Prison Overcrowding - Essay Example

ThesisPrison overcrowding is one of the main challenges facing the United States criminal justice system. However, there are several ways that this challenge may be overcome.Body paragraphOvercrowding in prisons poses a considerable risk to the mental and physical health of inmates. Prison overcrowding can lead to airborne diseases spread such as tuberculosis and influenza.There are many reasons that led to prison overcrowding. There got a significant increase in offenders in the recent years.

The United States’ prison department has not taken the necessary steps to increase the number of beds. The rate of recidivism is high. It is difficult for an offender to adjust back into the society once he or she have completed his or her jail term (Eleese, 2004). In a number of cases, we find that the former convict repeats his or her crime and finally gets rearrested. This contributes to prison overcrowding. Some offenders also return to prison because they violate or they unsuccessfully complete their community supervision.

The penalties for certain types of offenses are now harsher. The lawmakers have also added new offenses to the penal code. This has also led to the rise of prison overcrowding.There are several ways to reduce overcrowding in prisons. A prison expansion model should be put in place by the United States criminal justice department (Eleese, 2004). They should plan to increase the number of beds whenever the population of inmates surpasses the existing capacity.A community corrections model can also help to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

The community’s main objective is to reduce crime and recidivism. The community can carry out court-ordered sanctions. It can assist the court in assessing offenders for placement in the community. The community can take part in rehabilitation of the offenders and ensure safety of the public. The people in the community could also pull their resources to fund the jails and prisons in order to facilitate rehabilitation of inmates. Also, a system of graduated penalties imposed by courts can provide supervision of the offenders, rehabilitation, restitution of victims and public safety.

There are several factors that impact the crime rate and prison population. These include poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, lack of employment opportunities, lack of education among many others (Haugen, 2009). It is the responsibility of other state services to address these issues. However, due to lack of sufficient funds, these other state devices transfer this responsibility to the criminal justice system.The criminal justice system has rolled out a 20 year “war on drugs” to help reduce the crime rate and the eventuality of prison overcrowding.

The aggressive “tough on crime” approach is a significant driving force on reducing prison overcrowding. Since the mid 90s, the criminal justice administrators, policymakers and the court have taken this approach. The legislature passed a series of laws so as to increase penalties (Alan, 2005). Furthermore, the discrepancy between a prison term imposed by the court and the precise time an inmate serves has increased the incarceration period. These laws help decrease the crime rate and prison overcrowding in the long run.

ReferencesEleese, D. (2004, February 1). Feature on Criminal Law. Law Now. Vol. 5. Haugen, D. M. (2009). Criminal Justice. Detroit: Green haven Press. Alan, K. (2005).What is causing prison overcrowding. Retrieved from www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/cjppd/./whatiscausingprisonovercrowding.pdf