. The American Psychological Association states that in order for something to be a mental illness, it needs to be deviant, dysfunctional, and distressful (Myers 561).Through this staggering number, the world understands and acknowledges those impacted by psychological disorders, yet it only sits back and stares. To these people, their emotions, life, physical and mental well being is compromised yet the resources to aid them and bring them back to the everyday world are not readily available. The confusion, lack of control, and external pressures exerted on a mentally ill person leads them to deviate away from the normal ways of society. In order to bring them back and make them a functioning member of society, the hospitals and government should spread their programs and make it more easily available and cheaper, since many of the mentally ill lack the social acceptance that most people have. Since society doesn’t accept those who exhibit deviant and dysfunctional behavior, it places an emotional burden on those suffering, since they aren’t accepted by many. Aside from …show more content…

These mentally ill people can make the physical environment a dangerous one, since their unpredictable behavior can prove dangerous to children, the elderly, and any pedestrian walking around. Many societies, especially cities, have high rates of the untreated mentally ill walking amongst the common people, which can prove disastrous. An example cited by Fuller Torrey, the author of American Psychosis : How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System, was that in 2011 a Los Angeles mentally ill woman stole an infant from another woman. This mentally ill woman swung the baby by the leg, slamming its head into a metal railing. After the police arrived and the baby, taken to safety, the questioning process for the woman began. As her questioning continued, the police asked her what her motive was, she replied saying that she wanted to break off the baby’s leg to eat it. (Torrey American Psychosis 128). This horrifying incident exemplifies the danger that the mentally ill prove to the citizens, since their lives and property can be harmed or damaged. Though the law has the right to punish the criminal actions of the woman, the appropriate actions and steps would be to lead the woman to an institute where she can be protected and the citizens can be protected as well. Instead

Show More
Related
1063 Words | 5 Pages

“while the old saying notes that crime doesn't pay, that doesn't hold true for America's system of incarceration, which has seen spending more than triple since 1980.” Aimee Picchi. Our entire country would be filled with prisons. It would be too expensive and take up too much time. If prisoners don’t learn from their mistakes the population of people in society will increase

Read More
299 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
853 Words | 4 Pages

In 1970-2005, the United States prison has grew over 700%. The rate of growth has outpaced population growth, and crime rate. Compared to the world, 25% of the prison population is made up of Americans. America has the highest rate in the world for youth incarceration. 130,000 Juveniles are detained in the American prison system, and every day 70,000 juveniles are detained.

Read More
233 Words | 1 Pages

With the number of people sent to prisons increasing exponentially in the United States and the aggregate cost of the system being around $1 trillion per year, conversation has erupted about reform and abolishment. From adjusting the way in which prisons are run, who is sent to them, and how long people stay to outright demolishing them entirely, there are many perspectives regarding the topic, and there are also people who believe that the system should remain the same or even increase its reach in society. Changing the prison system has also become a question of politics and ethics, in addition to the basic question of whether or not they are effective, so these aspects have also shaped the current argument. Considering the negative impacts

Read More
286 Words | 2 Pages

Across the United States, over two million adult individuals serve time behind bars and although the U.S. is not the country with the largest population; it holds 40% of prison population. The United States has become widely known as the country with the highest incarceration rates and as the number of inmates continues to rise, as do the number of children without mothers and fathers, wives without husbands and mothers without sons. Men make up for 90% of the inmate population and the injustices of the court system reek with irony as a mask of justice for all. There have been many calls for prison reform and just as many political figures who claim to be “hard on crime” and there is yet to be any major improvement. With the current political

Read More
1244 Words | 5 Pages

In a country with an extensive mass incarceration issues, prison overcrowding is commonplace. Therefore, states often turn to outside sources to relieve this stress. “The relief of overcrowding is the second major reason for the use of private prisons and includes both out-of-state transfer of inmates and in-state use of private facilities. In California, for example, the courts required a timely reduction of overcrowding, which led directly to the use of out-of-state contract prisons, as California does not allow private facilities to be built within its borders for state use…” (Blackstone and Hakim).

