Prison Overcrowding: Arizona's Mandatory Sentencing System

The officers tend to create what is known as a “we/they syndrome”(Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). This relationship is mainly between the officers and the inmates. Also, it has been said that “when there is little interaction except in control situations, the adversarial nature of the relationship tends to be one of dominance and, in return, resistance is present on both sides”(Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). Last but not least, the officers tend to lose their capacity and become shocked by the things they see or witness in these type of prisons”(Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). “Over time it destroys them psychologically and brings outrage and sadism and violence and brutality”(Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015).

Now, as I had previously mentioned, the term "mass incarceration" was coined in the 70's to describe the beginning of an era in which people are arrested in dramatically high numbers. During former US president Richard Nixon's time in office, he took on the war on crime and the war on drugs. Which at first glance looks like a positive thing but once you dive deeper into what his real motives are, it's rather eye opening. Let's start with the war on crime. During this time you had the black panthers who were people fighting for civil rights, people who were fighting for women's rights, and people who were fighting for gay rights.

It has led to a rise in the recidivism rates of prisoners. Recidivism refers to the repetition of criminal behavior (James, 2011). According to the United States Bureau of Justice 2010 statistics report, three-quarters of released prisoners are constantly rearrested for new crimes and more than half of these go back to prison in a period of two to three years after their release. Ex- inmates account for an approximated 19 percent of all arrests (Phelps, 2013, p.55). Criminals who return to the community are also most of the times worse off after a period of confinement than when they entered.

More people get incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes caused by mental illnesses or drug abuse (Webb, 2009) and because these people get put in regular prisons, instead of in mental health facilities or facilities to help against drug addiction, where they could be treated to further prevent crimes driven by their illness (Webb, 2009), the prisons get overfilled and cannot hold the more ‘important’ prisoners that needed to be locked away from the public. A strong link of the criminal justice process is that the system tries to keep it fair for everyone. Every defendant has the right to an attorney so they can be defended properly and fairly and “Only judges who are adequately informed about a case can effectively control the proceedings and examine evidence” (Tochilovsky, 2002) It is also important for the criminal justice system that those involved show discretion and although this is not always the case, discretion by the judges, police, etc. further ensure proper treatment of the

Western punishment doesn't just involve separation from society and living in a locked cell. This is a strong piece of evidence because it brings into question what really goes on in prisons, something which most would rather not think about. It shows how a society can condemn another’s form of punishment yet not take a step back and analyze its own. Another piece reason brought up is that prisons do not do what they were initially intended to do: retribution, specific deterrence, general deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation. Instead prisons only seem to do one thing and that is punish.

Many prisoners that suffer from mental illness are sent to supermax prisons. Therefore, in order to control their insane conduct, they are placed in dark cells, which further deteriorate their mental health conditions. In addition, the supermax prisons do not provide with self-development programs and counseling. Also, the opportunity of getting released on parole is not granted to the inmates. The life in supermax prisons is rather grueling.

At most, they are detained in special prisons with mental health facilities, yet even these programs have been proven to be insufficient, unethical, and very corrupted; it isn't uncommon to hear of stories where patients are being mistreated, secluded for extended periods of time without proper care, and removed of their basic human rights. Therefore it is fair to say that the way the current system is set up isn't to help those with mental health issues, but to imprison them despite the knowledge that their judgement is

This article written by Patrick Larmour, an inmate at High Desert State Prison, talks assiduously about the different type of “hustles” found within prison. According to Larmour “cash rules everything” even inside prison, where there is not an abundance of cash. These hustles are other ways for these inmates to earn cash. The way Larmour structures his article he separates the type of hustles that are found within the prison. The first are hustles like smuggling drugs and cellphones, selling pharmaceutical meds, making alcohol and extortion.

Many politicians, unfortunately, like to criticize a facility and automatically change the organization without knowing what’s going on. That being said, the second way life staff, supervisors and administrators could work together with politicians is by allowing them to enter the facility so they could evaluate the organization since they no way in knowing the functions by just looking at data or paperwork (Stojkovic, Kalinich and Klofas, 2008). They’ll ask for a tour throughout the prison and attempt to provide the ones in charge with advice. It’s crucial to not ignore every request, but at the same time, allow them to manipulate anyone with high authority in the facility. That last and final way politicians could play out towards the life staff, supervisors and administrators is with their expectations.

Your discussion was very interesting, frightening, and troubling to read. From the research we have conducted this week, overcrowding seems to be at the top of the list for correctional facilities throughout the country. This one factor is placing the officers that work in these facilities in danger. It’s frustrating to me that so many prisons and jails do not require any type of structure for the inmates. Without structure and overcrowded facilities, a recipe for violence is created.

Criminal Justice: We, The Rainbow Party, believe that criminal justice should be very more different. Instead of the criminals facing time in prison we think they should just go to a rehabilitation center to get treated. Some criminals do the things they do because they have a mental problem and if they are just locked in a place full of other criminals they will only be influenced more harshly and won 't get the help they need. On the other hand, being in a rehabilitation center puts them in a position to be forced to get help and go to counseling. We as a party think prison is a harsh place were a very large amount of criminals come together and either argue and gang up on others or they stay far away in fear of getting raped or hurt.

As a result of these privileges given to the inmates upon their arrival, the prisoner have no real incentive to follow the rules and regulations therefore prison officials must bribe and coerced them. A way to fix the defects of total power, prison officials should change or eliminate the reward system. Instead of providing inmates with rewards upon their arrivals at the prison, guards should use a positive reinforcement system where inmates get to enjoy certain privileges if and only if they follow the rules and regulations of the prison. Another structural defects are the inadequacies of the prison staff. Almost half of all the guards at the New Jersey State prison were temporary employees.

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”.

Many of the people targeted by police for surveillance are those who later face time in court fighting for their freedom. Statistics show that Blacks are convicted and sent to prison at a much higher rate than whites although they commit crimes at virtually the same rate. Prisons tdehumanize inmates, disconnecting and isolating them from society (Herzing).