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. Prison overcrowding must come to an end.
The need for more prisons is not really a need. I am not in favor of the there being more prisons built in this world. Serving time in prison is supposed to be as unpleasant as possible. I am also not in favor of prisoners being mistreated by other inmates and or facility staff members. There are prison guards that often beat inmates and rape female inmates. These issues are also widely ignored. Here is California, we have one of the 10 worst prisons in America. Speaking of Pelican Bay State Prison. This prison located in Crescent City, California, has 3500 inmates. Out of the 3500 prisoners, 1500 of them are in solitary. Of that 1500 in solitary, 500 of them have been in solitary in excess of a decade. Are we sure, building more
Prison Problems in the U.S. The United States have the biggest incarceration rate in the world. Our prisons are full of convicts, rapists, and murderers. One of our biggest problems are is that we don't have enough money too feed them and keep a roof over their heads. Another issue is the proportion of middle aged men in our country are either black or hispanic. It causes issues because colored people think white people (esspecially white police officers) are racist. There has been a lot of police brutality toward colored people yet white people have to endure that too, we are all equal. The U.S. needs to ensure officers aren't being to violent yet keep it so we know we are safe. Another conflict is prison violence,
The overcrowding of prisons in California and the rest of America is the result of “manufactured crime”. These are crimes which have no victim yet are considered felonies and follow the three strike law. Many people do not know that there are more incarcerated people in America than any other country on earth. According to the American Civil Liberties Union “America contains 5% of the world 's human population while also containing 25% of the world’s prison population. Since 1970, our prison population has risen by some 700% - an increase far outpacing rates of population growth and crime1”. The reason America has so many incarcerated people is not because Americans commit more crimes or the police are just better at finding criminals,
When Robert Gonzalez was 17 years old, he was charged as an adult because the public defender said his actions were an”adult-like crime”. Robert Gonzalez was the “wheel-man” during a robbery. The sentenced Mr.Gonzalez got a sentence of 20 years with 4 months. Proposition 57 is mainly for the juveniles that are getting a second chance to go to rehab and to get better. Proposition 57 is trying to get passed because there are too many people that are getting put into prisons for reasons that can be solved another way. This proposition is wanting to allow non-violent criminals to get out of jail once their primary offense is done. Proposition 57 wants to get rid of prisoners that can get more help outside of prison. However, this proposition is not a get-out-of-jail free card. Doug Porter claims in the article, yes on prop 57, that “In the end, it was ballot measure passed by California voters in 2014 that eased crowding below the threshold set my federal courts in 2009. This proposition started because of the crowding in the prisons. Crowding of the prisons is a big issue because it calls for more
One of the hardest challenges for the United States, in terms of the criminal justice system, is the overcrowding of prisons. In fact, the problem has become so big that the U.S. has more people in jail than any other country on earth – about 2.2 million people, to be exact. To deal with this growing issue, governments and correctional administrations began to invent creative alternatives and policies to handle the overcrowding and to reduce the cost. One of these alternatives has been the use of private prisons, where the individuals in charge of the ownership, operation, and responsibility shifts from the public sector (the government) to the private sector (a third party contracted by a government agency). In order to make profits, private
Prison: A secure place where somebody is confined as punishment for a crime. What does society think of when they hear the word “prison”? Unfortunately, prison is far more luxurious than people would think. Instead of punishment for breaking the law, prison has become more of a relaxing facility to prisoners. Prisoners are treated with too much leniency because they are given more luxuries than a homeless person would have, and prisoners spend their time in jail doing everyday activities that are the opposite of punishment.
Overpopulation can cause a series of unwanted needs in the prisons, one of which being doubling up on cells. According to the law prisoners must have a certain area of space to live in for themselves, if the space is decreased by doubling up on cells it would be considered a harsh and uncalled for punishment, therefore it violates the eighth amendment. In addition, overpopulation can also cause disorganization and high tension for both prisoners and staff. Management is not handled well in crowded organizations causing stress levels to rise in both the prisoners and staff. Prisoners are known for reacting wrongfully towards the staff and themselves causing them to go sick, referring back to how prisoners die in prison cells. Not only does overpopulation violate prisoners rights and leads to high tension with prisoners but it also increases the need for supplies. There would be a need for food and other resources, therefore it would raise the value of taxes. Death penalty is not only more sufficient and causes less cases of overpopulation, but it can also lead to deterating homicide
Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals.
