Essay On Correctional System

714 Words2 Pages

When it comes to different country’s correctional systems, the United States is known for their overcrowded prisons and leading the world with the highest incarceration rates. We know that our nation has a view of or implemented the crack down on crime mentality, which has led to the overpopulated correctional system. However, this isn’t necessarily because we are poorly managing our correctional system. A lot of it has to deal with the increase in dangerous drugs and other serious crimes. Our nation’s correctional system was stable for a long period of time, until the increase in serious drug related crimes and violent crimes. This is why I find it interesting to research other countries and how their correctional system is handled.
The first
I chose Bolivia to research because the county itself has been through a lot of turmoil and tragedy. I thought it would be interesting to see where they are at with their correctional system. I found just that, an interesting read about the top 6 most bizarre prisons, and San Pedro Prison, in Bolivia was on the list. Emily Thomas with the Huffington Post writes San Pedro Prison is “one of South America’s most notorious and unique penitentiaries. Though the prison features food stands, hairdressers and even a hotel, there’s one catch: inmates have to pay for their cells, which range from $1000-$1500 for the entirety of the inmate’s sentence. The cells range from posh living quarters complete with a TV and kitchen amenities to shared cement cells.” (Thomas, 2013) For prisoners to earn money they will perform normal job duties for an extremely discounted pay rate. In return they are able to furnish their cells with nice things. The San Pedro prison is overcrowded, and rests in the heart of downtown. The prison is made of falling apart adobe, wooden floors, metal roofs, and cramped rooms. Something I found interesting with this prison is that the prisoner’s family could come and stay with them in the prison due to it being economical. Here violent criminals intermingle with non-violent criminals. So, for Bosnian correctional systems, they have a high population due to pretrial

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