...Brinkley Donna M. Davis July 30, 2012 Prisons in America face many problems today. One such problem is the amount of elderly inmates. Elderly inmates represent the fastest growing segment of the federal and state prisons. The aging inmate population has created new challenges for the American corrections system. The population of aging and elderly prisoners in the United States prisons exploded over the past three decades, with nearly 125,000 inmates aged 55 or older now behind bars, according to a recent report published by the American Civil Liberties Union. This represents an increase of over 1,300 percent since the early 1980s. (Graying in Prison). Some contributing factors to the increase in elderly inmates are, get tough on crime reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes rules and truth in sentence laws established in recent decades are keeping more offenders in prison for longer periods of time. Inmates are living longer and this also contributes to prison overcrowding. (Elderly Prisoners, 2012). In passing some of these laws, such as the three strikes laws, the courts and the Criminal Justice System did not think about the aging inmates and the problems that go with it. As people age, generally they develop health problems and within the prison system, this is no different. Prisons aren’t geared to the needs and vulnerabilities of older people. In the prison environment, there are a number of unique physical...
Words: 1376 - Pages: 6
...reduction that allows an individual to come down from a mandatory minimum and be eligible for a sentence along the federal guidelines. This is only one of many suggestions that would help save taxpayers money, reduce the federal prison population, and result in fairer sentences for non-violent first time offenders. There are three main categories that can trigger a mandatory minimum. The most common penalty for mandatory minimums applies to drug trafficking. Under this statute the minimum must be met if there is a particular type of drug that exceeds a certain amount, a sale to someone under the age of 21, the employment of an individual under the age of 21, and/or occurring within 1,000 feet of a school zone. The second most common is a consecutive mandatory minimum sentence when there is possession or use of a firearm in connection with certain underlying offenses. The third and most frequently applied mandatory minimum is triggered by a defendant’s prior criminal history (18 U.S.C .924 (c)). There are two possible ways to avoid a mandatory minimum sentence; one is “substantial assistance” and two is the “safety valve”. These relief mechanisms bring defendants under the mandatory minimum and therefore are sentenced under the guidelines. Overcrowding of prisons in America is an ongoing problem that continues to...
Words: 1636 - Pages: 7
...Prison overcrowding, also called "prison crowding," is a matter of great contention and concern in current criminal justice public policy debates in both Canada and the United States. Coming to public attention as a social problem most recently in the United States in the late 1970s, prison overcrowding has coincided with the unprecedented growth in the nation's prison population over the past several decades. Because of the "war on drugs" and mandatory sentencing, the United States has become the world's foremost jailer. With just 5 percent of the world's population, the United States has 25 percent of its prisoners, approximately 2.4 million, a number that steadily increases by about 3 percent each year. In 2006, federal prisons were operating at 37 percent above capacity. The criminal justice system responded to what some jurisdictions call the "crisis" of prison overcrowding through diversion strategies, relying more heavily on jails for the overflow of prisoners, doubling up prisoners in one cell (also called double bunking), hotly debated early release strategies, and an increasing reliance on private (for-profit) prisons, to name a few. However, policy focus on capacity issues sometimes detracts from the actual conditions of privacy, security, and manageability (including meeting basic needs for nutrition, health, and sanitation) within prisons. In 2006, the Vera Institute of Justice's Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons held public hearings, which...
Words: 933 - Pages: 4
...One of America's biggest problems today is the overcrowding of prisons. This began when the population of inmates started to soar in the 1980's. With the increase of rapist, murderers, and drug dealers skyrocketing, there is no reason to this overpopulation. The nation responds to this by building prison at a fast pace. But the construction has not kept pace with the soaring population of inmates. The number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of Federal correctional authorise at the end of 1991 reached a record high of 823,414. The increase for 1991 brings a total growth in the prison population since 1980 to 493,593 - an increase of about 150 percent in the 11-year period. California's increase of about 4,500 prisoners in 1991 was the largest gain in the number of prisoners in any single jurisdiction. The overall increase in 1994 is 8.6 percent, but Texas and Georgia reported increases of more than 20 percent. The largest increases occurred in Texas, up 28.5 percent, and Georgia, up 20.3 percent, according to a justice department report. Eight state prison systems were so crowded that they sent at least 10 percent of their inmates to local jails in 1994. The largest ever one-year increase in state and federal prison population occurred in 1989, when the number grew by 84,764, said the study of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. State and federal governments are struggling to cope with overcrowded prisons that fail to rehabilitate and often release inmates early to make room for...
