The Effects Of Prison Overcrowding

Prison overcrowding is one crucial issue that has affected very many countries, including the United States of America. It basically occurs when the available prison space is limited in relation to the demand for more prison space. This occurs due to the increase in the people who are convicted compared to the capacity of the prisons available in a given jurisdiction. Research shows that one in every one hundred American adults are detained. This number grows overtime and it reaches a point that the space cannot contain it no more. This increased in the late 80s and early 90s when the local authorities and state governments passed legislation to stand tough against crime. For instance the California’s ‘three strikes’ law calling for the incarceration

The crowding will limit the minimum amount of space that each inmate should be according. Overcrowding makes it cumbersome for the management and prison officers to handle the inmates properly leading to misconduct. Other than the prison staff, the overcrowding problem also causes some psychological effects on the prisoners. This issue has also been found to increase the rate of violence among the inmates who scramble for the limited resources and also fight for space (National Council, 2014). The internal stakeholders are the commissioner of prisons, warders and officers. The external stake holders comprise of inmate advocacy groups, courts, probation and parole officers, prosecutors and police agencies. Both the internal and external stakeholders have to work hand in hand in order to ensure that the judicial system is fair and under right

Courts give the decisions and directions on conditions for confinement, health care and legal services. The constitution has set the bar on the living conditions which the courts must uphold. Therefore in very dire situations of overcrowding, the court may be called upon to order some release. Inmate advocacy groups come out for the benefit of the prisoners by lobbying the other stakeholders to ensure that inmates are accorded the fair and human treatment that they deserve even as they serve their various