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American prison system
Overcrowding Of Prisons
Overcrowding Of Prisons
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Is the American Prison System Inhumane? Absolutely. It is badly overcrowded that they have to be sent to some other prison do to that overcrowding. Also, something that people should remember is that not everyone in jail has been convicted; many are awaiting trial or some are trying to immigrate to the US and are being held until their case can be reviewed.
Also the American prison is inhumane because it’s also underfunded and the prisoners have to face inhumane and unsanitary conditions, such as lack of clean water.US prisons are breeding ground for violence. I think these places are supposed to improve inmates into law abiding people. Instead of doing this they turn even the harmless criminals into the most violent ones. One man is sentenced
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I have a great deal of thanks for those who have put their safety on the line to control inmates. However, I also believe they have much to do with the violent outbreaks. For some officers, this position is like a power trip. While there are many honorable officers, you can tell they love the future of the inmates riding in their hands. I have witnessed first hand CO’s getting inmates all wired up knowing the inmate will get themselves in trouble. Often these officers act just as childish as the prisoners! The only difference is the uniforms they’re wearing. The requirements to become a correctional officer is to provide security and to enforce the rules, not to contribute to the …show more content…
Instead of providing a place where segregation is at a minimum, prisons all across America are dealing with gang violence and race issues. These issues are known as “Prison Politics” to some. No matter who you are, or where you’re from, when entering prison you become identified by your skin tone. The level of gangs and cultural groups are so high, that often inmates have no choice but to follow the crowd. Sure, they could choose not to cooperate in the gang life, but where does that leave them? Then they will become the targets with no defense. The pressure to become accepted is so important in prison survival, that some inmates will throw away their morals just to protect themselves. Prison officials often condone the promotion of racial segregation. If one person of a specific race was found suspicious, they have the right to lock down every person of the same nationality. They often bunk same races together to cut down the risk of altercations. This is probably for the best at the time being, but it makes you wonder why they don’t attempt to do something about gang involvement. You hear about classes on drug intervention, schooling, and religion. Why don’t they have a class on racial acceptance? I’m sure it wouldn’t convert the beliefs of many inmates, but it would at least show some effort to bring down the segregation
When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.
The way correction officers are treated in prison is dreadful. “A corrections officer was seriously burned Monday morning in an attack by an inmate at the Green Bay Correctional Institution” (Roberts, 2016). This topic interest me because most of my life my brother has described the working conditions of correction officers in prison. I remember him telling me how one officer had his finger bitten off by an inmate. Correction officers are the guards who work in prison to enforce prisoners, so that inmates do not find themselves constantly in trouble. In addition, the officers ensure inmates’ safety. Despite the fact that the officers want to secure the inmate 's safety, people are unaware of the hardships officers face every day. A great deal of the rigorous challenges guards go through are never mentioned on the news or make it to newspapers. Correction officers are rarely mentioned within society, even though they are a huge part of the law enforcement. There is a
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for a number of reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. The ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system is caused by mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism.
Furthermore, when our offenders reach prison, they are escorted to a room where they are stripped of all outside clothing, searched and given a prison suit. Next they are then taken to their cell, whether it is by themselves or bunking with one or more prison mates. Depending on the time of the day they enter, they will then be taken to the next meal, then afterwards maybe they return back to their cell or they have an activity of some sort. They get to sleep on a bunk, oftentimes, have a toilet and a sink in their rooms sometimes, and get to have pictures, buy from the canteen where they can buy anything from cigarettes to magazines, to even personal TVs or radios. Anything to make their life comfortable while they are there. Meanwhile, there are those in the US who work hard, never commit crimes,
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones” (Nelson Mandela, 1994). The United States of America has more people behind bars than any other country on the planet. The prisons are at over double capacity. It cost a lot of money to house prisoners each year. A large number of the prisoners are there because of drug related offenses. There are prisoners who have been sent to prison for life for marijuana related drug offenses. Many prisoners have been exonerated after spending many years behind bars due to the corruption in our legal system. 32 States in United States of America still execute prisoners even though there is no evidence to suggest that capital punishment is a deterrent. Prison reform is needed in America starting at the legal system and then ending the death penalty.
Well I am for the idea of prison, but I don't support the way our prisons in North America are being run. These people deserve to be punished! I don't want them to waste our money, get "paid" for television interviews, book rights and all the other goodies that come from doing a crime. And then slapped on the hand saying: "You be a good boy/girl now" and sent them off to a place we call prison, but in reality, some of the prisoners, find prison to be just like a strict camp. I have personally talked to some people who had gotten out of prison a few weeks prior to our talk, and they where telling me how they learned how to make certain crafts, learn how to sow, and many other things.
It is not a coincidence that the majority of people in the correctional system are black, but there is the hope that through the knowledge and respect of one another those grievous acts that divide people into skin color, race, ethnicity, and religion can find a common ground. Common ground as in laws that everyone can agree on, not just what the majority decrees as being justice. There isn’t any government that can achieve this because of the seemingly infinite amount of strife in the world which causes people to become refugees and flee to strange countries. The only way that I can perceive the extinction of unconscious racism is the development of science which can prevent hardships. A common enemy has historically been known to bring people together, whether that enemy is a shortage of food or lack of resources, the most basic needs of freedom and liberty bind all men together with a goal in a positive direction.
