Budget Challenges Related to Prison Systems - Term Paper Example

Introduction: The crime rate has witnessed an imperative boost in the contemporary era all over the world, which has increased the expenditures being spent on prisons and jails in order to detain the offenders behind the bars and for providing them with all the facilities described and mentioned in the statute of the prevailing law. The present study aims to discover the greatest challenges faced by the governments in respect of managing and allocating specific funds for the maintenance of prisons as well as for welfare of the prisoners, so that the criminals could be turned out as useful citizens on their relieving from the prison houses. The present study also throws light on the budgeting strategy observed by the jail staff keeping in view the growing number of prisoners in jails within the limited volume of funds they obtain from the government. Budgeting is a very important phenomenon that enjoys the status of central issue in respect of applying every policy and scheme and implementing every strategy at social, economic, political and corporate levels. Without apposite resources and their allocation in a systematic way the implementation of even the most superior and wonderful policy seems to be at stake. The same can be observed in the case of introducing reforms in prison system for the eradication of crimes from society at large. Background: Crime has aptly been regarded as a social phenomenon, which is part of all societies and cultures since ever. Consequently, societies have established the check and balance in order to combat with the crime nuisance with an iron hand. Renowned German sociologist Emile Durkheim takes crime, as normal in terms of its occurrence, and even as having positive social functions in terms of its consequences. “Where crime exists”, Durkheim observes, collective sentiments are sufficiently flexible to take on a new form, and crime sometimes helps to determine the form they will take. How many times, indeed, it is only an anticipation of future morality--a step toward what will be.” (Quoted in Coser, 1977: 139) Though criminal behavior motivates the authorities introduce reforms in society by removing injustices and inequalities, yet criminal behavior, deviancy and perversion surely damage the very foundations of a normal social establishment. It is therefore, the political system of every society looks for the observing of peace and harmony within its jurisdiction in order to protect its subjects from criminal assaults and offences, so that the affairs of state could be run in an apposite manner. Consequently, the societies introduce comprehensive penal schemes on the basis of the statutes of law approved and passed by the legislature and political authorities for the best interest of the state and public. Background and Identification of Current Challenges: The contemporary world has to combat with many challenges and issues in the aftermath of the widespread influence of globalization, which has given birth to acculturation of divergent groups within one culture. The prisons face the following main challenges in modern society: The prisons undergo the problem of overloading and congestion because of the rapid increase in incarceration of the offenders. It has created many challenges for the jail administration in respect of making proper arrangements for their stay, food, clothing, medical treatment and look after within the scarce resources and funds available in this regards. “At yearend 2008, the total incarcerated population equaled 2,424,279 inmates. The total incarcerated population comprises all inmates held in custody in state or federal public prisons, local jails, U.S. territories, military facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, jails in Indian country, and juvenile facilities.” (Retrieved from drugwarfacts.org) Amalgamation of the individuals belonging to different racial, ethnic and religious groups has accelerated the proportion of committing crimes and offences, which give birth to the hatred crimes on the basis of bias and prejudice. It is a great challenge for the jail staff to make arrangements of separate detention cells for the individuals containing divergent racial, ethnic, religious background as well as different sexual orientation and political ideas as well. Since the prisons have limited resources of keeping the offenders in detention, putting juveniles and the deviants incarcerated because of minor crimes with the habitual criminals and jail birds is really very challenging. Keeping minors and prisoners committing minor crimes in the company of habitual criminals may turn them serious offenders too, which is really a matter of grave concern for the authorities. It is generally thought that drug addiction and homosexual offence are the outcome of the detention of minors in the cells of jail birds and drug addicts. The Body: The prison system is also the part of the strategy practiced by the authorities in order to keep the criminals at a safe distance from the other members of society for some specific time i.e. from the announcement of penalties and sentences till the completion of the period of detention on the basis of the nature and severity of crime defined and determined by the court of law regarding the imprisonment of the culprits. “The fundamental objects of prison administration”, Roy argues, “are to wean the offenders away from wrong-doing in future and make his return to society safe and useful.” (1989: 44) The prevailing la vehemently recommends better treatment of the prisoners in jails so that the offenders could give up criminal attitude and behavior on their release from jails. The following steps have been taken by the government for the welfare of the prisoners: Providing the prisoners with adequate space for walking, sitting and lying in the cells Providing them with hygienic and appropriate food to keep them healthy Providing them with some character building training sessions along with the facility of worshipping according to their religious beliefs. In addition, the education facilities are also provided to the offenders incarcerated in jails. Arrangement for appropriate medical treatment on getting ill or undergoing any physical injury, so that any disability or deformity could be avoided among the prisoners Treating of all prisoners on the principles of equality and justice, without displaying any displeasure or hatred on their racial, religious and sexual orientations in the light of the provisions of the constitution. It is reality beyond suspicion that fourteenth amendment of the US constitution offers the rights on equal basis to the American citizens, born or immigrated in the USA. All citizens have rights to contest for the highest political or social position provided he is not a criminal or convict or traitor to the country. The same principle is observed in jails and prisons too, where the jail staff is not allowed to maltreat the prisoners on the foundation of his background. Concerns Related To Challenges: i. Challenge Related to Overloading in Prisons: The above discussion shows that each of the issues is highly challenging for the officials of the jails and prisons. They require in-depth analyses of the problems and should connect these problems with the available resources for the appropriate budgeting. The first challenge faced by the prison department is related to overloading of prisoners. The government should allocate more funds in the construction of new prison houses, along with constructing new detention cells in jails. In addition, the law enforcing agencies should also be provided with the best equipments and facilities, so that crimes could be decreased, discouraged and eliminated from society. The non governmental and charity organizations can also turn out to be helpful in this regards. Large number of prisoners requires sufficient proportion of prison staff, so that any perturb situation in jails could be avoided at any cost. Moreover, the fines inflicted upon the criminals should also be spent on jail department for the welfare of the prisoners. In addition, some specific amount of budget should be allocated for the education and training of the prisoners, so that they could not repeat their crimes in future, and thus jails could escape overloading and congestion. ii. Challenge Related to Discrimination in Prisons: The 9/11 catastrophe has paved the way towards the segregation of already segregated societies. The differences, clashes and conflicts in the name of racial, regional, religious, ethnic, gender and sexual orientation discrimination had already been existing for the last many centuries. Under such a precarious state of affairs, keeping the criminals belonging to divergent backgrounds and following different socio-cultural as well as religious values, together under one roof is really a hard nut to crack. “Racism within the American prison populations”, Conroy views, “is the dominant force that induces violence, sexual assault, and gang activity within every detention facility. An individual sentenced to prison desiring to pay their debt to society cannot survive in most instances without prison gang affiliations, and those gangs are organized by racial orientation. As a result, further criminal activity is necessary to gain status, and an individual without racial hatred learns the practice in daily survival traits.” (Quoted in helium.com) The government should not only allocate resources to escape racism from the prison, but must also introduce such programs and training sessions that could eliminate racial and other prejudiced thoughts from the minds of the prisoners. Moreover, the funds can also be generated through charity from different groups and communities for the welfare of their community members in jails. Furthermore, new cells can also be created to keep the members of different races and ethnic groups etc to avoid unpleasantness. iii. Challenge Related to Juveniles and Casual Offenders: The governments have established various juvenile courts in different states of the country for keeping the minor offenders in custody. Because of the scarcity of the appropriate resources, such jails cannot be made in every city. Consequently, the juveniles have to live with the mature and habitual criminals in jails. Such company of jail birds may destroy the lives and characters of the juveniles, which is really a matter of grave concern for the public at large. In addition, the prisoners incarcerated on doing minor crimes are also forced to live with the serious offenders, which may make them habitual of committing crimes. Budgeting to avoid these problems is also an important issue of modern times, which required huge amount of money for their segregation from the habitual criminals. Budgeting & Finance: First of all, the government should fix sizeable proportion of the prisons’ budget on the recruitment, training and salaries of the prisons staff, so that the brilliant staff could be hired, which could work diligently and devotedly to supervise the affairs related to prisons and prisoners. The team of competent, proficient and well-trained staff will help in minimizing crimes from society, and will never let the prisoners turn out to be habitual offenders on their release. Secondly, the noteworthy amount of budget should be reserved for the maintenance of the prison houses, so that a safe, protected and neat atmosphere could be presented. In addition, security system should also be made fool proof, so that no criminal could manage to escape from the prison house. Moreover, budgeting should be schemed in such a way that there could be spent proper money on the education, training and character building of the criminals. A refined character building system could save the society from further deviation, perversion, criminal assaults and offences. Measures should also be taken to protect the juvenile offenders from becoming victim to the exploitation of the senior criminals. It has often been observed that the juvenile become prey to the nefarious designs of the senior and adult criminals, which inflict the juveniles with homosexual offence etc and make them drug addicted too. A specific amount of budget should be reserved in prisons for the eradication of prejudice and hatred from the prisons. Moreover, money should also be reserved for the nutrition and health purposes of the prisoners. Since prisoners are on the discretion of the jail authorities, care and look after of them is the professional and moral obligation of the jail management. Appropriate budgeting and allocation of resources and energies will help out in turning the prisons from the source of evil and offences to the source of inspiration and reforms. CONCLUSION: To conclude, it becomes evident that crime is a universal phenomenon, which has given a go to the establishment of entire prisons system. The prison houses have become the stations and centers of creating habitual criminals, where unnatural offences and drug addiction are routine matters now. Comprehensive allocation of funds and their proper and just distribution is very necessary for the budgeting on the prison houses. New jails should be constructed along with the expansion of already existing ones in order to save the incarcerated individuals from becoming prey to the environment of jails and prison houses. There is an immediate need for the introduction of reforms and provision of allowances and funds for the uplift of prisoners and for protecting them from leading a shameful and humiliating life. REFERENCES: Conroy, Thom W The Effect Of Racism On American Prison Populations (Quoted in http://www.helium.com/items/1295554-the-effect-of-racism-on-american-prison-populations) Coser, Lewis A. 1977 Masters of Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical and Social Context, 2nd Ed., Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. Macionis, John J. 2007 Sociology. Eleventh Edition Pearson Prentice Hall Inc. Roy, Jaytilak Guha 1989 Prisons and society: a study of the Indian jail system Gyan Book Delhi Prisons, Jails & Probation – Overview (Quoted in http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/62) Read More