Overcrowding

Over the past few decades the United States prisons have endured a mass influx of prisoners and are now faced with serious overcrowding issues. Many have determined that the reason behind this is due to the tough on sentencing that was incorporated a few decades ago. “The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world's population but 25 percent of its prisoners. The reasons are clear-cut and startling. Joblessness, poor education and family breakdown are all contributing factors to increases in crime that in part have fueled a rise in incarceration rates. But it is a series of draconian drug laws and mandatory sentencing laws that have resulted in a 500 percent increase in the nation's prison population over the last 30 years” (Ifill, 2010).

As a result prisons have been filled beyond their max capacity by a majority of non-violent offenders. However, not only are these prisons faced with overcrowding, but they are also receiving mass budget cuts and less support from society. This has resulted in staff cuts, depletion of resources for staff, program cuts for inmates, and insufficient medical supplies and staff for treating these inmates. All the while these inmates are stuck in large room with other inmates with nothing but an arms length of air that separates them.

This has forced corrections officers to work in an even more dangerous and hostile environment. Prison staffs must endure working inside of the warehouse like facilities where inmates are being packed and housed like animals. “In the last formal report of the jail system conducted by the Bureau of Justice, the ratio of inmates per correction officer jumped from 2.9 to 4.3. The ratio of inmates per correction officer in state and Federal correctional facilities rose from 4.6 to 4.8” (Seabrook, 2005). Inmates must face on a daily basis a very noisy cramped area where they share items, lockers, and bathrooms. Most of the time these inmates must rely on one another to watch over them while they sleep and use the restroom so that they are not physically attacked or killed. The environment in these facilities have played a large role in the mental and physical states of these inmates, and with the lack of medical care and resources are prisons are becoming a place where inmates are sent to die rather than to be rehabilitated; “The suicide rate in California's overcrowded prisons is nearly twice the national average, and one inmate dies every eight days from inadequate medical care” (Savage & Williams, 2010). We have also seen an increase in the prison violence rate; State and Federal correctional facilities report a 27% increase in inmate-on-inmate assaults and a 32% rise in inmate-on-staff attacks. These stats correspond with the reports that our prison facilities are filled beyond their maximum capacity. It has been reported that the state prisons are operating between one and 16% above capacity and Federal prisons are operating around 31% above their capacity (Seabrook, 2005).

With the mass incarcerations rates in the U.S. our prisons will continue to face this overcrowding issues that result in prison violence and only increase the budget deficits. Our corrections system really needs to be reconstructed and our intermediate sanction should really be utilized more often to help alleviate some of the overcrowding and cost that are associated with our “tough on sentencing” acts and philosophies. Over all, something needs to be done so that our prisoners can be facilitated properly and so that they can receive the proper rehabilitation they need to help prepare for reintegration with society.

Ifill, S. A. (2010, July 2). Incarceration Nation Gets a Reprieve. Retrieved November 23, 2011, from The Root : http://www.theroot.com/views/incarceration-nation-gets-reprieve

Savage, D. G., & Williams, C. J. (2010, November 29). California prison overcrowding case heads to Supreme Court. Retrieved February 23, 2011, from Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/29/nation/la-na-california-prisons-20101129

Seabrook, N. (2005, September). Prison violence on the rise. Retrieved February 23, 2011, from USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education): http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2724_134/ai_n15380394/

Idle Minds are Deadly Minds

Todd (Hyung-Rae) Tarselli, Captive

The overcrowding of prisons combined with the lack of programs and activities are causing prisoners to have unconstructive idle minds. Is the current system potentially causing more harm than good?

There are many reasons why inmates are housed in prison. Regardless of why they are housed, some type of productivity should occur. Programs and activities can help inmates by positively stimulating their minds and keeping them active, bettering their chances for success upon reentering society. However, most prisons fail to supply inmates with adequate activities or special programs. Budget cuts have restricted supplies and tools that inmates use to keep themselves constructive while serving time; causing them to focus on the hostile environment, which forces them to maintain negative brain stimulation. This has a major affect on the prisoners; emotionally, physically, and psychologically. We have heard the saying “idle minds are deadly minds”, so when we place prisoners in a kill or be killed environment without any constructive activities we are setting them up for failure.

This seems to be more than an understatement in the supermax prisons. “A prisoners mind may ‘break’ under supermaximum confinement. Critical accounts of supermaximum prisons emphasize the negative effects of solitary confinement on the mental condition of many prisoners who experience extreme states of rage, depression, or psychosis” (Rhodes, Pathological Effects, p. 1693).  Lack of constructive activities dehumanize inmates and cause them to become prisoners of their own minds. When people are placed in confined areas they must rely on themselves to be proactive and positive. However, being positive is almost impossible for most people to achieve under such stressful circumstances, especially since inmates are surrounded by nothing but violence and concrete. Most prisons have been under mass budget cuts; turning away from the rehabilitation model, heading towards the custodial model. While taking away from educational, recreational, and counseling programs available for inmates. The budget shortfalls are changing the face of the prison system. Due to the ever-growing U.S. population and lack of prison space, inmates are now being facilitated in packed prisons all over. Overcrowding is becoming a major issue within our prison system and has greatly diminished the chances for inmates to participate in productive activities. 

Todd (Hyung-Rae) Tarselli, Decompensation.

Most of our prisons have become drastically overpopulated; they are placing thousands of inmates in facilities that were meant to house hundreds. Most of these prisoners are housed in huge warehouse like environments where they have tight living conditions and no privacy. Placing inmates in these conditions have caused most of them to become hostile and under severe stress. “The opportunities for inmates to participate in self-improvement and rehabilitative programs, such as academic, employment and vocational training are curtailed. The lack of work or work opportunities leads to inmate idleness, often reinforcing the maxim that idleness breeds discontent and disruptive behavior” (John Howard Society of Alberta, 2002). When one is placed in an environment where there is constant noise and the fear of being victimized by another, it causes them to be placed under constant stress and anxiety which ultimately leads to negative effects on their psyche.

 Keeping inmates as busy as possible and allowing them the chance to participate in positive activities may help reduce the chances for inmates to think negatively, possibly saving them from giving into the environment and becoming prisoners of their own minds.

 The concept of prison is to punish people who commit acts of crime and prepare them to re-enter society. However, this seems impossible without adequate programs and activities for inmates.  It seems that with the lack of activities and programs, people are exiting prison in a worse mental state than when they entered. Is this morally justifiable for our system to be conducted this way? Or is there a solution to the issue at hand?

 

Fritner, C. (2008, January 17). Lonely Madness: The Effects of Solitary Confinement and Social Isolation on Mental and Emotional Health. Retrieved December 7, 2010, from Serendip: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1898

John Howard Society of Alberta. (2002, May). THE EFFECTS OF PRISON OVERCROWDING. Retrieved February 11, 2011, from Patrick Crusade: http://www.patrickcrusade.org/EFFECTS_OF_OVERCROWDING.html

Rhodes, L. A. (2005). Changing the Subject: Conversation in Supermax. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Vol. 20, Issue 3 , 388-411.

Rhodes, L. A. (2005). Pathological Effects of the Supermaximum Prison. American Journal of Public Health: Vol 95, No. 10 , 1692-1695.

State Of California. (2009, September 17). CDCR Reduces Offender Rehabilitation Programs. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/2009_Press_Releases/Sept_17_Programs.html