Psychological effects that result from confinement characterize the dysfunctional aspect of the correction system. Incarceration makes inmates more prone to abnormal behavior patterns in comparison to the people living on the exterior of these facilities. Craig Haney portrays the understanding that one of the many difficulties that threaten prisoners’ mental well-being is their inability to be self-reliant as well as their innate response to use aggression. Haney states, in the journal of Law & Policy that, “vulnerabilities and inabilities to cope and adapt can come to the fore in the prison setting, and…the behaviour [sic] patterns and attitudes that emerge can take many forms, from deepending [sic] social and emotional withdrawals to extremes …show more content…
The article “What’s Ahead for California’s Dysfunctional Prisons” published by The Crime Report reveals that, “[t]he corrections budget, which was $6.2 billion when he entered office, ballooned to a high as $11 billion, before falling to a still staggering $8.3 billion for fiscal year 2010-2011” (“What’s”). Despite spending the most money on its prison system California is recognized for having one of the most dysfunctional prison system throughout the nation.
Further along the line of the classification of the correction system as dysfunctional, overcrowding comes into play. Living in small areas causes prisoners to stumble across several hazards. Overcrowding has a detrimental effect as depicted by Sterngold. He declares, “[i]n 2005, after a federal judge found that an inmate a week was dying due to incompetence or inadequate care, he placed the prison health care system under a court-appointed administrator” (Sterngold). The extent to which the California Prison System is unsuccessful has reached the point to where prisoners’ lives are on the
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Both of these too originate from the overcrowding crisis that prisons in California are facing today. Sterngold reveals, “[i]n October 2006, he declared a state of emergency, citing the effects of overcrowding---electrical blackouts, sewage spills, dozens of riots, and more than 1,600 attacks on prison guards in the previous year” (Sterngold). This depicts that Schwarzenegger had no option but to declare the correction system in need of adjustments to fix the problem. As if living in unlivable conditions was not enough both prisoners and prison staff live in an environment where violence is the norm. The prison system has failed to provide the prisoners with a safe place to live with decent living conditions.
Overcrowding also leads to the rapid spread of illnesses. The Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. demonstrates in the article “Prison Overcrowding State of Emergency Proclamation” that, “[w]ith large numbers of inmates housed together in triple-bunks there is an increased, substantial risk for transmission of infectious illnesses” (Office). In an environment where prisoners are forced to live in confinement in small areas prisoners must relinquish the idea of having personal space along with privacy. With inmates invading each other’s space the spread of diseases is a lot more
Lance has been actively coordinating political action for prison reform since 2007. He is President of the AFSCME, a union for correctional employees throughout the state of Texas. The AFSCME has national representation with 1.6 million members; Lance represents about 5000 Texas correctional workers, about one-eighth of Texas’s total correctional staff, which includes non-correctional employees like parole, victim services, etc. There are roughly 26,000 Correctional Officers in Texas, but whether the state is staffed to that capacity is open to debate. There are typically officer shortages, give or take 3000 at any given time. Today, Texas faces the most severe shortages of correctional staff they have seen. I asked Lance why he thought the Texas Prisons were in such storage for Correctional ...
Yet, solitary confinement is still considered necessary in order to maintain control within the prison and among inmates. Solitary confinement is seen as an effective method in protecting specific prisoners and altering violent/aggressive disobedient behaviors, (Maria A. Luise, Solitary Confinement: Legal and Psychological Considerations, 15 New Eng. J. on Crim. & Civ. Confinement 301, 324 (1989) p. 301). There is some discrepancy among researchers as to the varying effects on inmates who have undergone an extensive solitary confinement stay. Most researchers find that inmates who had no previous form of mental illness suffer far less than those who do, yet most if not all of these individuals still experience some difficulties with concentration and memory, agitation, irritability, and will have issues tolerating external stimuli, (Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, 22 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y 325 (2006) p. 332). Although these detrimental psychiatric repercussions of solitary confinement currently appear, several researches have made suggestions as to how these may be avoided. These requirements being that
The “pains of imprisonment” can be divided into five main conditions that attack the inmate’s personality and his feeling of self-worth. The deprivations are as follows: The deprivation of liberty, of goods and services, of heterosexual relationships, autonomy and of security.
As we know the federal government spends a large portion of our budget on the maintaining of prisons. During the 2011 fiscal year it cost nearly $29,000 to house a prisoner in a state penitentiary per year as stated by the Federal Register. The funds that are estimated to keep a prison running end up running over the prediction causing them go over budget. We can account for this because according to The Price of Prisons|Oklahoma on Vera.org, here in the state of Oklahoma the Oklahoma Department of Corrections called for $441.8 million taxpayer dollars in the 2010 fiscal year. The actual cost for the maintenance of the prisons called for $453.4 million taxpayer dollars. This is about $11.6 million taxpayer dollars over the set budget for the year. This proves that there are too many things that need to be taken care of in these facilities. Much of the money went to paying employee benefits and to capital costs which is also stated in this article. Instead of using the money to pay for employee benefits they should be using it to pay for what the inmates need. This causes a strain on citizens because they are obligated into paying more taxes. The money being used on prison employee benefits could be going to other programs such as education and Social Security which would benefit more
There are too many people incarcerated in the United States of America. The U.S. imprisons 724 people per 100,000. In absolute numbers United States has more of its citizens behind bars then do China or Russia combined. (Gallagher 2008). There are about thousand U.S. citizens that become incarcerated in the prison system in any given week. Many of the prisons are so crowded that they have converted the gymnasium into a massive housing unit. These massive housing units hold hundreds of prisoners inside small gymnasiums. The bunk beds are stacked four or five high with every available space reserved for the bunk beds. Even though the prisons are over double capacity they have not added one extra toilet or shower at any of the facilities. Because of this many of the prisoners report tha...