One of the more obvious effects is the amount of money spent on our prisons, the United States prison system cost $80 billion annually. This is taxpayer money that can be used for schools, drug rehabilitation programs, supporting infrastructure and other things. The other effects of mass incarceration lie in the hands of those directly affected; the prisoners and their families. Former prisoners have harder times finding houses, jobs, and making a sustainable salary. This creates a sub-class of citizens that are likely to fall into the manmade cycle of criminal behavior again. (Mary Kate Frank). The environment inside of prisons does not prepare inmates to re enter society, but rather to re enter prison. ⅔ prisoners will be rearrested within three years of being out of prison, ½ of arrested will become incarcerated again. Mass incarceration also continues the cycle of poverty that falls to the child of incarcerated parents. “It tears families apart, sinking them further into poverty and leaving 1 out of every 28 children with a parent who is incarcerated, two thirds of whom are in prison or jail for nonviolent crimes.” (Denis J. Madden). This especially affects the black community considering 1/15 black children have a parent in prison. (Issues &
In Adam Gopnik 's piece “Caging of America,” he discusses one of the United States biggest moral conflicts: prison. Gopniks central thesis states that prison itself is a cruel and unjust punishment. He states that the life of a prisoner is as bad as it gets- they wake up in a cell and only go outside for an hour to exercise. They live out their sentences in a solid and confined box, where their only interaction is with themselves. Gopnik implies that the general populace is hypocritical to the fact that prison is a cruelty in itself. The citizens of the the United States preach moral equality and the wrongdoings of their government, yet they fail to realize the horrors that occur when trapped in a cell the size of your bathroom. The article makes great points against the criminal- justice system and their cruel punishment towards prisoners, but the author has failed to persuade me because although their current state in the system might be wrong, it doesn 't take from the fact that they are convicted felons who need to do their time, even if
A ten-point method for reducing the overcrowding in the prisons all over the world, these points are1:
Does it make sense to lock up 2.4 million people on any given day, giving the U.S the highest incarceration rate in the world. More people are going to jail, this implies that people are taken to prison everyday for many facilities and many go for no reason. People go to jail and get treated the worst way as possible. This is a reason why the prison system needs to be changed. Inmates need to be treated better. The government treats prisoners as if they are nothing in this world. The U.S prison system needs to be reformed by building new and better prisons and making it more humane and fair.
The U.S. prison systems has evolved greatly in the pasts centuries in many ways, but the most critical part where it greatly improved was the security of the facilities, the inmate treatment, and the construction of the building of how stable it is.The first and most important is the security. A prison system has to have a strict security system because without it prisoners can do whatever they want. So, they developed a security system where there are five levels: the higher the level is the stronger it is. Not all prisons do the same security because different buildings mean different levels. Prison cells have changed in the past couple years to withstand rust or mold from disturbing or breaking the iron bars. The second most important improvement was the treatment of inmates/prisoners. The prisoners have changed a lot in the past century or so because they have developed a new way for entertainment or pleasure. That was sexual humiliation of what the prisoners did to each other. Other than pleasure they have gotten more dangerous because in prison, criminals have records that have skulls or stars that show how dangerous they are. The more skulls, the more dangerous a prisoner is. Since criminals have gotten more dangerous the guards’ weapons have gotten more advanced with stun guns, dogs, or batons. The third and final important point in the prison system is how strong the building is. The building is larger so they can put more prisoners; the bigger the building, the harder it is to escape. The bigger the better but it wouldn’t matter because it depends on how strong the buildings is. So they made the buildings mold, rust and physical resistance from the inside or outside. Other improvements they have made is non-combustible concrete walls, roofs and floors that do not produce smoke or toxic fumes which prevents anything from happening in or outside of the building. The U.S. prisons have developed a lot in the century in security system, inmate treatment, and
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. This section also shows the demographics, state policies, and the rising costs of overcrowding. The website provides a section about possible solutions to the problem. This section has articles about changes to the courts and states that could help solve the problem. The website also offers case studies and news