...Prison Overcrowding in the United States First, we need to discuss the causes of prison overcrowding before we dive into potential solutions. The main obvious cause is fluctuating crime rates, the increase in the crime rates, in the United States leads more people to being locked up in prison, causing prison populations to sky rocket. Another main cause is changes to the laws, when changes are made, making the penalties higher, it causes people who might just go to jail for their crime, to end up in the prison system. Another serious issue that the United States prison system has is its return rate, with high lapses of criminals in today’s society the U.S has a 60% return rate. This rate cannot be tolerated, we as a society need to do something...
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...The Prison Population Info 122 Amanda Wahmhoff Ins: Tiffany Gabbard February 12, 2013 The prison population is an ever changing number. Both men and women are sentenced to prison for various reasons and for different amounts of time. There is how ever a difference in the number of the different races that are sentenced for prison terms. As well as the usual problems there are also other problems that women have to deal with. We will talk about these problems and what they mean. When we talk about prison population most people think about males and the problems that they face. Most people do not think about the women in this kind of environment. Women face the same problems that the men face but there is one added problem with the whole thing; a woman gets raped and can end up with child. The biggest problem with this is that it is the guards that are doing it. Women in a prison in Tallahassee have had problems with being raped by the guards. “Women prisoners and guards alike have been complaining about sexual abuse by male guards at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI)...
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...Prisons were established many years ago as a punishment for people convicted of crimes, usually felonies. It’s a place where your freedom, movements, privacy, and access to basically everything is restricted. You’re told when you can eat, when you can sleep, when you can shower, and when you can use the bathroom. You are confined to an eight by six-foot cell, surrounded by concrete walls, sleeping on a metal bed tray with a thin pad. If prison conditions weren’t already bad enough, imagine living with 40,000 other inmates in a facility that was built with a capacity to house 32,000 inmates. Overcrowding in the U.S. corrections system has become an increasing problem in both state and federal prisons, with most facilities operating at more than 100 percent capacity. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there was an estimated 1.51 million prisoners in state and local correctional facilities at the...
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...Prison Overcrowding in the US Name: Institutional Affiliation: Prison Overcrowding in the US Introduction Prison overcrowding in the US is a serious problem that has remained elusive for many decades. The problem of prison overcrowding emerged since the invention of prison as correctional facilities in the 19th century and until now; it is still troubling the authorities. Overcrowding in modern prisons is multidimensional problem. Various reasons are blamed for the challenge but they significantly differ from one nation to the other. Causes of prison overcrowding are not limited to the bounds of criminal justice but stretch to other facets of authorities including social welfare plans, availability and ease of access to health services, formal education and job opportunities. Debates on how to handle this issue on political platforms is an enough illustration of the problems political leaders undergo in looking for a lasting solution challenged by increased pressure from court orders and rigorous financial crisis. It is therefore evident that it is much easier to have overcrowded prisons than it is to develop and implement effective and efficient ways to manage overcrowding in prisons. Overcrowding in prisons is a broad problem that is centered on issues of policies and crime research. These issues involve criminal sentencing, the role of correctional facilities and sentences, accommodation of prisoners with access to health care and rehabilitation services and causes of crimes...
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...Overcrowding in Prisons By Wendy Michaud PRES111 ~ Unit 2 IP American InterContinental University April 1, 2012 Abstract I think we are somewhat aware of the overcrowding in jails and prisons. There are more people incarcerated than we have room for in the United States. Although some states are far worse off than others this is a serious problem none the less. There are plans to fix this problem but not at the speed people would like. Topic: Overcrowded prisons are a problem for many different reasons. Most people are already aware of this problem, either they read it in a newspaper or saw it somewhere on the television. This is not just a local problem, it is almost everywhere. Are there reasons why this continues to happen, and has this situation improved through out the years? Are there things us as a society can do to change overcrowding in prisons? These are questions we should ask ourselves considering tax payers are the people that pay the most for food, shelter, and medical care for all the prisoners that are incarcerated. In the United States prisons the recidivism rate is amazingly high. In 1994, the biggest study of prisoner recidivism that has been ever been completed in the United States proved that, of nearly 300,000 adult prisoners who were released in 15 different states, 67.5 percent were arrested again within...
