Preview

Overpopulation In Prison

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
915 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Overpopulation In Prison
When society hears the words “convict” or “felon”, thoughts often take a negative route. Most of society would not want to affiliate themselves with an ex-inmate because of the stigma. People affiliate ex-inmates with people who will not better themselves, who will not gain proper employment, and who will end up back in prison. Negative thoughts on such a topic are natural since it is true in the United States; most individuals in prison will reoffend and find themselves back in prison. With prisons in the United States becoming over populated, should there be different efforts adopted by more facilities to help individuals become functioning members of society?
Daniel Reisel was sent to study the brains of clinically diagnosed psychopaths in an England prison. Although, he was studying in a separate country from the problematic United States, and not all prisoners are psychopaths, his thoughts could become helpful in prison overpopulation in the United States. Reisel explains that the criminals he studied had a deficiency in the part of the brain (Reisel, 2013). Prisons have been reforming around the world to cut overpopulation in the facilities and allow ex-inmates to become functioning members of society with different efforts put forth to rehabilitate the inmates, suggesting that with the adoption of different policies and possibly
…show more content…
It can be agreed, prisons could benefit from proper rehabilitation for inmates, so they can transition into society, without becoming a reoccurring offender. There are different measures that could be taken. If the United States would adopt more of the policies overpopulation and reoccurring offenders could be an issue in the past. If more prisons in the United States could adopt the policies, prisoners would not carry such a burden of a stigma, and begin to be treated as actual members of the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Beyond the Prison Bubble

    • 729 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Joan Petersilia in Wilson Quarterly publishes the article “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” in the Winter 2011. Petersilia explains several alternative solutions to the U.S’s overcrowded imprisonment systems. She talks about how research has come to prove that crime rates and recidivism can be decreased. Furthermore, Petersilia’s article outlines the evolution of accepting this fact, as well as developing, funding, and refining various intensive rehabilitation programs.…

    • 729 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Legitimacy of Prisons

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages

    From coast to coast in America, prisons have become a growing concern; the concern being how well prisons actually work. Over time, the amount of people being caged in our country is increasing. Right now there are approximately seven hundred fourteen out of one hundred thousand people that are imprisoned. Some may argue that prisons keep the criminals off the streets, but did they happen to think that prison is actually teaching them to become a better criminal and hardening their hearts to make them ruthless? Imagine how discharged convicts will behave after they are sent off to the streets with nothing; Nothing is emphasized because when a prisoner is released, they will have no place to go, and no money. In the future, they may lie, cheat, and steal to create a false sense of security. Criminals that are sent to prison are not learning from their mistakes; therefore the prison system does not work.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Not only has mass incarceration contributed to the depletion of economic resources, but it has also not been proven as an effective means of lowering crime rates. Our current prison system is designed to spend massive amounts of money on warehousing and punishing criminal to then just place them back into society without any of the tools needed to become a constructive member of society, thus resulting in criminal behavior to reoccur. Multiple studies conducted have manifested that “rehabilitation programs, education, therapy, and vocational training have a profound effect on not only bettering the inmate as an overall individual, but on society as well” (….) because these offenders can now become productive citizens that can add to the community.…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    America’s prison system is broken. The purpose of prison is to teach a lesson of wrongdoing. Taking away the freedoms of an individual is designed to change the behavior or at least that is the intention. However, America makes up 5% of the world population but 25% of the world’s prison population. The recidivism rate for federal prisons according to the United States Sentencing Commission is nearly half at 49.3% within 8 years of release (www.ussc.gov). That rate for state prisons is even higher 76.6% within 5 years of release according to National Institute of Justice (www.nij.gov). Tragically, the only lesson our current prison system is teaching offenders is how to become repeat offenders.…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    According to Mbuba (2012) after a person has been released, and they are labeled as a criminal, they are left with limited choices that results in them reoffending (p.232). Inmates need to learn once again what it is like to be social, they need to learn how to be in an environment where they could go as the please if they are not under parole. This does not mean that incarceration should not be used. In my opinion, incarceration should still be used. For the most violent offenders, they should be placed in maximum security, for other offenders, they can be placed in medium-security or minimum security depending on their charge. The changes that need to be made in the current system is allowing offenders the opportunity to have effective correctional intervention. There should be reentry programs that focus of the three core principles of offenders such as risk, needs, and responsivity. Which is why Listwan, Cullen and Latessa (as cited in Latessa and Holsinger, 2016) report that programs that fail to develop clear goals, plan for relapse, and use effective classification will fail ( 2006, p.…

