Worse, our criminal justice system in its objective actually aspires to reward prisoners rather than provide the proper punishment they deserve. For example, a 1999 York Correctional Institution Manual enumerated its various objectives, which includes, "providing positive leisurely alternatives, improving self esteem, enhancing health/fitness levels, ameliorating individual creativity, strengthening positive socialization skills, relieving institutional stress, and keeping inmates occupied to reduce idleness," (Correctional Recreation: An Overview, 1).
Such objectives suggest to prisoners that the criminal justice system condones crime. It clearly sends the wrong message. Hence, such facilities intended as rehabilitation unjustifiably reward prisoners for their malevolent machinations, psychologically reinforcing their reprehensible behavior, which exacerbates recurring recidivism.
Prisons endure the interminable problem of overcrowding, as population inexorably proliferates. From the 1970s to 90s, our prison system witnessed dramatic population increases. During this interval, its population tripled, eventually surpassing approximately, “300 per 100,000,” by the early 1990s (Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 659).
By 2002, the U.S. prison population reached roughly “2 million people,” approximately “702 people per 100,000” (PBS, 1). Obviously, the elevated national demographic commensurately corresponds with recent proliferation in prisoner population. Heightened demographic surpasses previous infrastructural capacity of prison systems, aggravating inundation.
Nevertheless, such instability stems directly from prison mismanagement. For example, consider the grotesque misplacement of prisoners. The Wisconsin super-max prison mentioned earlier harbors prisoners who never committed grievous crimes, often due to insufficient space, “in other facilities for other non-punitive reasons,” (Pettigrew, 1).
Relatively harmless prisoners exposed to the most oppressive conditions, directly violating their 8th Amendment right, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment, results all because of unmanageable prison populations. Alabama, Connecticut, and Nebraska among several other states contain severely overcrowded prisons.
In Alabama, prisons squeeze some, “27,000 prisoners,” into facilities designed to capacitate only, “13,000” at the expense of incarcerating non-violent prisoners such as, “drug and alcohol offenders,” (Research and Reports, 1). Likewise, Connecticut faces an overcrowding crisis as its population growth transcends national trends (Research and Reports, 1).
Nebraska prisons, a system that exceeded population capacity during the 1980s, incarcerate, “more than half of its inmates,” for nonviolent offenses (Research and Reports, 1). Moreover, criteria indicate continued demographic hypertrophy in prisons.
Recent estimates anticipate unprecedented population growth of prisoners in subsequent years, perhaps superseding, “192,000” inmates by the year 2011 (Public Safety, Public Spending, 1). Therefore, the prison system demands extensive reform. Consider the following alternatives.
Solutions
First, prison systems require reorganization of the prison population. Departments need to develop a more competent classification system that efficiently assesses criminal behavior and severity based on security risk.
Why not classify prisoners according to their level of risk (Improving Conditions in Overcrowded Prisons, 1)? After all, if “lower risk groups,” require lower level security, why not transfer them to jails and/or rehabilitative centers rather than prison.
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