Administration and Management of U.S. Prsions - Research Paper Example

? ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF U.S. PRISONS Your School of Engineering, Social Sciences, etc Number and of Instructor's Name Date of Paper ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF U.S. PRISONS Introduction The concept of punishment traces back in the history of humanity for the wrongdoings committed by an individual. It is a system that imposes a sanction or penalty to prevent commission of crimes in the future. In our world today, there are several forms of punishment being implemented in countries all over the world, including America. According to Mary Bosworth: “At the end of 2008, the U.S. was incarcerating more than 2.4 million men, women, and children in 5,000 or so custodial institutions scattered around the country. Over one and a half million (1,595,034) of these people were held under the jurisdiction of state and federal authorities serving sentences of greater than 12 months, leaving around 800,000 individuals housed in local jails, either awaiting trial, pending sentencing, or serving short-term periods of confinement of less than 12 months. Still others were incarcerated by military services or under military supervision” (Bosworth, 2010, p. 2). It can be concluded that prisons and jails play a big role in punishment while confinement is the most serious sanction being used by the courts in the U.S. Imprisonment or prison system, as a form of punishment has evolved in the U.S. and has also been adopted by other countries throughout the world. It has been regarded as a deterrent and preventive measure to lessen the crime rate. The purpose of the penalty is for the reformation of the felon. Since the U.S. does not practice death penalty or capital punishment, it is believed that convicted felons need rehabilitation, as they are subdued by a strange phenomenon which compels them to do wrong to others. Overview “It is a fact that the United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but has amassed almost a quarter of the world's prisoners. The U.S. leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. The Americans are imprisoned for crimes which include writing bad checks to the use of prohibited drugs and would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. These convicts are serving longer prison sentences compared to other prisoners from other countries around the world” (New York Times, 2008). “The United States, which has the most prisoners of any country in the world, last year recorded a largest increase in the number of people in prisons and jails since 2000, the Justice Department reported in June 2007” (Reuters 2007). Due to the fact that the number of prisoners has risen of the recent years, there has been an increase in the problems encountered by the federal government. The rise in numbers has become alarming and must be closely monitored as more criminals have emerged in the recent times. And the administration and management of the U.S. prisons have now been put into issue for criticisms on the effectiveness and financial drain it can bring to the taxpayers’ money. The result of the increase has caused economic meltdown as “Billions of public safety dollars are absorbed by prison expansion and limits the nation's ability to focus on more effective strategies to promote public safety” (Reuters). “In the current economic climate, the problem will only worsen as the federal system and many states struggle to deal with high levels of overcrowding. Even the most conscientious wardens must find it difficult to offer meaningful time out of cell, counseling, treatment, adequate care or job training” (Bosworth, 2007). According to Criminal justice experts, “the increase of the U.S. prison population is attributed the record to tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crimes rates. State or federal prisons held two-thirds of the nation's incarcerated population while local jails held the rest, according to the 2007 report by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics in” (Reuters). The convicted felons are placed in facilities to give them confinement. Facilities are scattered all over the country and some of which are the federal government, states, counties, and many individual cities which maintain their own facilities to confine convicts. These facilities are often referred as prisons and usually held in county jails. The people who are tasked to the management and administration of the prisons have a heavy load on their shoulders in as they strive to ensure that rehabilitation of the felons is achieved despite difficulty in providing them proper guidance and motivation to change for the better. “At present, the Federal Bureau of Prisons provides more progressive and humane care for Federal inmates, to professionalize the prison service, and to ensure consistent and centralized administration of the 11 Federal prisons in operation at the time. The Bureau consists of 116 institutions, 6 regional offices, a Central Office (headquarters), 2 staff training centers, and 22 community corrections offices”. (Federal Bureau of Prisons). “The regional offices and Central Office provide administrative oversight and support to Bureau facilities and community corrections offices. In turn, community corrections offices oversee residential re-entry centers and home confinement programs. An approximately 210,000 Federal offenders has been assigned under the custody and care of the Bureau. At least 82 percent of these inmates are confined in Bureau-operated facilities, while the balance is confined in secure privately managed or community-based facilities and local jails. The roles of the Bureau is to protects public safety by ensuring that Federal offenders serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure” (Federal Bureau of Prisons). Focus It has been reported that one of the reasons why crimes proliferate and criminals multiply in number is because death or capital punishment has been abolished. “Further, the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the reins of power, it is high time that U.S. may be ready to visit the logic of imprisonment and reduce reliance from it” (Bossworth, 2010). Since the number of convicted criminals increase each year in the U.S., focus must be given to the improvement of prison management and provide allowance for good conduct credits among prisoners. It is strongly recommended that the President should approve the legislative acts passed by Congress providing measures to expand the avenues to earn good credit time for the prisoners in order to improve the U.S. Federal prison system. This is just one way to improve and alleviate the condition of the present prison system, which has been said to be thickly- populated due to the increase of convicted felons each year. This is a wise decision to improve the administration and management of the prison cells. “ In comments to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in July 2008, Stephen R. Sady, Chief Deputy Federal Defender in Portland, Oregon, defined the point that "Over-incarceration of federal prisoners takes a huge societal toll: the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted; the human costs of individual freedom lost and families broken; and the redefinition of our society as one willing to incarcerate more than is necessary to accomplish legitimate goals of sentencing" (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009). Discussion The U.S. has been said to be with one of the greatest in number of prisoners and also serving longer prison sentence compared to other nations. In the light of such fact, it is highly advised that Federal Sentencing being implemented in the country should undergo major overhaul in order to alleviate the condition of the federal prison system. Incorporating changes in the prison system will ensure that money is not wasted on unreasonable maintenance and placed in better programs which will help combat the rising criminality rate. “There is no doubt that the enormous prison population of U.S. is driven in large measure by the sentencing policies, which favor incarceration over community-based alternatives or rehabilitation.  