I totally agreed with John because from what I see in the world right now, the world is getting more and more corrupted; not just adults are doing drugs and committing crimes but also young teenagers. According to an online article Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2016 written by Peter Wagner, from the prison data of 2016, Wagner states that “ almost half a million people are locked up because of a drug offense”. Therefore , due drug offense in the United State, that’s why the prison population in the United State is so high. As for poor health care system, in the book Correctional Health Care: Guideline for the Management of an Adequate Delivery, It proves that jail in the United State have the worst health care system. In two- third of the jails, the only medical facility within the jail itself is first aid. On the regular basic, physicians were not available even on an on call basis. Also resources for handling medical issues are limited. So there is not much prisoners can do if they get injured or hurt. As for living condition in prison, jails and prisons lacks the facilities necessary to handle inmate’s health care needs and not only that the living conditions are very poor and cramp. Referring back to the video that John Oliver discuss, when the solitary confinement ask the prison director a question, with long thoughts he finally says, “ It’s ten by seven”. Comparing that to a ping pong table like John said, it’s not that
Overcrowding of prisons due to mass incarceration is among one of the biggest problems in America, mass incarceration has ruined many families and lives over the years.America has the highest prison population rate , over the past forty years from 1984 until 2014 that number has grown by four hundred percent .America has four percent of the world population ,but twenty-five percent of the world population of incarcerated people Forty one percent of American juveniles have been or going to be arrested before the age of 23. America has been experimenting with incarceration as a way of showing that they are tough on crime but it actually it just show that they are tough on criminals. imprisonment was put in place to punish, criminals, protect society and rehabilitate criminals for their return into the society .
In the essay "Prison "Reform" in America," Roger T. Pray points out the much attention that has been devoted to research to help prevent crimes. Showing criminals the errors of their ways not by brutal punishment, but by locking them up in the attempt to reform them. Robert Pray, who is a prison psychologist, is currently a researcher with the Utah Dept. of Corrections. He has seen what has become of our prison system and easily shows us that there is really no such thing as "Prison Reform"
Even though prisons have such a hard effect on correctional officers some may argue that they should not be complaining about their job. Correctional officers chose their job so they cannot complain about the conditions they endure. Some correctional officers join prisons to be correctional officers so they can get their bottled up anger out and let it out on the prisoners. Correctional officers like this are creating a harsh environment for the prisoners for no reason. Prisoners already have to deal with overcrowding problems and terrible food so if correctional officers lash out on them and beat them up it creates more of a harsh environment. This can affect prisoners psychological wellbeing more than correctional officers since they have to be in prison 24/7. Correctional officers are not properly trained therefore they are not entirely ready to deal with prisoners and the environment of the prison. This can create a worse environment for the prisoners because they will not know how to handle the prisoners
Throughout history into today, there have been many problems with our prison system. Prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, rape rates are off the charts, and we as Americans have no idea how to fix it. We need to have shorter sentences and try to rehabilitate prisoners back to where they can function in society. Many prisoners barely have a high school education and do not receive further education in jail. Guards need to pay more attention to the well being of the inmates and start to notice signs of abuse and address them. These are just a few of the many problems in our prison systems that need to be addressed.
America prides itself in treated all individuals humanely and fairly, and even one person under force suffering is against what America stands for. America should never justify torture based on our beliefs we were built on. Bruce Anderson says, “A man can retain his human dignity in front of a firing squad or on the scaffold: not in a torture chamber. Torturers set out to break their victim: to take human being and reduce him to a whimpering wreck” (Anderson 1). America does not believe in breaking someone down, but rather build them up. When an American messes up, in jail we continue to build them up. We help them get a college degree, try to work some of their unwanted qualities out, and give them the opportunities to better themselves. America is supposed to be the leader and teach the world that torture is not the answer. That is why nearly a quarter of American people believe torture should never be used of justified (ProQuest 2). Americans still hold the core values that this beautiful country was built
America locks up five times more of its' population than any other nation in the world. Due to prison overcrowding, prisoners are currently sleeping on floors, in tents, in converted broom closets and gymnasiums, or even in double or triple bunks in cells, which were designed for one inmate. Why is this happening? The U.S. Judicial System has become so succumbed to the ideal that Imprisonment is the most visibly form of punishment. The current structure of this system is failing terribly. To take people, strip them of their possessions and privacy, expose them to violence on a daily basis, restrict their quality of life to a 5x7ft cell, and deprive them of any meaning to live. This scenario is a standard form of punishment for violent offenders, although not suitable for nonviolent offenders.
Firstly, in order to gain a better understanding of the problems that plague our correctional system we must fully understand the enormous overcrowding problem that exists in the majority of state and federal prisons. Since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled and only the numbers continue to rise (Schmalleger, 2012).To help reduce the overcrowding problem within our prisons, taxpayers have funded 102 new correctional facilities since 1980 (Shelden, 1999).... ... middle of paper ... ... Offenders that are incarcerated within the prison quickly find a group of people commonly associated with their ethnic groups to establish a rapport with.