Words: 474 - Pages: 2
...It has been researched that 47% of the inmate population for federal prisons are serving for an offense done during a period of time in which the individual was abusing illicit substances (“Consequences of addiction effects of substance abuse”, 2017). Substance abuse is the over consumption of illicit drugs for example heroin, methamphetamine, alcohol, etc. This consumption causes a neurocognitive deficit in individuals to the point they act out (Hiller, 2012). Examples of offenses committed while abusing drugs that impacted the community are: property damages, theft, homicide, and fatal car crashes. These events impact our community and we assume the person who committed the crime goes to prison for the actions they have done, but it’s what...
Words: 289 - Pages: 2
...harsh treatment of mentally ill prisoners can be combated by improving correctional officer behavior, counseling prisoners to deal with trauma, and correcting prisoners' morals in life. Most mentally ill criminals go to prison instead of a mental hospital due to their illness not being identified or even...
Words: 905 - Pages: 4
...Star Ward Disparity in American prisons English 122 Prof. Howard Cox March 11, 2014 Hollywood has done a great job of painting out the picture of your average Minority figure. Correct me if I’m wrong but most movies and/or T.V. shows paint minorities out to be illiterate, lazy, have violent behavior and guaranteed to be imprisoned at least once in their lifetime. Which brings me to my topic: Disparity in America’s prison system. It’s an undisputed fact that there are more Blacks and Hispanics in America’s prison system compared to whites but how can that be when there is far more Whites in America’s population as a whole? The real problem, however, is that when thinking about disparity in America’s prisons we need not to look at it being racially motivated but to focus on the contributing factors behind it. Factors such as family, socioeconomic inequalities such as education and jobs, and legal representation. Not only should these factors be considered but we also need to look at alternative methods that can be taken to prevent imprisonment for non-violent and petty offenses. By the time you finish reading this paper hopefully you get some understanding behind the madness that has a lot of Minorities questioning the U.S. justice system. The United States Justice symbol is supposed to represent equality for everyone no matter the race, color, or creed. The land of the free is what it is other countries see it as yet some Americans feel trapped by a system set up for them...
Words: 1568 - Pages: 7
...the ineffectiveness behind our current policies. As more and more research is released on the subject of addiction, it is becoming increasingly obvious that a solely criminal approach is undeniably ineffective and in some regards, inhumane. Ineffective treatment of addicts has created; over-crowding on our criminal justice system, inexcusable financial hardships on our society, and is a major factor behind the revolving door syndrome. A quick look at the current state of our prisons can be rather glaring. The U.S. currently houses approximately 2.3 million inmates. Out of this number approximately 1.5 million have been medically diagnosed with severe substance abuse issues with an additional half million listed as having extensive histories with drugs prior to their incarceration (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 1998). The number of people currently locked up in U.S. detention centers and prisons is rather staggering. We lead the world in the amount of people in jails and prisons (CBS Chicago, 2014). This is of course is no small fete as there are...
Words: 1717 - Pages: 7
...In today's society, the prisons of America appear to cause more problems than assistance. The country penal system is expensive, overcrowded, and some argue that it is ineffective as well as inefficient. The cost to build, staff, and support these facilities increases dramatically each year. Prisons, which were created to be humane correctional facilities, are currently filled with violence, hostility, and a communal fear. These institutions are meant to control crime by deterrence, incapacitating criminals. This may protect society from potentially dangerous individuals, but these institutions' level of accomplishment is askew. The financial burden attached to the building, maintaining, and staffing of prisons constantly plagues the penal system. During the late 1960s, New York built prisons at a price of $2 million each. Since then, prices have risen dramatically. In 1990, each prisoner required $15,496 to support (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”). A prison containing 2,000 inmates amounts to over $31 million to operate on an annual basis. The United States spends an estimated $60 billion each year on corrections (Prisons in the United States). The operation price is synonymous with the level of security, ranging from the supermax, containing serial killers, to the minimum security, containing drug offenders. Violence is not confined to outside prison walls. In 2005 alone, federal and state prisons reported 885 incidents of sexual violence. Of the aforementioned...
Words: 3668 - Pages: 15
...Prison Overcrowding In today’s society, crime happens nearly every 5 seconds. Depending on the type of crime determines where an individual is placed either in jail or prison. This leads to an ongoing problem today, prison overcrowding. Prison overcrowding is when the demand for space in prisons in a jurisdiction exceeds the capacity for prisoners in the place. Prison Overcrowding has many dangers that can lead to major destruction to society and those captivated behind bars The dangers of overcrowded prison, is that it can become very toxic for both prisoners and guards. Overcrowded conditions contribute to stronger inmate misconduct, more competition for prison services such as educational or vocational training programs and a lack...
