Prison realignment is a policy that was shaped by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It essentially took the responsibility for managing the custody, treatment, and supervision of lower-level non-violent offenders from the state, and placed the burden on the counties. The prison realignment policy was enacted following a ruling by federal court judges for California to lower their prison inmate population by June 2013. The Supreme Court then went on to rule on the matter of prison overcrowding as well in the case of Brown v. Plata. The Supreme Court ruled that the CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) had violated the 8th amendment right of the inmates, which protects persons from “cruel and …show more content…
AB109 was signed into legislation in April of 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown. It is said to have been “one of the most significant changes to California corrections in decades”. AB109 has been followed with legislation such as AB 117 and AB 118 as well.
This new policy has eliminated much of the problem of overcrowding in state prisons, such as a prison in Tracy, CA where nearly 700 men were sleeping on triple bunk beds in a gymnasium. Since the Prison Realignment has been introduced the state of California has made progress in reducing its prison population, however there is no sure way to tell yet if the 70 percent recidivism rate, which was stated by Governor Brown, has changed at all due to the
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Sgt. Terry Barnes, who works at a Fresno County Jail, says that there is more unpredictability and violence compared to before the realignment. Another thing that needs to be worked on still is that there are not as many rehabilitation programs for inmates as in prison. County jails, after all, were not intended to house inmates for over 12 months. Now that there is not enough room in county jails criminals are being released sooner for crimes such as vehicle theft, drug charges, and other crimes that are considered non-violent. However, there are some counties that are trying to find new approaches. In San Francisco they send probation officers into the state prison’s to meet with inmates that are planning on being released as part of “an ambitious re-entry program” (Montgomery) Another thing San Francisco has been doing since the realignment is investing most of the Realignment money they get into rehabilitation programs, such as drug treatment, job training, housing, and life-skills
When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.
These criminogenic effects are an endless cycle. The prison system in California are in dire need of correction. Early contact with the system is one of the risk factor in future offending.
The New York Times article, “Incarceration Helped Bring Crime Down,” by Michael Rushford, the author challenges past diversion programs. He points out, “...after 45,000 criminals were placed in [California’s] program, California’s violent crime rate had risen 218 percent compared to the national increase of 198 percent.” Rushford claims that criminals are more likely to act again if they are spared of harsh punishment. However, we must expect increased crime rates if we are unwilling to treat the mental illness endured by countless criminals. Merely placing offenders in jail is not valuable to anyone, as the individual and society are left with the consequences of
Prisons and correctional facilities in the United States have changed from rehabilitating people to housing inmates and creating breeding grounds for more violence. Many local, state, and federal prisons and correctional facilities are becoming more and more overcrowded each year. If the Department of Corrections (DOC) wants to stop having repeat offenders and decrease the volume of inmates entering the criminal justice system, current regulations and programs need to undergo alteration. Actions pushed by attorneys and judges, in conjunction current prison life (including solitary confinement), have intertwined to result in mass incarceration. However, prisoner reentry programs haven’t fully impacted positively to help the inmate assimilate back into society. These alterations can help save the Department of Corrections (DOC) money, decrease the inmate population, and most of all, help rehabilitate them. After inmates are charged with a crime, they go through the judicial system (Due Process) and meet with the prosecutor to discuss sentencing.
Prison Reform in The United States of America “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones” (Nelson Mandela, 1994). The United States of America has more people behind bars than any other country on the planet. The prisons are at over double capacity. It cost a lot of money to house prisoners each year.
...Prison Overcrowding: California." ALEC: American Legislative Exchange Council. American Legislative Exchange Council. Retrieved October 13, 2013 from Organization of CDCR
The prison and asylum reform was the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, establish a more effective penal system, and implement an alternative to incarceration, because the prison system wasn’t working as effectively as it could for example prisoners committing the same offense after released and being incarcerated again, and also the fact that the only prisons considered “good” at this time were in Pennsylvania and Europe.
