Prison Overcrowding Research Paper

Leah Webster

Ms. Weaver

Rhetoric II

16 April, 2015

How Many is Too Many? Prison overcrowding is a huge problem within the United States and needs to be handled as soon as possible. Overcrowding in these facilities not only affects prisoners, but United States citizens as well. Most people are aware of this fact, however, not everyone knows about the actual effects of it and what can be done to solve this problem. What exactly does overcrowding do to prisoners and what solutions could be used to cease the problem once and for all. Although they keeps dangerous criminals off the streets, prisons are too crowded and need to be fixed soon because of the harmful effects it brings to the detainees inside the facility including increased violence,

Guards were held hostage by the prisoners for four days and by the end, ten of the guards were killed. The cause for these violent acts was that the prisoners wanted better living conditions and more healthcare due to the fact that this specific prison was extremely overcrowded and uncomfortable (Thompson, 1). This is just one example of how overcrowding can affect others in an extremely negative way. In the article “Everything Revolves around Overcrowding: The State of California’s Prisons”, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger realizes how dangerous overcrowding is and how it makes a big impact on not just prisoners, but innocent civilians as well. He claims that “overcrowding creates an increased, substantial risk of violence and tight quarters create line-of-sight problems for correctional officers by blocking views, creating an increased, substantial security risk” (Spector 194). He concludes his statements by saying that this overcrowding needs to be stopped to “prevent death and harm to prisoners in overcrowded prisons” (Spector 195). Another claim that is made is from the article “Home Truths about Prison Overcrowding” written by Alonzo Cobb. This author speaks on how overcrowding doesn’t necessarily cause riots and fights directly, however there is a connection between the two. This problem of congested facilities results in “an increase in the level of prison violence, including rape,

In 1995, Californian Prisoners sued the California government and governor for “violating their rights under the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause because they were being deprived of adequate health care” (Spector 194). The prisoners claimed that if anyone had an illness, they were ignored by the guards and untreated (Spector 195). One quote that stood out is “Severe overcrowding makes the safe operation of a prison system nearly impossible” (Spector 194). Impossible is a strong word which leads to believing that the problem is worse than put out to be. Prisoner healthcare in overcrowded facilities is a huge problem, hygiene being a big one. Alonzo Cobb, author of “Home Truths about Prison Overcrowding”, talks on how the prison he was in at the time of writing the article only had one bar of soap to wash everything. “We prisoners have to wash our underwear, shirts, and pants, as well as our bodies, with this one bar of soap that we receive weekly” (Cobb 76). Cobb also speaks on the shortage of toilets within the prison and how some inmates do their business right there in the cell with other inmates around due to the fact that there are no available toilets in the cells themselves. In most southern prisons, hygiene is not really paid much attention to by the guards and workers (Cobb 76-77). Another major problematic result from overcrowding is the food within