Words: 1158 - Pages: 5
...The FRONTLINE film “The New Asylums” produced and directed by Miri Navasky & Karen O'Connor is a documentary on the state of mental illness into today’s prisons. The documentary shows life behind bars in a supermax prison in Ohio. The film explores the pros and cons of the mental institutions that have been created out of necessity in America’s prison systems. The goal of the documentary was to answer the question of why prisons are the new mental health providers because there are 500,000 people with mental illness in prisons, as compared to only one-fifth that number being helped in Psychiatric hospitals. According to the film, most of the prisoners end up in prison from being unable to cope with the outside world and get arrested for offenses such as violent behavior, rape and robbery to name a few....
Words: 653 - Pages: 3
...War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding Thomas K Anderson University of Memphis Prison overcrowding has been a social phenomenon that has led to a variety of reforms. One of the major causes for overcrowding in the prison systems today began back in the early 1970’s, when President Nixon declared War on Drugs. There were dramatic increases in the prison population in the 1980’s and 1990’s. These increases were projected due to trends of harsh punishments. Political leaders were influential in these trends as they created mandatory sentencing guidelines. Currently 50.1% of all offenders that are incarcerated in the Federal Prison System are due to drug offenses. That total accounts for 98,554 individuals, many of whom are serving time for a nonviolent offense or first time offenses. The second largest cause for overcrowding in the prison are immigration related crimes, which still only accounts for 10.6% or 20,862 of the individuals. In June of 1971, President Nixon declared a war on drugs, which did not go over too well because he and everyone else had differing views on how to handle the problems being created due to the increase of drug use. Because of the increasing of the prison population, a reform was created to offer treatment for drug abuse; of course this did not take place since it was a contradiction of current drug policies. Unfortunately, the end result of Nixon’s plan did not stop the problem of drugs, but only caused...
Words: 1267 - Pages: 6
...been deployed and risked their lives so that we can maintain the privileges afforded to us simply by living in America. Unfortunately, our country has not taken enough measures to protect and restore the mental health of the veterans who have protected us. According to Jaycox eds. and Tanielian (2008) “About One-Third of Returning Service members Report Symptoms of a Mental Health or Cognitive Condition” and approximately 19.5% of our returning veterans have experienced a probable traumatic brain injury (TBI) (p. 492). While the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Association (VA) have taken steps to meet the needs of these returning veterans, there is still much room for improvement when it comes to providing these hero’s with the mental health and neurological care that they require for a healthy life. PTSD and TBI share many symptoms, sometimes making it difficult for professionals to distinguish the cause of the symptoms, therefore, the mental health and TBI issues are often addressed together. One of the issues that our servicemen face with receiving proper treatment is that PSTD can sometimes take a year or more to surface after returning home. (National Council on Disability , 2009). The Department of Defense has designated and deployed a Mental health taskforce to research and address the needs and concerns of our military member’s psychological well being and as of 2007, determined that “Insufficient attention has been paid to the vital task of prevention...
Words: 976 - Pages: 4
...Policy Development Prison crowding is becoming more and more of an issue in the United States. Every day the problem continues to grow as each person who is arrested, taken into to custody and ultimately convicted joins the prison population. Concerns have been raised when it comes to the topic of prison and its population by everyone from the public to law makers. Over the years, the growth of prison capacity has been slightly behind that of the inmate population always resulting in an overcrowding issue. “There has been no consistent evidence that crowding is associated with mortality, morbidity, recidivism, violence, or other pathological behaviors, but rather due to changes to both federal and state sentencing policies. These changes have increased the proportion of the individuals who are charged with felonies and sentence to lengthy jail and prison sentences” (Van Ness, 2008). In addressing any problem area, one first must define the terms or operational definitions. “The United States Supreme Court on November 30, 2010, heard oral argument in Schwarzenegger v. Plata about whether a federal court in California properly ordered the release of 40,000 prisoners to relieve the severe overcrowding in the state's prisons that has led to inadequate medical and mental health care for prisoners” (“U.S. Supreme Court Reviews Prison Overcrowding And Horrendous Conditions Of Confinement,” 2010). “America’s prisons now hold more than 2.3 million people, and many of the...
Words: 1884 - Pages: 8
...Mental illness has become an epidemic in the prison system. Most offenders with mental illness go untreated, and those who do receive treatment often get it in the form of forced medication. Some prisons have implemented treatment plans for inmates to try to treat any mental illness or substance abuse problems. Unfortunately, the staffs in the prisons are inadequately trained to detect those who need help and in turn prisoners are not given the proper coping tools or medications. Most of these reform programs are designed for short-term prisoners and focuses on a 9-month plan. The individual is then released with the high rate of returning to prison within the next 3 years. How can we correct how mental illness is treated in the correctional...
Words: 1553 - Pages: 7
