The Controversial Issue Of Prison Overcrowding

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My topic is Overcrowding in Prison Overcrowding has been a Controversial issue because it is unhealthy for the prisoners it starts fights more of a constant issue for the prison guards. Prison overcrowding is a problem because it’s dangerous to the guards. This essay is about the pros and cons of Prison Overcrowding. This paragraph is the cons of overcrowding. “Prisoners in overcrowded correctional settings interact with more unfamiliar people, under extremely close quarters that afford little or no privacy or respite”(Overcrowding in American Prisons Is Inhumane Gale).
Overcrowded prisons pose threat to their prisoners basic human needs. “Unidentified and untreated mentally ill prisoners in mainline prison populations not only are more likely …show more content…

“The federal prison system has been unable to keep pace with the stream of inmates flooding its facilities over the last five years despite adding space for thousands of new convicts, according to a government report”(Overcrowding In Federal Prisons Harms Inmates, Guards: GAO Report Michael McLaughlin). Prisons are having more trouble putting the prisoners in the system. “With more prisoners confined to limited spaces, prison officials are forced to cut back the time inmates have in the cafeteria, recreation yards and television rooms. Two and three inmates are bunked in rooms designed for one prisoner or in common areas that were never meant to be used as cells” (Overcrowding In Federal Prisons Harms Inmates, Guards: GAO Report Michael McLaughlin). More prisons are being moved to the non proper living confinedmits.“The department isn't providing services for drug treatment, vocational training, education, health care or the litany of other services required by women of color and poor people of all races in California's women's prisons, and there's no blueprint to do so under this plan”(CON / On Solutions for Prison Overcrowding / More prisons or better prisons? / Sent home should mean sent home Cassandra Shaylor, Ari Wohlfeiler). Prisons are not giving medison the sick prisoners or giving them personal …show more content…

“In 2011, prisoners in California began filing lawsuits after prison populations reached such high numbers that violence and mental health issues were spiking. According to lawyers in the cases, mentally ill prisoners were being found ‘hanged to death in holding tanks where observation windows are obscured with smeared feces, and discovered catatonic in pools of their own urine after spending nights in locked cages’”(When Prison Overcrowding Becomes Cruel and Unusual Punishment Caitlin Curley) prison guards are mistreating prisoners by letting prison gangs betup. “The study, released this week, concludes that the federal government could save billions and significantly ease the overcrowding crisis by adopting strategies that include cutting fixed sentences for drug offenses in half, retroactively applying a law that lessens the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences, and offering early-release credits to inmates who participate in programs designed to keep them from committing new crimes after they’re released” (10 Ways To Reduce Prison Overcrowding And Save Taxpayers Millions Saki Knafo). Prisons are making the taxpayers money for stuff not needed for keeping their prisoners. “The number of state inmates has tripled since 1982 to 23,122, so outstripping the capacity of state prisons that 4,000 of the state inmates have had to be housed in county jails. As a result, county jails, intended for inmates convicted of

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