Essay about America’s Prisons and Their Effects On 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"

America has a major problem with overcrowding in its prisons, and action needs to be taken. Since 1970, the inmate population in the United States has increased over 700%, far greater than the general population as a whole. This has led to declining quality of life within the prison system including 8th Amendment violations and it represents a needless drain on state finances. There is simply no value in keeping non-violent convicts in the prison system, sometimes for years. The costs are high, and there is very little benefit to America. The justice system needs to be overhauled to relieve the massive crowding in US prisons.

Corrections are an important part of the criminal justice system and they work in concert with law enforcement and the courts. Citizens in the United States expect criminals to be monitored, with some in secured facilities, so they will not fear of becoming continual victim of crime. To illustrate this expectation further, there are 2.5 million individuals on probation or parole and 1 million individuals in jails or prisons (Morris & Tonry, 2013, p. 370). However, does every individual confined in jails and prisons still need to be there or is there a better way to deal with certain special prison populations? Due to the large number of prisoners within the correctional system, certain special populations of inmates do not receive the rehabilitation or care needed to successfully reintegrate back into society. Additionally, these special populations create an undue burden on the correctional system in terms of financial costs associated with their confinement. There are changes that can be made to the criminal justice system to accommodate special populations of inmates. This paper will explore the alternative

As of the end of 2015, there were 1,526,800 prisoners in the United States being held in state or federal correctional facilities. Every year, thousands of people are released from jail or prison. Most people who are incarcerated today will eventually be released. Most of these individuals return to a life of freedom without the skills they need to survive. Recidivism rates suggest that many of these individuals will re-offend within six months of release, and most will reoffend within three years. This is not because they’re bad people; it’s because they are trying to thrive in a system that sets them up to fail.

The United States prison system struggles eminently with keeping offenders out of prison after being released. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than third of all prisoners who were arrested within five years of released were arrested within six months after release, with more than half arrested by the end of the year (Hughes, Wilson, & Beck, 2001). Among prisoners released in 2005 in 23 states with available data on inmates returned to prison, about half (55 percent) had either a parole or probation violation or an arrest for a new offense within three years that led to imprisonment (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). Why are there many ex-offenders going back to prison within the first five years of release? Are there not enough resources to help offenders before or/and after being released from prison.

Since the 1970s, America’s prison population rate has risen 700%. Despite the U.S. comprising only 5% of the world’s population, it is the largest jailer with 25% of the world’s prison population with one in 99 adults in prison and one in 31 under some type of correctional control (Mass Incarceration Problems, 2014, p. 1). According to 2013 data, 2.2 million are currently incarcerated in U.S. prisons or jails (Incarceration, 2013, para. 1), a figure that indicates a rising problem with prison overcrowding. While prison overcrowding increases the economic burdens on local and state governments, common factors leading to the high prison population is linked to the need for improved juvenile programs that deter criminal behavior and fund for rehabilitation for reentry into mainstream society. With effective programs to deter juvenile crime and to aid in offender reentry coupled with sentencing reforms, overcrowding in the nation’s prisons would decline.

The transportation system that brought convicts into America was born out of new types and record levels of crime in England. (pg. 6) The crowded streets and overcrowding of the cities added to the increase in crime. England’s law enforcement and criminal justice system were ill-equipped to handle the dramatic increase in crimes committed in the city. The English penal system was in such a state of instability that new solutions had to be found for the increasing numbers of felons. The city jails were so unhealthy and disease-ridden, that many inmates died. The localities also lacked sufficient funds to care for the convicts in the already overcrowded prisons. Instead of spending money for more jails in order to accommodate more prisoners,

Within this paper, you will find a comprehensive review of the United States prison system, and why it needs to analyzed to better support and reform the people of this country. I plan to persuade the other side (politicians and society) into seeing that the way the prison system is now, is not ethical nor economical and it must change. We have one of the world’s largest prison population, but also a very high rate of recidivism. Recidivism is when the prisoners continuously return to prison without being reformed. They return for the same things that they were doing before. So, this leads us to ask what exactly are we doing wrong? When this happens, we as a nation must continuously pay to house and feed these inmates. The purpose of a prison needs to be examined so we can decide if we really are reforming our inmates, or just continuing a vicious cycle. What is the true purpose of prison besides just holding them in a cell? There must be more we can do for these hopeless members of society.

