Insufficient Funding Influences Crime Rate within Prisons - Essay Example

Insufficient funding influences crime rate within prisons. Managers in correctional s face the uphill taskof running their institutions on minimal funding. This factor has contributed to the current increase of crimes within correctional facilities. Government watchdogs such as NAACP complain that prison funding has taken a toll on the countries finances. This is ironic because most prisons face finance related problems (Carlson & Garrett 42). There are five main types of crimes in prison. Prison rape: humanitarian groups have raised concerns over the increasing number of inmates reported coercion into unwilling sexual activity while in prison. Besides the violation of their constitutional rights, the victims feel that they have lost their dignity and self worth. Other issues that arise from prison rape are contraction of conditions such as HIV / AIDS which can be fatally devastating. Murder and assault: this is mostly because of hate crime in prison. When prisoners disagree, they are not likely to consult prison authorities as they prefer to settle their differences personally. Crimes are a means of exacting revenge. Weapons dealing: aside from using natural means such as physical strength to fight, assault and even murder, prisoners also use weapons. Most of the weapons they use are crude ones such as knives or improvised sharp objects. These weapons are within the prison walls or from outside the prison. Drug dealing: there is a positive correlation between drugs and crime. For prisoners arrested for drug possession and use there is still an urge to continue using drugs, this creates ready market. Through smuggling, prisoners are able to get access to money. This money funds drug deals and purchase of weapons (Møller, Gatherer, Jürgens, Stöver & Nikogosian 55). . Below are reasons why crimes occur in prison. The psychology of the inhabitants of the correctional institutes: persons in correctional institutes reside in the institution because of committing crimes. In this light, therefore, there is a likelihood of them carrying on these activities even while in prison. Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment in most cases do not see the need of being model citizens. They, therefore, perpetrate crimes at will because they are of the view that the worst that could happen to them has already happened (DeRosia & Victoria 101). Another contributing factor to this issue is public opinion. The public views prisoners as awful people incapable of reform. This kills the moral of an individual, and they do not see the need of change especially while in prison. The public and the prisoners get their influence from the media. There are one too many programs and movies that depict criminals in a negative light where they still engage in criminal activities while in prison. These criminal activities in the movies are in the pretext of survival or to outsmart the system. Prisoners consider this to be “cool” and are likely to be influenced to engage in criminal activities (DeRosia & Victoria 99). Gangs: Gangs tend to be territorial even in prison. Crimes such as murder may occur because a certain gang lost its position in the yard. Gangs are also vengeful, and feuds from outside prison may be carried on in prison. Gangs can also commit crimes in regard to their races where blacks kill whites, Mexicans kill blacks and vice versa. Examples of established prison gangs include Neta (a Hispanic gang) and the 415 KUMI (a black gang) (Carlson & Garrett 54). How inadequate finances lead to increased crime within prison. Insufficient funding results in there being few prison personnel. In most U.S prisons, the ratio of prison guards and prison personnel to prisoners is absurd. The prisoners are too many as compared to the supervisory staff. The minimal level of one on one supervision of each criminal gives the prisoners room to commit crimes. Poor staffing also slows down the reform process in regard to crime. This slow change of behavior creates room for crime to blossom in the prisons (Hassine, Bernard, McCleary & Wright 33). Low pay grade and poor, working conditions cause Prison personnel to lose moral in their work. Few individuals would prefer working with or around convicts and with “little” pay. This reduces an individual’s motivation to commit to their duty of getting rid of crime in the correctional system. Corruption and fraud in prison stems from the dissatisfaction of prison personnel owing to their claim of receiving insufficient pay. The wardens and the guards may be aware of the actions of the prisoners but ignore them because they are gaining from those activities. For instance, the 415 gang notoriously uses prison guards to instigate violence against fellow convicts. The prisoners can comfortably deal drugs, smuggle weapons in and out of prison and commit “negligible” crimes such as blackmail (Hassine, Bernard, McCleary & Wright 37). Scarce funding in the prisons contributes to substandard health care. Most if not all prisons in the U.S have a high rate of hepatitis C infections. Other health issues can be attributed to poor sanitation and diet in the prisons. These substandard living conditions do not give the prisoners ample time to reform. Studies have shown that dissatisfied persons are restless and are more likely to commit crimes as a way of venting. Bad living conditions lead to unrest, unrest leads to crime; it is a vicious cycle (Hassine, Bernard, McCleary & Wright 49). Poor and insufficient infrastructure in prisons is also as a result of meager funds. The immediate result of this situation is overcrowding. Overcrowded prisons increase the rate of hate crimes such as murder because they provide suitable breeding grounds for gangs. There is safety in numbers; some crimes such as drug dealing thrive in this mentality. The more people doing a crime the more at ease they will be (Hassine, Bernard, McCleary & Wright 64). Policies used to mitigate the problem of crimes within prison: The department of corrections affords the managers the right to move inmates from one facility to another. However, transferring an inmate from one facility to another is procedural and tasking. In this light, a convict who commits crimes in a minimum security prison can be moved to a super-max prison. This can help to keep the prisoners activities in check (Lombardo 27). Old correctional policies are effective even with the large amounts of criticisms they face. Punishment is a means of rehabilitation. Crimes in prisons can be punished by applying the solitary confinement policy. In solitary confinement, the prisoner lacks the company of fellow convicts he stays alone in an isolated room. Another form of punishment can be in the form of suctions such as no yard time. Prisoners avoid this sanction because yard time means exercise and mingling with fellow prisoners. These procedures work, but questions surface on how for instance, the former step is applicable in overcrowded prisons especially in instances where a large number of prisoners need to be isolated at the same time (Lombardo 86). The correctional facilities manger can use the parole policy to mitigate overcrowding in the facility. In instances where the convict has shown a considerable degree of reform, they can be let out. This is not only a legal move, but it is reversible in instances where the inmate misbehaves they can go back to prison. The manger will, therefore, not be liable for releasing the prisoner and the actions of the prisoner outside the prison wall if he follows correct parole procedures (Lombardo 89). Another freedom granted by the corrections department is to engage the support of NGO’s in running of prison activities. NGO’s can go as far as actively engaging in prisoner rehabilitation. This eases the work of prison wardens and guards, and they can concentrate on providing security and curbing prison crime. NGO’s can also contribute financially to the running of a prison facility. These contributions can be used to improve and increase infrastructure, healthcare and provide for the rehabilitation of the prisoners (Carlson & Garrett 72). A manager can apply the criminal liability policy. This policy dictates that all citizens should be held accountable for their criminal activities even if they are in prison. In this case, a prisoner is still accountable for their criminal actions even while in prison. Therefore, a person convicted of insurance fraud can still face murder charges for a crime they commit while in prison. On the reverse, a convict can sue a fellow convict for crimes they commit against them while in prison (Lombardo 93). Finally, a correctional manager has the capacity to conduct internal reforms as long as he does not interfere with the constitution and the regulations of the department of corrections. Using these powers, he can filter out corrupt prison personnel thereby reducing the magnitude of crime in the prison. He can commit the available prison resources to making the conditions of the prison as humane as possible. He can also organize that prisoners have a forum where they can air their complaints; this will reduce unrest in prison and to some extent reduce crime rates (Lombardo 95). Works Cited DeRosia, Victoria R. Living Inside Prison Walls: Adjustment Behavior. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Møller L., Gatherer A., Jürgens R., Stöver H., Nikogosian H. Health in prisons: a WHO guide to the essentials in prison health. Bordeaux: WHO Regional Office Europe, 2007. Lombardo, Lucien X. Guards imprisoned: correctional officers at work. Michigan: Anderson Pub. Co., 2010. Carlson P. M., Garrett J. S. Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theory. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2007. Hassine V., Bernard T. J., McCleary R., Wright R. A. Life without parole: living in prison today. Boston: Roxbury Pub, 2003. Read More