The United States leads the world with more than 2.3 million people incarcerated. The American war on crime has created a rise in prison population measuring the largest in the world. The “tough on crime”, “crack down on crime” and the “zero tolerance” policies all refer to policies that encourage punishment as a response to crime. The effects of these policies are filling our prisons and detention facilities at an alarming rate. The growth in prison population is largely due to tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Results from the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) suggest that prisoners are more likely to have literacy difficulties than the general population. The relationship between the prison population and literacy is prevalent. First, the “get tough on crime” policies are finding their way into America’s prison systems as the prison population continues to grow. Americans are tired of crime and encourage their Politian’s to advocate for harsher treatment of convicted criminals. The Federal Prison policies dictate that a prisoner does not have the right to expect privacy in a prison setting, nor have the right to speak freely if protesting; they cannot refuse to work or to choose what work they will do. Prisoners do have a right to visitors in order to stay connected with society. They also have the right to an education. Second, in an environment in which the concentration is on punishment, politicians and the American public are frustrated with prisoners living in a “resort-like” facility which might include opportunities to participate in: watching cable TV, weightlifting rooms, free education, religious affiliations, and libraries. The average cost of keeping a prisoner... ... middle of paper ... ..., 2011, from: nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/2007480.pdf. Greenberg, Elizabeth, Dunleavy,Eric and Kutner ,Mark. (February, 22, 2011). Literacy Behind Bars : Education Resources Information Center. Retrieved July 16, 2011) http://ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/correctional-education.html Kutner, M., Greenberg,E.,and Baer, J. (2005). A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Palta, Rina. (November 29, 2010). Women in Prison: A Growing Population. Retrieved July 16, 2011, from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/education/09dropout.html Pfeffer, Rachel, (Mar 15, 2011). In Post Racial America Prisons Feast On Black Girls. Retrieved July 16, 2011, from: http://informant.kalwnews.org/2010/11/women-in-prison-a-growing-population/ ,
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
Women in Prison. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics Varnam, Steve. Our prisons are a crime (reforming the prison system). Editorial. Christianity Today 21 June 1993
The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...
Because many of these women are poor, from minority communities and behave in ways outside middle-class sensibilities, prison has become the uniform response to problems created by inequality and gender discrimination. These issues are best addressed outside the punitive custodial environment but the upward spiral in the number of women in prison represents a serious failure of conventional society and public policy. “Women in prison have been damaged by the oppression of patriarchy, economic marginalization and the far-reaching effects of such short-sighted and detrimental policies as the war on drugs and the over-reliance on incarceration (4).”
According to Mark Early, president of the Prison Fellowship International, the Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows that there are 19 states that have prisons operating at 100 percent capacity and another 20 are falling right behind them. There is no wonder why the overcrowding of prisons is being discussed everywhere. Not to mention how serious this predicament is and how serious it can get. Many of the United States citizens don’t understand why this is such a serious matter due to the fact that some of them believe it’s not their problem. Therefore they just don’t care about it. Also, some Americans may say that they don’t care about what could happen to the inmates due to repercussions of overcrowding, because it’s their own fault. In order to cure this growing problem people have to start caring about what’s going on, even if it’s to people who might deserve it.
"It costs the government half a million bucks to keep me in jail and $450 to teach me to read and write" (ex-con cited in Porporino and Robinson 1992, p. 92). The literacy demands of the workplace and society in general are growing in complexity, and recurring linked cycles of poverty and low literacy levels put some people at increasing disadvantage. The prison population includes disproportionate numbers of the poor; those released from prisons are often unable to find employment, partly due to a lack of job and/or literacy skills, and are often reincarcerated (Paul 1991). Add to that the high cost of imprisonment and the huge increase in the prison population and it seems clear that mastery of literacy skills may be a preventive and proactive way to address the problem. However, correctional educators contend with multiple problems in delivering literacy programs to inmates. This Digest sets the context of prison literacy programs, outlines some of the constraints, and describes what factors work.
