Overcrowding in prisons should not be considered cruel and unusual because they are not being harmfully affected enough for it to make a difference in their lives. This is definitely not as bad as the electric chair or other forms of cruel and unusual punishment.
The Dictionary definition of cruel and unusual punishment is “torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment that is too severe for the crime committed.” Let’s look between the lines of this definition. Deliberately means to do something on purpose. The Warden and all other prison employees are not purposely overcrowding prisons. They are actually trying to make more space by letting some people go which means that they do care, despite contrary belief. Degrading means when someone feels humiliated. Yes, maybe in prisons when it’s really crowded the prisoners privacy may be taken away, but there shouldn’t be privacy in prisons anyway. They all did something to get in there and they need to be watched at all times because they have proved to
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However, do people believe people are mentally damaged when sent to things such as church camps, or have big families? They are usually packed into rooms with multiple people and limited privacy. If parents still send their kids to camps and they return just fine how are the prisoners any different? There is no scientifically proven proof that the reason some of the prisoners are mentally unstable is due to overcrowding. It could be remorse, stress, or even just loneliness. “Expert Frank Porporino summarized some of the literature on prison affects stating ‘the evidence indicates that imprisonment is not generally or uniformly devastating’.” When even experts think that prison overcrowding is not devastating the prisoners that shows a lot. This means that not only is it not cruel and unusual, it isn’t going to change them any more than a smaller populated prison
This had a big impact on the reason why there were prison reforms. The first problem that arose when the number of prisoners increased was the fact that there were not enough tents for all of the prisoners. Since there were not enough tents many of the prisoners were “crammed into the Sibley well beyond their twelve- person capacity”(Gourley 15). The capacity of the tents were about twelve men and the generals crammed more than the limit into each tent. Each prisoner did not have enough space and this was a reason the death count was so high because people were dying while they sleep, this is why now many prisons provide beds and cells for the prisons to sleep in.
There were many prison camps used during the Civil War and they were all terrible. The prison camps during the Civil War helped claim the lives of thousands of the deaths from the Civil War, and most people don’t know how much of an impact the prison camps had on the total number of deaths throughout the Civil War. They killed thousands of soldiers on both sides, making an impact on each side’s soldier count, and adding another fear to the soldier’s head. The prison camps used during the Civil War killed as many as 56,000
According to Portland State University, “Approximately one in 35 U.S. adults are incarcerated, on parole or on probation”. B) According to Penal Reform International, “In most prison systems, prisoners do not have the minimum space requirements recommended by international standards, spending up to 23 hours of the day, if not all day, in overcrowded cells. Overcrowding can be so severe that prisoners sleep in shifts, on top of each other, share beds or tie themselves to window bars so that they can sleep while standing”. Transition to Second Main Point: Now that we have defined what prison overcrowding is, let’s identify common causes.
Considering the fact that prisoners in Alabama are brutally hurting each other in their cells, we can conclude that if prisons provided a safe environment bad
First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the
Even if you're sentenced to death, you're probably not going to get executed. That's why it's not a deterrent,”(Horn). People don't even see the death penalty as a punishment so people aren't afraid of commiting crimes. With how dangerous prisons are with overcrowding they are just costing more money for providing the medical attention the inmates need. ” There have been any number of reports about overcrowded and dangerous prisons, and while the Commission presented its conclusions and recommendations to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, it's not clear what - if anything - will come of that,”(Horn).
V. PRISON REFORMS The main part of this research paper is the reforms for the conditions of prison and make prison a better place for prisoner and make an alternative for incarceration. The prison Reform for prevention of overcrowding in prisons: A ten-point method for reducing the overcrowding in the prisons all over the world, these points are1: 1. Collect and use data to inform a rational, humane and cost-effective use of prison.
Their are around 500,000 mentally ill people that are put away in prisons and jails. In the documentary “The New Asylums”,Ohio's state prison system reveals the issues that are ongoing with mentally ill inmates. The major problem we have today is that no one is taking care of the people of these people. Most mentally ill people live by themselves with no family or friends to take care of them and they are off their medications. The mentally ill come in to prison on non violent offenses such as disturbing the peace, trespassing, etc. After leaving mental hospitals they usually end up on the streets and become homeless.
However, the death penalty reduces overcrowding, provides closure for victim’s family, and is true justice. Capital punishment can deal with overpopulated prisons in the United States. Prison overcrowding is one of the contributing factors to poor prison conditions. Its consequences can prevent prisons from fulfilling their functions as well (penalreform.org). For example, it can increase sickness among the inmates and prison guards.
In my honest opinion solitary confinement in the U.S. is not justified and only does more harm than good. Not only is it a rash punishment, but it is one of the worst kinds of psychological tortures that could be inflicted upon an inmate. Human beings are undoubtedly social creatures and without the mere contact of another person the mind decays and ultimately leads a person to anger, anxiety, and hopelessness. Psychologists also claim that solitary confinement and isolation in general also cause depression or the loss of ability to have any "feelings", cognitive disturbances, such as confused thought processes and disorientation, perceptual distortions, such as hypersensitivity to noises and smells, distortions of sensations, and hallucinations affecting all five senses, as well as paranoia and psychosis which often times involve schizophrenic type symptoms, and finally, the worst of all symptoms, being self-harm such as self-mutilation, cutting and even suicide attempts.
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.
Luxuries For Prisoners? 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.
Jacoby says that those who oppose corporal punishment may argue that it is “too degrading” or “too brutal.” Jacoby mentions that, in today’s society, incarceration is “an all-purpose punishment, suitable -- or so it would seem -- for crimes violent and nonviolent.” However, Jacoby believes that it is prison that is degrading and brutal.
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
When I think of imprisonment I think of a person being in prison for a really serious violent crime so this case wasn’t a big of a surprise. I am a person that believes that there should be many more alternatives to what most believes is meant to happen to a person that has committed a crime and believes the only method is imprisonment. The utilitarian hypothesis of discipline looks to rebuff guilty parties to encourage, or deflect, future wrongdoing. Under the utilitarian rationality, laws ought to be utilized to expand the joy of society.