These victims suffer for years experiencing extreme isolation while trying to maintain their innocence. Their opportunity for parole is undermined because they are viewed as not wanting to take responsibility for the crime which places them at higher risk for reoffending. Coping in prison is unlike coping in the outside world. Goffman defines what he calls the “mortification process” whose purpose is the strip the inmate’s previous identity and forces them to take on an identity based on the crime for which they were accused. The victims must adapt methods that secure their safety and survival. Traits of aggression and intimidation establish themselves in the victim’s personality for self-protection. In Grounds’ study (2004), fourteen of the eighteen men were terrorized by treats of assaults and even death. Three of the men were victims of violence with one being sexually assaulted and the other one stabbed. Inmates may cope with their depression through withdrawal, self-mutilation, or suicide. While in prison fourteen men had experienced intimidation of being assaulted or killed by other prisoner and three were actually subjected to serious violence. Personality traits of aggression and intimidation were learned for self-protection. Victims claim that visitation with family is extremely tormenting. Since physical contact is typically not allowed, it became emotionally
Throughout the years that prisons have been in operations we have seen many issues arise when it comes to maintaining prisons on a budget. According to the Cheat Sheet article the cost of housing inmates varies from state to state. The average cost per inmate was $31,286 a year in order to take care of them (The Cheat Sheet). New York is at the top of the list when it comes to cost per inmate which is on average $60,076 per prisoner (The Cheat Sheet). In my opinion, these numbers are very alarming, especially when it comes to taxpayer dollars being spent on inmates. According to the Cheat Sheet article the annual price to taxpayers was over 39 billion dollars. Even though these numbers are at an all-time high, state policymakers have taken into account the cost of housing each inmate. The state imprisonment rate declined, this is in part due to the fact that state lawmakers researched driven policy changes to control prison growth, reduce recidivism,
The effects of prolonged isolation for inmates in confinement cells are obsessive-compulsive tendencies, paranoia, anger-management issues, and severe anxiety (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Along with the basic concepts such as food, water, and shelter, there are two other basics that Dr. Terry Kupers states are required for human wellbeing: “social interaction and meaningful activity. By doing things we learn who we are and we learn our worth as a person. The two things solitary confinement does are make people solitary and idle” (Sifferlin, Alexandra). Isolation and confinement remove prisoners’ ability to perform significant tasks and act as a part of society. This dehumanizes the inmates because they are no longer able to understand their role as a human being. One inmate, Jeanne DiMola, spent a year in solitary confinement and expressed her thoughts while in the cell: “I felt sorry I was born … Most of all I felt sorry that there wasn 't a road to kill myself because every day was worse than the last" (Rodhan, Maya). In DiMola’s opinion, a death penalty more than likely would have felt more humane than the isolation she experienced. Another prisoner, Damon Thibodeaux, stated, “Life in solitary is made all the worse because it 's a hopeless existence … It is torture
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
Thousands of people statewide are in prisons, all for different reasons. However, the amount of mental illness within prisons seems to go unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. This is a serious problem, and the therapy/rehabilitation that prison systems have do not always help those who are mentally ill. Prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide (Hills, Holly). One ‘therapy’ that has increased throughout the years has been the use of solitary confinement, which has many negative effects on the inmates.
Overcrowding is one of the predominate reasons that Western prisons are viewed as inhumane. Chapman’s article has factual information showing that some prisons have as many as three times the amount of prisoners as allowed by maximum space standards. Prison cells are packed with four to five prisoners in a limited six-foot-by-six-foot space, which then, leads to unsanitary conditions. Prisons with overcrowding are exposed to outbreaks of infectious diseases such as, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
The average Texas inmate was able to afford one five minute phone call every three months, yet this is only one example of severely limited interactions (Worely et al., 2010). The inmate population and eventually society are adversely impacted by the lack of contact or freedom in prison. Additional concerns include the impact elected isolation, inappropriate relationships, and snitching. It is hypothesized that limited amenities, lack of quality relationships, and institutionalization effect creates psychological issues for those who must re-enter society. Allowing some level of enjoyment and outside contact may be enough to encourage inmates to refrain from joining prison groups or disrupting the prison facilities. Other improvements can range from allowing the use of tobacco or increasing contact with outside contacts. If inmates fail to receive simple pleasures and freedoms while incarcerated, it is unrealistic to expect that inmates to maintain civil attitudes while incarcerated, or once released.
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.
Firstly, in order to gain a better understanding of the problems that plague or correctional system we must fully understand the enormous overcrowding problem that exist in the majority of or state and federal prisons. Since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled and only the numb...
The first issue that I would like to address is the overcrowding issues in prisons. In my opinion, overcrowding issues are the biggest issues in our correctional system that concerns every citizen. Running a prison required money, resources and manpower, with overcrowding issues, the government would have no choice but to increase the number of correctional facilities, privatized prisons and increasing manpower. According to (Levitt, 1996), “The incarceration rate in the United States has more than tripled in the last two decades. At year-end 1994 the United States prison population exceeded one million. Annual government outlays on prisons are roughly $40 billion per year. The rate of imprisonment in the United States is three to four times greater than most European countries.” (p.1). Overcrowding issues are not only affect prisons but the society as a whole as well. The reason is simply because prison population directly refl...