Correctional Trends In Prisons

Correctional ideologies have contributed greatly to the present correctional trends in the United States. With all of the correctional ideologies contributing in some way, some greater than others, the United States corrections has seen many problems. One such problem is the steady increase in incarceration rates. In result, the prison facilities have become overcrowded and hard to manage. As Dawe from New York City’s Department of Corrections said, “We are so understaffed and so overcrowded across our prisons, it’s miraculous that we can handle it,”(New Week Global, 2014). In fact, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, Federally-operated facilities have grown by 41% while correctional workers have only increased by 19% (New Week Global, 2014). The increase in the prison population rates is due to five contributing factors: (1) increased arrests and more likely incarceration, (2) tougher sentencing, (3) prison construction, (4) the war on drugs, and (5) state and local politics. The ideology of increased arrests rates and more likely incarceration has greatly contributed to the growing prison population. As some analysts argue that the billions spent by the federal, state, and local governments on the crime problem is “paying off” (American Corrections, 2016), some results may show otherwise. In the

These laws limit the discretion of the judge in regards to the length of sentencing. Other changes that greatly affect the prison population are due to the shift to determinate sentencing versus indeterminate sentencing. Determinate sentencing and truth-in-sentencing laws drop the release rate in prisons were indeterminate sentencing allowed inmates to serve minimum sentences, minus jail time and “good time”, with the chance of parole. Many inmates, with the use of indeterminate sentencing, were even released at their first appearance before the parole board (American Corrections,