Female Prison Overcrowding

Another growing concern contributing to correctional overcrowding, is the growing ethnic population within prisons. In fact, inquiries has found that the war on crime was in reality a governmental scheme to excuse white fears and criticisms over civil rights issues (Beckett, 1997). Furthermore, these strategies were used to control a group believed to be a threat to the public. In fact, additional theories of racial threats described that whites tend to feel endangered by the existence of African American’s and have a habit of responding to their attendance with added retaliatory correctional policies (Jackson, 1999). It has even been found that the presence of more minorities and less whites have resulted in increased spending on corrections

nationally resulting in the disproportion of race and class within correctional facilities (Jacob and Helms, 1999). Because of this, the United States has spent more time accumulating penalties for offences which have resulted in the increase of mass incarceration.
An additional concern that is contributing to the problem of prison overcrowding, is the increased rates of suicide taking place within female prisons.

Currently, suicide rates inside of female prisons have surpassed the rates of suicide within male prisons and even within the general female population. And understanding that this is a major concern, minimum progress has been made in the disciplinary policies regarding female offenders, even after knowing that females are more vulnerable than men to have the ability to withstand the harshness of living within a prison setting (Sharkey, 2010). To show this, the population within female correctional facilities has increased significantly within the last decade from 1,998 offenders in 1995 to over 4,392 offenders in 2006 (Prison Reform Trust,

2006).
At this time, there are few studies that have researched the association between overcrowding and suicide. But for those that have, they have brought to light a growing concern within female correctional facilities (Sharkey, 2010). A recent study compared 20 male and female prisons that displayed the highest levels of suicide against 15 male and female prisons that had lower levels of suicide. Results found that the occurrence of overcrowding was one of several variables amongst the facilities that created additional strain. Findings revealed that overcrowding was linked to increased rates of suicide and that current government procedures to minimize the occurrence of overcrowding by developing additional facilities does not attack the issue of overcrowding within female prisons (Sharkey, 2010).
The issue of overcrowding can increase the effects of imprisonment by proliferating uncertainty.

This is frequently done by rearranging prisoners to other cells or by pushing individuals to share cells with people who may fear one another (Sharkey, 2010). On the contrary, the problem of overcrowding creates a louder living environment, continuous commotion within the facility and even infringement of personal space. Overcrowding can also inhibit inmates in engaging in activities, receiving medical care or even hinder the ability of obtaining assistance when needed, which only increases the likelihood of producing additional tension, anger and the likelihood of suicide (Sharkey, 2010). The additional stress of overcrowding also contributed to increased suicidal thoughts and their loss of independence.

Nobody denies that overcrowding affects not only a few inmates, but instead the prison as a whole. As previously mentioned, overcrowding creates increased levels of psychiatric and mental health issues, increased rates of medical issues in addition to the likelihood of repeating crimes. The probability for inmates to participating in cognitive behavior therapy and other rehabilitative programs are also diminished. This inability of available resources can create numerous frustrations such as personal limitations and conflicts that can lead to violence and

self-infliction.
One final issue relating to overcrowding is the misclassification of offenders. Being inaccurately misclassified, allows for inmates to be categorized in a way which may not be accurate. As a result, proper care is neglected and biases may developed towards the individual which further hinders the chance for accurate rehabilitation. Overcrowding is an issue that has the power to affect so many other areas.