Due to the general American mentality toward justice – which is largely retributive and not restorative, particularly for heinous crimes like murder – these changes would likely be best implemented in cases where the crimes are less severe. People who have been convicted of theft, arson, drug charges, and other minor offenses stand the best chance of being rehabilitated. To throw these nonviolent individuals into prisons with more serious offenders, and potentially with subhuman conditions, may lead to them becoming violent. At the very least, they are more likely to reoffend. Though an extreme case, Miami’s “mega-jail” houses 7,000 inmates, and most of them are on remand for relatively minor offenses – and yet the atmosphere is extremely violent (Theroux, 2011). If we can cut down on these instances through changes geared towards restorative justice, we stand a

Fixing The System Our prison system is highly populated with what our system considers “dangerous criminals”. This system has multiple flaws, mainly ethical and moral flaws that make me question the movies of humans. Most of the time the offenders are arrested for nonviolent crimes such as possession of drugs or intent to sell them. These people are sent to pay multiple years for a simple crime, too much time for a non violent crime in my opinion.

When a prisoner is released, he or she must establish a new life. Whether the prisoner’s new life is good or bad, it is up to him/her to end up where he/she wants to be. As prisoners are released to society, they begin their lives by finding a job. However, they might not be possible due to their criminal record. They might appear dangerous or a threat, because of their criminal record, when in reality they just made a few mistakes. According to Tyjen Tsai and Paola Scommegna, writers for the Population Reference Bureau, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world! This is caused by severe sentences for petty crimes such as shoplifting and loitering. The purpose of prisons is to rehabilitate and educate the public about braking the law, yet many prisoners’ crimes are not met with equal sentences but too severe. America has high incarceration rates because of laws making it easy to get into prison, poor rehabilitation programs, and for the incarceration of people whom should not be.

As much as I would like to agree with harsh punishment, these inmates will land a spot back into our communities once their sentence is up. Knowing that these criminals are reentering our communities with a more rage and violence, because of the psychological damage, is terrifying for our communities. Reducing violence should be the primary goal of our prison system. Our personal justice should not be so wrapped around our current victims that we choose to ignore the victims that we create in the future. Sending someone to prison will never undo the crime that has been previously committed. Instead of creating some subconscious feeling that justice will be served behind bars we should take precedence over preventing a much bigger epidemic within our

Prisons and jails are both referred to as incarcerations. A prison is where people get physically confined and lack personal freedom, and also those awaiting trails and those serving a term exceeding one year are confined here, while a jail is where inmates are housed prior to their trials on local level and those serving a term of one year or less. The society is protected from the offenders by them being confined in prisons, where their behaviors can be monitored, or they can be placed in community-based facilities which are secured and also offer an opportunity for the prisoners to acquire skills and knowledge through work related activities. The jail on the other hand serves the purpose of detaining law offenders of which they shall

Prisons are vital in multiple ways because they contain some of the country’s most dangerous criminals. While prison put people at ease knowing that offenders are serving time for their crime. It also runs the risk of making an offender who is non-violent prior to incarceration extremely violent once their time has been served.

Prisons are there to keep convicted wrongdoers from the society, with the aim of punishing and correcting them. Johnson (2005) outlines forms of punishment, and identifies imprisonment as one of the most complex form of punishment. Imprisonment affects the prisoner’s material possession because they can do little to earn themselves while under incarceration, and they may end up losing their jobs and livelihood. The prisoner is also affected psychologically as he or she is under the control of the state. The jailing attacks the psyche by attempts at reformation, leading to mental deterioration that occur due to the negative environment of prisons. At the same time, imprisonment may lead into physical harm, as most prisons across the world are known to house quite violent individuals. Given this, there are other more lenient ways of correcting individuals. This is by offering probation to prisoners who are not considered to be serious offenders or who do not have a long history in crime. Additionally, this option is much cheaper and reduces the amount the state spends on keeping the prisoners behind bars.