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...The U.S will continue to need correctional officers to watch over prisoners. Correctional and bailiff officer's employment is projected to grow by 4 percent from 2014 to 2024, this is slower than the average for all occupations. Changes in the criminal law can have a large effect on how people will be arrested and are in jail each year. Higher cost are keeping people in prison, and many state governments have moved towards laws requiring shorter prison sentences and to move them to an alternative prison. In the courtrooms bailiffs will still be needed. North Carolina has a total of 56 state prisons and 1 federal prison. According to Difference Between.com, a state prison is maintained and looked after by state authorities and that most of...
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...the events of the rebellions inside the prisons of Brazil that, in fifteen days, left one hundred and thirty people dead. These rebellions occurred in ten different prisons which are located in eight different states: Alagoas, Amazonas, Paraíba, Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Norte and Roraima. Brazil, today, is the second leading country to have the most arrests in the past fifteen years, and has the fourth largest prison population in the world (Welle). Overcrowding and recurrent committing of crimes are the two contributing factors to these rebellions. One of the biggest problems with the Brazilian prisons...
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...America’s Increasing Prison Population In the United States of America, we currently have approximately 2.2 million people in our jails and prisons and we incarcerate our citizens at a rate that is greater than any other country. Our number of incarcerated have increased 500% during the past thirty years. (The Sentencing Project) As of 2005, we had 737 people incarcerated for every 100,000 citizens in the United States, whereas the rest of world only put 166 people in jail for the same 100,000 people. (International Centre for Prison Studies 2007) It is obvious that something we do in the United States is having a direct impact on these burgeoning imprisonment numbers. The increase in the prison population really started to dramatically...
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...impact mentally ill inmates have on not only the prison system but crime as well. In each article, researchers study ways to positively improve the prison systems and with the dealing of the mental ill inmates. Improving our prisons on how they deal with mentally ill inmates and how to prevent such problems from occuring by improving the prison climate and treating the root problems of society instead of the symptoms we are viewing in the prisons. How is this issue discussed in academic research as opposed to the mainstream media? The Article discusses and studies whether or not "prison climate/environment" has a negative impact on inmates mental health. Researchers conduct multiple studies of...
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...We discard unstable people into prisons and tell them to fix themselves along with their problems without help or guidance, but when an untrained whelp, young canine, discharges on the floor we don’t just kick them outside to fix something they’re unaware is wrong. Yes, if a criminal does something against the law, they most certainly should be locked away, considering when dealing with people who have a mental disorder, isolating them for the crimes they commit will not truly help them change to prevent future mistakes. The fact is spreading around like a wildfire about how poorly treated a vast majority of mentally ill are- especially within prisons. But nothing seems to be getting accomplished about this issue. Although, in a few places...
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...Week 4 assignment 7/14/2014 There’s a big difference between the state prison system and the federal prison system. Even though both of these are correctional facilities, and used to detain inmates for criminal offenses, they both hold a different type of criminal. While the state prison system operates by holding criminals such as murderers, drug dealers, sexual offenders, and other crimes committed by the norm, the federal prison has a totally different population. In the federal prison system you will more likely find the white collar criminals, those that have embezzled large amounts of money, politicians, bank robbers, and others that have violated federal laws. An example of a state prison would be Turbeville here in South Carolina it is a level 2 correctional facility that usually houses inmates for crimes such as murder, drugs, sexual abuse, and other state level law breakers. Being that you will find more criminals in the state prison system, this system has a lot more facilities than the federal system. The state prisons call for more housing room, being that these crimes are committed on a daily bases and more people are being sent to the state penitentiary than the feds. The security levels for the 2 are also different. Both state and federal prison systems have different levels of security. These levels consist of Minimum (no flight risk), Low Security (trusted but still have to be under a closer watch than minimum), medium (inmates are kept under watch...