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
According to “Teaching Literacy in Order to Turn the Page on Recidivism” Emily Music stated, recidivism is “the tendency of a convicted criminal to relapse into a habit of criminal activity or behavior”(p. 723). What this means is that recidivism is the rate a criminal goes back to prison for committing a crime. Music also expressed that the key to reducing recidivism rates in the United States is decreasing illiteracy rates among juvenile delinquents(p. 724) Many studies since the 1990s state that the rate of recidivism goes down if there are options made available for inmates.Along with William Drakeford explaining in his study that the “Reading skills of the youth in corrections could improve given the opportunity to learn in a structure environment” ( p.143). A study in found inmates who did take this opportunity had a “59% lower recidivism rate than those who did not” (Walker par. 3).As long as prisons provide these literacy programs and if prisoners participate they have more than 59% less of a chance o...
Correctional ideologies have contributed greatly to the present correctional trends in the United States. With all of the correctional ideologies contributing in some way, some greater than others, the United States corrections has seen many problems. One such problem is the steady increase in incarceration rates. In result, the prison facilities have become overcrowded and hard to manage. As Dawe from New York City’s Department of Corrections said, “We are so understaffed and so overcrowded across our prisons, it’s miraculous that we can handle it,”(New Week Global, 2014). In fact, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, Federally-operated facilities have grown by 41% while correctional workers have only increased by 19% (New Week Global, 2014). The increase in the prison population rates is due to five contributing factors: (1) increased arrests and more likely incarceration, (2) tougher sentencing, (3) prison construction, (4) the war on drugs, and (5) state and local politics.
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.
To start off, the correction system growth is based on its crime rate. The overpopulation of a prison would be lead to the increase on the criminal rate there is. The correction system must have an accurate tool to gain control over its population of the together. prison, to meet its need for all the prisoners. To ensure everyone public safety, the government and the politicians come. The growth of correction institution to ensure public safety should be promoted by the politicians. Prisoners shouldn’t just be punished, instead they should reform them. Therefore, transforming criminals for them not to commit crimes again and the public will remain safe. The role of politics growth in corrections is to keep people safe. They should help the citizens lead a dignified life as well as the politicians should ensure that prisoners also lead a dignified
Many changes are made inside the justice system, but very few have damaged the integrity of the system and the futures of citizens and prisoners. Although the story seems to focus more on lockdown, Hopkins clearly identifies the damaging change from rehabilitation in prisons to a strategy of locking up and containing the prisoners. To the writer, and furthermore the reader, the adjustment represented a failure to value lives. “More than 600,000- about 3 times what it was when I entered prison, sixteen years ago. In the resulting expansion of the nation’s prison systems, authorities have tended to dispense with much of the rehabilitative programming once prevalent in America’s penal institutions” (Hopkins 157). The new blueprint to lock every offender in prison for extended sentencing leads to an influx in incarcerated people. With each new person
In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the nation, sky-rocketed to 708 percent between 1972 and 2008. Today, there are about 145,000 inmates occupying areas only designed for 80,000 (Posner). Peter Mosko, “an assistant professor of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice” (Frazier) stated, “America, with 2.3 million people behind bars, has more prisoners than soldiers” (Frazier). There have been studies that have shown “there are more men and women in prison than ever before. The number of inmates grew by an average of 1,600 a week. The U. S. has the highest rate of crime in the world” (Clark). Because of this influx in inmates, many prisoners’ rights groups have filed lawsuits charging that “overcrowded prisons violate the Constitution’s 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment” (Clark). It is clear that the United States corrections system needs to be reformed in order to eliminate this problem. Prison overcrowding is a serious issue in society due to the fact it affects prison ...
The media’s portrayal of prison and life behind the walls can be negative, the actions and motivates by staff has become distorted, vague and most often one-sided. The world of prisons are usually kept out of the public eye, very few know little about the direct experiences of prison life. Strict limitations should be in place for media and their request to gain access to the facility and prisoners. The public has a limited right to access the prison system, and the U. S. Supreme court has ruled consistently that the media has no right beyond that (media access to prisons, n.d.). The restrictions have been justified by prison administrators and the interest of security, without the lack of constitutional guarantee of access , state law or policy of prisons may grant members of the media inside the walls to interview inmates (media access to prisons, n.d.).
Over 2.1 million inmates occupy the cells of prisons in the United States of America (Highest). Since the mid-1800’s, the prison population has almost doubled in size and still continues to grow. The amount of time spent in prison by an individual has also raised from 1993 (Espejo 21). Routines, crimes, and security contain similar structures in all prisons, but some involve worse circumstances and criminals; here is a look into the life of a prisoner.