The overpopulation in the prison system in America has been an on going problem in the United States for the past two decades. Not only does it effect the American people who are also the tax payers to fund all of the convicts in prisons and jails, but it also effects the prisoners themselves. Family members of the prisoners also come into effect. Overpopulation in prison cause a horrible chain reaction that causes nothing but suffering and problems for a whole bunch people. Yet through all the problems that lye with the overpopulation in prisons, there are some solutions to fix this ongoing huge problem in America.
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
In the essay "Prison "Reform" in America," Roger T. Pray points out the much attention that has been devoted to research to help prevent crimes. Showing criminals the errors of their ways not by brutal punishment, but by locking them up in the attempt to reform them. Robert Pray, who is a prison psychologist, is currently a researcher with the Utah Dept. of Corrections. He has seen what has become of our prison system and easily shows us that there is really no such thing as "Prison Reform"
Overcrowding in our state and federal jails today has become a big issue. Back in the 20th century, prison rates in the U.S were fairly low. During the years later due to economic and political factors, that rate began to rise. According to the Bureau of justice statistics, the amount of people in prison went from 139 per 100,000 inmates to 502 per 100,000 inmates from 1980 to 2009. That is nearly 261%. Over 2.1 million Americans are incarcerated and 7.2 million are either incarcerated or under parole. According to these statistics, the U.S has 25% of the world’s prisoners. (Rick Wilson pg.1) Our prison systems simply have too many people. To try and help fix this problem, there needs to be shorter sentences for smaller crimes. Based on the many people in jail at the moment, funding for prison has dropped tremendously.
In 2012, the total number of inmates incarcerated in the state and federal correctional system for was 1,571,013, of which 108,866 of those inmates were females. In the last two decades, until 2009, women were the fastest growing population within the state and federal correctional institutions. Since 2009, the number of inmates incarcerated in state and federal correctional facilities has slowly declined mainly due to public policy changes in both state and federal laws. California accounted for fifty one percent of the decrease in the overall population due to the Public Safety Realignment policy that mandated a decrease in the inmate population to alleviate overcrowding; this led to a 25.5 percent decrease in the female population in California alone. (Carson & Golinelli, 2013)
Debra Saunders contradicts Kelso in her article titled “California Should Not Spend Excessively on Prison Health Care.” She argues that California’s prison health conditions have improved in the past years therefore there is no need to fulfill Kelso’s high demand of money especially with the budget crisis impacting the state. She is sure that Kelso’s solution is not realistic.
Currently, the eight amendment which grants protection against cruel and unusual punishment, is the biggest and most important defense against abuse in prisons. In the last few decades, there has been little to no course of action regarding abuse against prisoners from staff. The Prison Rape Elimination Act was enacted in 2003 and there has been no major laws or acts passed since in order to reduce this problem. More laws need to be set in place in regards to staff training and evaluation. This reform in training will not only insure the safety of inmates but also insure the credibility of the prison staff and the government when it comes down to any potential lawsuits. Our prison system needs a reform and it needs it now, because although crime has gone down in the United States, the number of inmates has gone up and that is all because of the corruption that needs to be addressed within our prison and justice
With the substantial increase in prison population and various changes that plague correctional institutions, government agencies are finding that what was once considered a difficult task to provide educational programs, inmate security and rehabilitation programs are now impossible to accomplish. From state to state each correctional organization is coupled with financial problems that have depleted the resources to assist in providing the quality of care in which the judicial system demands from these state and federal prisons. Judges, victims, and prosecuting attorneys entrust that once an offender is turned over to the correctional system, that the offender will receive the punishment in which was imposed by the court, be given services that aid in the rehabilitation to those offenders that one day will be released back into society, and to act as a deterrent to other criminals contemplating criminal acts that could result in their incarceration. Has our nations correctional system finally reached it’s critical collapse, and as a result placed or American citizens in harm’s way to what could result in a plethora of early releases of inmates to reduce the large prison populations in which independent facilities are no longer able to manage? Could these problems ultimately result in a drastic increase in person and property crimes in which even our own law enforcement be ineffective in controlling these colossal increases of crime against society?