Read More
2541 Words | 11 Pages

American Prison System The American criminal justice system is viewed as a flawed system by many of its citizens. Crimes that are not as extreme as others tend to receive relatively harsh and unmerited punishments. Philosopher, activist, and previous inmate herself, Professor Angela Davis, tackle and criticizes our American prison system she sees as flawed. In her journal article, “Are Prisons Obsolete?”

Read More
616 Words | 3 Pages

According to the book, State and Local Government, “2.3 million people are confined to state prisons and local jails in the United States” (Bowman and Kearney 459). Also prisons have grown 4 percent over the years. However, “prisons continue to operate beyond official capacity in many states, despite the construction of numerous new facilities to reduce the problems of prison overcrowding and its accompanying conditions of poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and high levels of violence” (Bowman and Kearney 459). There are three factors to the reason behind high imprisonment rates such as harsh sentences, public opinions, and drug enforcement penalties. But most are concerned by who should pay, how much is the public responsible to help pay, and how much should

Read More
891 Words | 4 Pages

The Other Side of Incarceration Corrected by Cody Akerson Within the last decade, the United States has seen a dramatic rise in incarceration rates. Though the crimes do vary, the United States is now known for holding the highest number or prisoners compared to many different countries throughout the world. With a higher crime rate comes higher conviction rates, which in turn means more prisoners. Though mass incarceration rates is usually a hot topic of discussion, there is an underlying problem with these high numbers of prisoners that is often left not talked about.

Read More
450 Words | 2 Pages

With only five percent of the world’s population, the United States has 25 percent of all inmates. It is upsetting to believe that in America prisoners are responsible for the high revenue in private prison companies. Many states have even signed agreements with private prison companies, guaranteeing that they will fill certain number of beds in jail at a given point. Ninety percent is the common rate; however, some private prisons have been able to get away with 100 percent.

Read More
1539 Words | 7 Pages

In the last thirty years, incarceration rates have skyrocketed to four times of that in 1980, with 1 in every 31 adults being under some form of correctional control. (“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet”) The US now houses 25% of the world’s prisoners, despite containing only 5% of the world’s population. (Khalek) Many factors have contributed to this sharp increase in incarcerations, including zero-tolerance policies, and the school-to-prison pipeline and the War on Drugs (“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet”). However, the largest contributors are the prison industrial complex, which targets and criminalizes minority groups, and the dependence of for-profit prisons on inmate count and prison labor.

Read More
637 Words | 3 Pages

The idea of mass incarceration in the United States, is a grim one. This is because many people do not talk about, and many people are not aware of it. Being that this year is an election year, it is a little appalling how none of the candidates mentioned the issue of mass incarceration, apart from Bernie Sanders, who is not in contention for the presidency. Mass incarceration should be in discussion however, because the reality of mass incarceration is that it is in shambles in its current state. The motto that is constantly uttered from our criminal justice system is Its famous phrase of ‘protect and serve’.

Read More
882 Words | 4 Pages

With efforts to reduce mandatory minimum prison sentencing, benefits for those incarcerated, and programs during and after release that could reduce the likelihood of recidivism within inmates.         Roughly, 2 million people are incarcerated in the united states. Making the us the country with the largest prison population. Our prison system serves as an institution for retribution,

Read More
265 Words | 2 Pages

In my opinion, prisons are not the solution for most offenders of the law and the issue over use of the prison system can be resolved by looking towards alternatives. The system is in strong need of reform, especially for bail and prisons. Bail is very expensive and many people who are hauled off to jail are not able to pay to get out. It is estimated that around 11 million people go through jails in recent years, and the cost of holding them there is costly. (prisonpolicy, 2017)

Read More
241 Words | 1 Pages

Overcrowded prisons are a serious matter to the system and people. Immediate measures should be deployed to address this menace. Despite the investigations done on the nature or situation of prison and prison system, in the United States, little has been done to determine the baseline of this problem. People generally think that whenever a person has been arrested and done their time they are rehabilitated. Unfortunately, it’s the opposite.

Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of United States Prisons

Open Document