U.S. government spends enormous amounts of money keeping people in prison; the money that in many cases would be better spent treating addiction or funding community-based programs to reduce recidivism. Moreover, the federal prison population is largely made up of non-violent and low-level offenders” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009). The Federal Prison System can also take a closer look in searching for alternative penalties rather than resorting to imposing incarcerations contained in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Majority of the convicted felons are involved in drug abuse. One alternative measure is to push for the establishment of Federal Drug Courts who will handle drug cases and enact sentencing guidelines particularly applicable for drug cases. “America carries fully 25 percent of the world's prisoners with only five percent of the world's population. Approximately two thirds of those convicted felons are from the black race or Latino.  As of June 30, 2007, 2,299,116 prisoners were held in federal or state prisons or local jails and 1,528,041 were under state or federal jurisdiction. The Federal Bureau of Prisons imprisoned more than 202,000 people at the end of October 2008.  In the federal system alone, 75,865 people were sentenced in 2007, the overwhelming majority to terms of incarceration. Of those sentenced, almost 24,000 were sentenced for drug offenses, and two thirds of them received five or ten-year mandatory minimum sentences” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009). Analysis With this information on the number of drug-related cases each year, it is foreseen that the federal prison system can improve the conduct of its administration and management by focusing on the offenders with drug-related cases. Further establishing “Drug Courts and Expanding the Residential Drug Abuse Program” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009) is an alternative measure to eradicate or minimize drug-related cases in court. This will also be beneficial for drug-related felons because they are given enough attention to ensure that they rehabilitate and live good lives upon their release from confinement. It is therefore suggested that the Bureau of Prisons should review this alternatives so that putting offenders behind bars is not only option of the Bureau. “Expanding the prisoners good conduct credits” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009) will also shorten the service of sentence among prisoners, which would mean savings on the budget from the pockets of the government. With the number of prisoners held by the Bureau, millions of taxpayers’ money is spent in federal prisons and the budget spent is not put into good use. Giving good conduct credits to prisoners will motivate them to improve their behavior and conduct inside prison which will shorten their sentence and be released earlier and they get to spend the remaining years of their lives with their loved ones, rather than wasted on confinement. Some of the prisoners are also old people who have spent years of their lives serving sentence for the crimes they have committed. Another option for the Bureau is to enact a program which is applicable only to elderly prisoners’ early release. By recognizing an “Elderly Prisoners Release Program” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009) will result to reduction in the number of prisoners held by the Bureau. “To Enact a Deferred Adjudication Statute” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009) is another alternative of the Bureau. “A number of states and localities have developed programs to defer adjudication while defendants pursue drug treatment or to provide for expungement of conviction records after a period of good conduct.  In these states, prosecutors take advantage of laws that authorize diversion of offenders into probation programs, with the promise of a clear record upon successful completion” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009). Congress must frame a law or statute which will provide for the deferment of adjudication, in the event that a convicted felon has to undergo a drug-rehabilitation treatment or a medical treatment after suffering for health problems. This is a welcome measure to help cut-down the number of felons entering prison, result to saving of government funds and improve the administration and management of the Bureau. Lastly, to adopt “Sentence Reductions for Extraordinary and Compelling Circumstances” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009)” is another alternative to decrease the number of prisoners who are left under the care of the Bureau and ensure improvement in the management and administration of these facilities. Examples of "extraordinary and compelling" circumstances shall include any of the following grounds: 1. “A permanent physical or medical condition that substantially diminishes the ability of the prisoner to provide self-care within a prison environment; 2. The death or incapacitation of the prisoner's only family member capable of caring for the prisoner's minor child or children; and 3. Other factors that, alone or in combination, constitute extraordinary and compelling circumstances, with rehabilitation a factor that can only be considered in combination with others” (Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, 2009). This move shall reduce the number of prisoner by providing valid exceptional cases to justify the sentence reduction of affected convicts and thus minimize funding in the maintenance of the Bureau. Summary/ Conclusion It is undeniable that America has acknowledged that it has become one of the countries which possess the largest number of prisoners all over the world. U.S. has been regarded to lean towards mass incarceration. However, several critics have questioned the effectiveness of punitive punishment as there if difficulty in providing quality counseling, treatment, ample care and job training to convicted felons. Not only is the federal system of prison being criticized for effectiveness, more importantly is the money spent in maintaining these facilities. It is about time that U.S. government must study and consider alternative options to improve the system and find other effective measures to ensure that prisoners are rehabilitated upon release. Improving the management and administration of the existing conditions of prison must be considered by carefully studying the options in the form of allowance for incentives of good conduct to each of those who are serving sentence. “The best way to improve the current administration and management is to call for reduction in prison numbers and curbing of punitive sentiment. The prison has never lived up to our expectations, and now is the time for change” (Bosworth, 2010) References Bosworth, M. (2010). Explaining U.S. Imprisonment. USA: Sage Publications, Inc. Criminal Justice Transition Coalition. (2009) Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the next Administration and Congress. Prison Incentives and Management: Improve Prison Management by Expanding Prisoner’s Good Conduct Credits. Retrieved on May 1, 2011, from http://2009transition.org/criminaljustice/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=104 Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on May 1, 2011, from http://www.bop.gov/about/index.jsp Liptak, A. U.S. Population dwarfs that of other nations. New York Times (2008). Retrieved on May 1, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html Reuters. Number of U.S. prisoners has biggest rise in 6 years. (June 27, 2007). Retrieved on May 1, 2011, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/27/us-usa-crime-prisoners-idUSN2637053120070627 Read More