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...Prison’s Melanie Fife American InterContinental University March 17, 2013 Chad Faries ABSTRACT I’m writing a paper that has 5 different sources, that have books, newspaper articles, and Government papers, that has something to deal with America’s prisons today in society. America has a huge problem with our prison system being overcrowded. The crime rate has increased so much and we are just making me people go to jail or prison. The topic I chose was the prison system being over-crowded. I know many people that have been on both sides of the prison's walls, which allows me to see both sides of the prison system. Prison's in American are very over-crowded due to crimes being committed more often than what they were ten years ago due to not being staffed properly, not having enough room for all the inmates, and the system just trying to have you do your time and not trying to get you back to society. Prison Overcrowding has so many issues understaffing can lead to security and control difficulties. It can also cause heath and the well-being of the inmate’s problems. They will have more violence and conflicts because they are understaffed and cannot be watched properly. Not enough security can make it harder to manage the prison. They can increase opportunities for exercise, sports, and church. Active inmates are less likely to feel stressed or hostile. We can also classify offenders due to the level of their risk and their crime. Improve organization and train inmates on...
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...A Positive Perspective on Prison Education Prison Education Many people would agree that continuing an education is key to living in society. Therefore, education is very vital for every individual to maintain, regardless of how or where they obtain it. Having an education can provide people with some many opportunities to improve their lives. Even though people believe that education is important, many people disagree with education being taught in prison. Many of the inmates are high school dropouts or have an eighth grade education or less; therefore, they need to receive an education. For that reason, educating prisoners provides an opportunity for them to learn how to become better readers and expand their knowledge. Usually inmate’s reasons for dropping out of school included a greater rate of grade retention, school transfers, misbehavior, poor attendance, and poor grades. Inmates also experienced less time in extracurricular activities and very little time with a school counselor during their time in school” (Vacca 301). For many people to succeed they have to be motivated, it’s always hard to stay focused when so many obstacles are put in front of anyone. Education can reinforce goals people have, their culture beliefs, and how important education really is. However, many people lose that focus when they feel that they are not...
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...Prison Gangs Prison Gangs According to (Wikipedia) a prison gang is a term used to identify any type of gang activity in prisons and correctional facilities. The difference between prison gangs and street gangs has become unclear because gang members are in and out of the prison system according to the (Street Gangs and Interventions: Innovative Problem Solving with Network Analysis, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2005). Prison gangs offer more than just simple protection for the members in prison; many prison gangs are responsible for drug, tobacco and other contraband handling. Prison gangs often seek to intimidate other inmates and bribe or intimidate prison staff. Prison gangs are a large influence of organized crime. Prison gangs are also known for laundering money from outside gangs while in prison. The forming of a prison gang is prohibited however; prison gangs are on a rise and without regard of the law prohibiting them. Many of the gang members are already in prison serving very long sentences; when another member is sentence they link up and look out for one another. There are multiple prison gangs in America such as the Aryan Brotherhood, the Nazi Low-riders, La Eme, those are just a few. (American Prison Gangs by Sharon White) According to this article prison gangs are in the Federal prison system and 32 state jurisdictions. There are 29 able to be identified and the prison guards know the member by names. Prison officials have identified 114...
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...RUNNING HEADER: American Prisons 1 The American Prisons and Judicial Systems Megan Pierce English Composition 122 Professor Angela Temple September 23, 2013 American Prisons 2 There’s no question about the about the racial disparity in America’s prison system. More than 60 percent of people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For black males in their thirties, one in every ten is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the “war on drugs,” in which two thirds of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color. Guerin, P., Harrison, (2011) Washington, D.C: Bureau of Justice statistics. American prisons have a disparity of minority inmate population. Is this trend due to a higher rate of minority crimes, or the manner in which the judicial system operates? Some people have negative views about the people in the inner cities where disproportionate numbers of impoverished and African Americans live. Robert Right, an evolutionary psychologist believed the high rate of young African American men in prison is due to their adaptation to poverty. Conservatives think poverty is due to African American sub culture that is pathologic. Harvard professor James Wilson claimed, “The reason why it is called an underclass is that its members have a bad character: they mug, do drugs, and desert children.” (Miller,1996). There is a recurring idea that the inner...
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