Following the law is one of the United States' top growth ideologies, according to the country. In reality, prisons have been a priority in achieving this goal. Over the years, the U.S. government has established a broad range of legal guidelines intended to improve the state of the legal system. Prisons are highly regarded as corrective settings where offenders are subjected to the entire weight of the law. However, there are still many prisoners in the nation, which causes problems. Different people argue that these challenges are as a result of the poor policies put in place by the government whereas others argue that lack of resources has contributed to these problems. This analysis attempts to show how overcrowding in prisons has continued to affect the nation as well as possible solutions applicable by the government.
Economic and health implications of prison overcrowding prison overcrowding is considered as a serious problem based on its economic and health implications. Despite the national and international efforts to reduce these problems, the country continues to bleed from the negative effects of the overcrowding. For instance, court orders and fiscal policies continue to hinder efforts to liberate the country from overcrowding (Wotton, 4-6). Mounting pressure on prison administrations to implement changes prisons has proved to be ineffective. Prison overcrowding comes amid various arguments regarding the role of prisons.
The undefined roles of prisons
There are no definite roles of prisons hence hindering the success of the set policies. Some people argue that prisons are meant to correct inmates while others view prisons as a means of secluding the convicts from other people in society. The former argument is one of the major causes of the prison crowding. Using prisons to separate convicts from the society promotes a continuous increase in the number of prisoners in jails. This mentality affects efforts from the government and other organizations. Arguing that convicts are well separated than corrected is considered an effective strategy in disagreeing other people from committing crimes. Unfortunately, this strategy has never implications for the inmates’ population. Perceptions are not the only elements that drag prison improvement.
Policy implementations and challenges
Policy implementations are also important in reducing the number of inmates in prisons (LÖSEL 512-519). However, these policies face various problems that tend to reduce their effectiveness in reducing overcrowding. First, there are major challenges in introducing and showing prison workers how these changes are intended to work. Some of the most common changes include sentencing practices. Changes in sentencing practices ensure that sentencing is tailored to reduce the prisoners' during in jails as well as achieving the correctional objectives.
Economic and financial hardships
Secondly, economic and financial hardships are also major challenges to successful policy implementation. This challenge does not only affect the American government but also other countries experiencing prison crowding challenges. One major effect of the financial and economic challenges is deciding where to direct resources. It is always difficult to determine the right place to allocate resources due to their scarce nature. Besides, there are many bureaucracies in coming up with these policies.
Lack of coordination among decision-makers
A large number of people involved in decision-making processes regarding the policing making and implementation also disagree changes in prisons (“Overcrowding in Federal Prisons Hits Level Not Seen since Bush Administration: GAO Report”). Policy makers and implementers are forced to respect the already established boundaries among them to reduce conflict of interest. The separation of powers also leads to other normative constraints which result in ineffective planning problems, coordination, and rapid adjustments. Therefore, lack of coordination among systems is also an additional challenge to solving prison overcrowding.
Coordination among criminal justice organs
The criminal justice system lacks good coordination among its organs. For instance, those making sentencing decisions do not have a close relationship with the prison systems. In a nutshell, those people making judgments do not consider the resultant changes that may affect the prison systems.
Solutions to prison overcrowding
Well, it is evident that prison overcrowding is a major challenge that continues to dean the quality of life in prison. Therefore, stringent measures should be applied to ensure that these challenges are eradicated to all levels. Moreover, it is important to ensure that these solutions do not affect the main objective of the prisons, correction and promotion of good behavior.
Promotion of pretrial release
First, promotion of pretrial release would reduce the amount of pressure in prisons. This is the period before a suspect is convicted of committing a crime. Leaving defendants free before their conviction is important in saving resources that could have been used by the prisoners. It is always uncertain whether a suspect will be convicted of the crime they have committed or not. However, it is important to evaluate the type of allegations before releasing a suspect. Major crime suspects should be held under close monitoring whereas petty crime suspects should be left free until they are convicted of their crimes. Research has shown that it costs the United States close to seventeen billion dollars in keeping suspects behind bars before conviction (Lamb, Richard, and Weinberger 489-494).
Splitting sentences
Secondly, splitting sentences is also considered as an effective means of solving overcrowding. This strategy involves splitting sentences between inmate locking and social community policies. The social community policing involves serving sentences while the convicted person is outside the prison. This strategy may involve different limitations and denial of certain privileges. However, this strategy faces strong opposition from various groups arguing that dangerous convicts may be released back into the society causing worse effects. Therefore, assessing ones’ crimes before considering splitting their sentences is of paramount importance regarding the safeguarding of the public interests. From the analysis, it is evident that lack of coordination among the criminal justice organs has contributed to the overcrowding problems in prisons. The government should ensure that coordination is enhanced by creating a link among them. This may involve policy making and implementation. This would close the gaps experienced in the legal system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, prison overcrowding has proved to be a major menace in the prison system. This challenge reduces the scope of the prisons hence causing worse damage than correction. This analysis is clear that the reasons for these overcrowding problems range from the legal, social and economic sources. The government should ensure that policies are formulated to ensure that overcrowding is used through the use of reduced and split sentencing among other strategies. Furthermore, the government should cultivate the mentality that prisons are meant to change suspects’ behaviors rather than separating them from the society (Pelletier, Peterson & King 12-19). Secondly, the society should be equipped with sufficient information to reduce some of the most common crimes. Research has shown that ignorance also promotes the large number convicts. Failure to understand the requirements of the law is a leading cause of criminal activities among the members of society. The government should also secure more funds to finance prison systems. Increasing the number of prisons require finances as well as improving the already existing systems. Economic challenges are one of the major setbacks that drag the development efforts behind in a legal system. It is important to ensure that resources are allocated according to need rather than following historical systems to allocate the scarce resources.
Works Cited
Lamb, H. Richard, and Linda E. Weinberger. "Decarceration of US jails and prisons: where will persons with serious mental illness go?" J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 42.4 (2014): 489-494.
LÖSEL, FRIEDRICH. "COUNTERBLAST: The Prison Overcrowding Crisis and Some Constructive Perspectives for Crime Policy." The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 46.6 (2012): 512-519. Web.
McLaughlin, Michael. "Overcrowding In Federal Prisons Hits Level Not Seen Since Bush Administration: GAO Report." HuffPost UK. N.P., 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2017.
Pelletier, Elizabeth, Bryce Peterson, and Ryan King. "Assessing the Impact of Georgia's Sentencing Reforms: Justice Reinvestment Initiative." (2017).
Wootton, Angie. "AB 109 and its Impact on Prison Overcrowding and Recidivism: A Policy Analysis." Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science 4.1 (2016): 6.
