Why is prison overcrowding a growing concern in the US - Research Paper Example

The challenge is costing tax payers more money, in US, there are many people behind bars than any other country in the world. According to current statistics by Wagner and Sakala (2014), it is estimated that between 1.4 million to 2 million people in US are in prison. The numbers of people released in jails inclusive of local jails are approximately 688,000. Collection of all information provides a clear perspective of number of prisoners in United States. According to the authors, the U.S. hold 2.

4 million people in all states prisons including 1719 states prisons, 2259 juvenile correctional centers, 79 Indian jails, 102 federal confinements, military, immigration and civil confinements. Crowding of correctional facilities is quite significant to prisoners, tax payers and the officials working in confinement centers. An analysis of the topic is important, measures taken to correct problems arising from crowding or overcrowding of state prison can only be done by a study of the topic. This makes it quite significant to every citizen in US.

They provide views on how to tackle such difficulties. The crowding effect in US correctional facilities started in early the 1980s due to an increase in criminal activities such as drug use. The war on drugs with tough policies increased the number of inmates in the U.S. Research shows that the U.S. has the highest number of inmates in the world; they are currently higher than prisoners held in Russian and South Africa. Prisons in the southern part of the United States have more inmates that any other region.

The state of Alabama contains the highest number of prisoners than any other state. Despite the highest number of prisoners held in Alabama, they also have small number of staff. However, federal prisons in the U.S. saw a decline in the number of admission of prisoners in 2009. There was an increase of prisoners by 430%, which saw the number of prisoners rising from 294,000 to