    • 2081 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States spent $80 billion on incarceration in 2010. Imagine if they spent half as much money they spend on incarcerating people to provide rehabilitation for offenders when they are released from prison or substance abuse programs before we sentence people to prisons. Rehabilitation programs are much more cost-effective than incarceration. Intensive supervised treatment have shown to reduce recidivism 16.7% opposed to 5.7% from treatment in prison. Taking a step from incarceration to think of the other options that will do the long term goal of keeping them out of the criminal system ever again, by helping solve the problem ahead of time should be the goal not to just continue causing a permanent…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo - obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other” (Davis). The penal system was first put in place to lock away criminals and protect the community. Now it has become a space with a constant flow of visitors. Inmates are falling into the depths of their minds as they stay isolated within cells with little treatment. Their mental health becomes estranged and detached. When prisoners are released many do not see a potential future and return to their habits. They fall into a continuous cycle of release and recidivate. Increasing rates of recidivism in the American prison system is illustrative…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Overpopulation In Jails

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It is understandable that there is a need to help people with brain disorders get off the streets, but incarcerating them isn't the right way to do that. They aren't being properly cared for in those facilities. The need and want of getting the mentally ill off the streets has become so bad they are throwing them into jails and keeping them there without a good reasoning. A reasonable percentage of the population in jails and prisons is composed of mentally ill people. A study conducted in 1999 showed that almost 300,000 seriously mentally ill people are being kept in jail or prisons. The reasons for detaining the mentally challenged range from disturbing the peace and threats. Is punishing them the right thing to do? I feel that all they…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Overcrowding In Prisons

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page

    Overcrowding in prisons is not a new issue. For about 25 years, the number of people sentenced to jail far outweighs than the number of beds available. The root causes of overpopulation seem to be the changes within the legal system. With the three strikes rule, mandatory minimum sentences, and fewer opportunities for parole, incarcerated individuals are in for longer sentences than they would have been before these policies are into place. One of the new policies that are in place is a penalty of life without parole. “Previously all prisoner, after a designated period became eligible for parole, regardless of whether or not they receive a parole release. (McShane 240)”Private prisons stand to profit the most from these changes. With more…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In addition to prison being punishment, it can also be viewed as a way to rehabilitate criminals into productive members of society. Whether rehabilitation comes from being sent to a facility for mental illness to receiving medical attention or prisoners receiving an education and training to ensure their success once they are released, these kinds of programs provide prisoners with hope for the future while giving them experience and education to help them reintegrate successfully once they have completed their…

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Overcrowding In Prisons

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This paper will identify the issue of overcrowding inside of prisons. This paper will explain how prisons accommodate space for prisoners after all cells are filled. This paper will elaborate on how overcrowding inside of a prison could threaten the lives of inmates as well as officers. This paper will also analyze overcrowding inside of a prisons leading to health issues.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overcrowding In Prison

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Personally, I think the number one problem in jails/prisons are overcrowding. When a jail/prison is overcrowded it makes it much more difficult to attend to each inmate’s troubles. There are numerous inmates that from different backgrounds and ethnicities that putting them all in one area because of overcrowding there obviously be problems. According to the text one of the solutions I found to be the best was easing the eligibility criteria for paroles. This will help overcrowding by releasing some of the non violent offenders out of prisons and jails, with help of educational classes being part of their parole.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    An inmate has to be willing to participate or the chances for success are minimal. The failure or success of these programs do not lay solely with the offender. The community as a whole has to be willing to change as well. There is a stigma attached to an inmate, that they are not as good as those without a criminal history and that they are just “bad” people. With this mind set, how can a reformed inmate expect to become a productive member of society. But given the research done to date, these programs can be expected to greatly reduce the frequency of reoffending. And as more research is conducted, inmate advocacy groups will begin to have more insight into what is needed to best assist inmates, both incarcerated and released. As more offenders take part in these programs, changes will occur in numerous sectors. Crime rates will fall exponentially, incarcerations will fall and the prison and jails will begin to empty out (causing a decrease in the amount of funds needed to sustain them). As more released inmates successfully reenter the community and become productive citizens, the economy will…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Recidivism Definition

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In order to fully understand the problem one must first know what recidivism is. Recidivism is the most fundamental forms of criminal justice. “It refers to a person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime.” (National Institute of Justice) Recidivism is a problem because the same criminals that have been released are returning to a life of crime, most are rearrested. Some statistics include, within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. This is a major issue, I feel that a major way to change this would be to give these criminals a proper education, allowing them to get proper jobs. This will help them stay…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    prison overcrowding

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    State prison overcrowding has become a very detrimental problem over the last few decades. After being overlooked for so long, what we are left with is an ineffective correctional system that needs reformation. The problem has been growing, possibly even since the first correctional facility was created. As cities started to grow, there needed to be more laws. Along with more laws came more offenders. Even though prison is designed to punish criminals, it often causes the underlying goal of rehabilitation to be neglected.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays