Health Risk Due to Prison Overcrowding
- Details
- Hits: 5684
Prison Overcrowding
Law has become a blueprint by which societies are governed. People are often falling into a trap or caught by the long arms of the law for crimes they commit and go ahead to become guests of the states in prison. With the rise in population and urban centers’ population growth, crime levels are increasing, with some as heinous as attracting death penalty. The numbers of people falling behind bars are ever increasing in most countries, with authorities trying to design ways of reducing cases of crime and decriminalizing some acts or even demoting some crimes from attracting imprisonment as punishment (García-Guerrero and Marco 108). In reality, overcrowding in prisons is a problem in many countries, and the situation needs to be counteracted. There is no single internationally accepted standard for defining prison overcrowding, and different countries have different regulations and limits for their prisons that are probably different from others (García-Guerrero and Marco 106).
Prison overcrowding can lead to health risks, even affect people’s behaviors, or limit access to services within prison facilities (García-Guerrero and Marco 111). Controlling effects of overcrowding in prison can be a critical issue mostly where the prison holds more than it was established to accommodate. Prison systems, public health, and personal wellbeing are the areas adversely affected, and disease prevalence may increase particularly infectious disease and mental disorders (García-Guerrero and Marco 106). Modifications to policies and laws are essential in this capacity to handle the problem, with authorities making an effort of being tough on crime to control the influx of criminals in prisons. Several modifications can be undertaken to control the situation in a manner not to violate the set laws or human rights.
Imprisonment
Imprisonment has been far widespread in the sense that its effects are significantly seen economically and socially. The rise of law and order in politics and execution of policies and laws largely contribute to the high imprisonment rates (Berlatsky 33). As others argue that the increases in incarceration rates are because of increase in law, and order and strict enforcement of the law, others argue that the increased capacity of prisons also gives the rise. On the other hand, there could be gaps that make it easy to put people in prison than to get the facility infrastructure expanded to accommodate the numbers admitted there. It is essential that the governments collaborate with law enforcers and other authorities to ensure that there is the ability to lock people in and any major or minor change required must be implemented.
With the tough economic conditions and political pressures, people revolt, crimes rise, and authorities must act therefore to contain the situation. Prisons capacities are difficult to predict as other factors can be predicted. At one point, the prison capacity maybe overpowered while, at another instance, the levels can be excessively small (Berlatsky 33). However, the increase in population, expansion of cities, and development of technologies for predictive analysis can empower states to forecast on future prison capacities. Additionally, authorities responsible for correctional services may have noble proposals and plans for expansion but the government may not accord priority, or legislature enacts relevant policy it requires. The need for expansion of prison facilities may take new urgency when the prisons get overcrowded, but the initiative of response and setting up structures may take long. The sober means of responding to prison overcrowding is simply by reducing imprisonment rates.
Different countries have embraced prison reforms that have improved the quality of prison services. It is high time that lawmakers and policy implementers think of reproaches that will adopt low-cost quality alternatives and maintain the correctional facilities. The reforms as a factor may contribute to expansion of prison facilities, but the rate of crime, extent at which people are being thrown into prison facilities is high, and others may refer to it as mass imprisonment. The shift in political power and empowering prison departments of the government may contribute to the influx in prisons. To combat overcrowding of detention facilities, the prison authorities have to flex with other government agencies to win allocations.
It is incumbent on the governments and prison authorities to negotiate ways of ensuring prison facilities have the capacity to accommodate criminals within its states. Prison officials response to the problem of overcrowding can be a demand for expansion and increased capacity, but their concern with maintaining order and control may make them perceive prison expansion as a burden and unnecessary. They would prefer more powers in controlling prisoners such as those of discretion to early release of the prisoners than that which will involve them in negotiating expansion of prisons with other state agencies (Fields, Mesko and Smole 418).
Every justice system strives to tame the prison overcrowding and reduce recidivism rates. Imprisonment is costly and so far has not been produced positive results based on the statistics on re-arrests and budget expenditure for correctional facilities. So fast, correctional administrators and legislators must quickly rethink ways of containing the rise in prison overcrowding in both short and long term as the needs demand. Such resolutions if successful are capable of contributing to the reduction of cost expenditure in recreational facilities and avert any monetary crisis in the justice or correctional services. It can be realized that at the critical level imprisonment does more harm than good, and has been a concept of diversion.
Containing Prison Overcrowding
Persons are imprisoned or even fined for deeds that do not comply with directives and set laws (Fields, Mesko and Smole 421). With the increase in population and life hardships, it can be forecasted that the number that will be sent to the prisons will increase across cultures, ages and races. The precept of justifying that a person should be fined, punished, corrected or imprisoned often comes after a thorough scrutiny that fair justice is obtained in an efficient manner. At some point, it can be argued that imprisonment have been overused to an extent that it does not contribute to efficiency in the justice system and use of resources. Many countries have used imprisonment, subjecting some prisoners to life imprisonment that extends their stay in the facilities (Broomfield 143). Civil societies and groups at some point in time raise concern over mass imprisonment, as others critic the moves.
Some countries and states continually review their detention laws and policies, due to the strained budgets and overwhelmed facilities. States have other priorities and areas of concern that needs more attention, and therefore it is prudent that the prison facilities find ways in which they can utilize the resources at their disposal in a better way. The manner in which correctional facilities are managed can also be placed in the limelight, and any reform proposal should take into consideration both short and long term effects and not only about balancing of state budget and resources (Rogan 271). There should be reforms put in place to tame the rate at which persons are admitted to prisons and on how to reduce the prison populations to fit their respective accommodation capacities. The dependency on crises to inform policy formulation in such instances often leads to achieving fewer outcomes as desired. There need to be ways in which solutions to the overcrowding are sought and not as a way of emergency or expanding, the budget since fiscal policies may even be squeezed.
Prison overcrowding is not an emerging issue, and the problem has stayed on for quite some time (Rogan 271). Different authorities and action groups have ever expressed feeling that the populations be reduced to conform to the initial capacities for which the prisons were established or services offered by the facilities. Even as much as pressure mounts related to prison overcrowding, there is difference between different groups on prison overcrowding, as there are demands even from courts that the overcrowding in the facilities be reviewed by the relevant concerned persons and authority (Naylor, web). It is agreeable that before a prison facility was designed, was a target that could be accommodated in the facilities and excess that can be condoned. The instance where the spatial density of a service surpasses that ratio that it was designed for, then the facility is in a crisis.
It can be realized that every quarter has different perception of overcrowding that goes far beyond structural constraints to the prisoner conditions, privacy among other factors that in turn can affect the health of prisoners and strain the available resources. In containing the prison overcrowding, measures can be put in place to ensure early release of reformed inmates and only those who should be in jail are imprisoned. There must be other alternatives put in place to tame excess population of inmates in prisons (Naylor, web). The prisoners are transferred to other state prison facilities, or even moving those with less criminal charges back to their local correctional facilities. In another way, authorities can ensure ways of charging fewer offenders instantly, more so those with crimes and violations that attract fines rather than a legal proceeding or a comprehensive correction or punishment. Authorities can also put in place tactics to divert selected offenders into other programs without taking them to prison facilities. For instance, those who abuse illegal drugs require medical interventions and released after recovery.
Effects of Overcrowding in Prisons
When authorities delay in their response to burgle in the number of prisoners in their facilities, they are waiting to respond to an emergency (Rogan 271). Long-term goals to correcting prisons flooding are critical in avoiding emergency release orders and protocols of inmates that can jeopardize public safety and compromise safety goals. Overcrowding affects prison staff both physically and psychologically and in terms of policy decisions (Broomfield 143). It is challenging implementing and maintaining programs and offering services in facilities that are overcrowded, a vacuum that can prevent proper classification of inmates. The staff is denied the opportunity to identifying with the needs of inmates and determining response of prisoners to the interventions of facilities.
There is the introduction of extreme measures in prisons in case of overcrowding. Security is enhanced to contain any form of unrest in the prisons that results in death of prison staffs at some instances. Safety and security of correction officials are at risk the moment they cannot well monitor inmates. In case of rowdiness, measures that are more punitive are being introduced to curb any menace (Lafollette 247). Unfair and adverse classification of some prisoners such as the mentally ill may result in maximum security being introduced for some of them as some countries violate the laws in place. Added threat of violence to the prison staff by mentally ill inmates where the prison is overcrowded forces the officers to confine such prisoners in solitary units.
Overcrowding in prisons spurs violations to constitution within the correctional facilities either directly or indirectly. The occurrence affects inmates at individual capacity and also strain systems and affects the operations. Just as one part of system failure can affect the whole system, overcrowding in prisons affects the facility operations, functioning, and resources availed may not end up meeting the intended needs (Naylor, web). Adequate medical attention, meaningful work assignments, and programs of engaging prisoners are affected consequently by overcrowding. States are at such point in time unable to address most of the issues of the inmates and even meet the staff needs in the event of prison overcrowding.
The possible cause of prison overcrowding can be attributed to external institutions and not the prison facilities. The judicial system and legislative bodies are the direct influence to admissions in prisons through verdicts or set legislations. Judicial discretion and the duration of inmates in the facilities play a critical role in increasing the number of inmates in a prison facility (LAFOLLETTE 247). States and countries have utilized longer stay in prisons because it affirms a commitment to punishment (Griffin, Johnson and Pitts 128). Changes in policies such as those that offer a longer confinement of inmates in prisons overburden systems. Lack of infrastructure, funding and the failure of construction of new prisons deny states keeping pace with the faster rate of inflow of inmates contributing to overcrowding in prison facilities.
States should assess the situation within their jurisdictions and respond adequately to the needs of prison systems. Organization responsible for behavior development of youths and societies, in general, should be empowered and encouraged to take active roles in reducing instances of people involvement in criminal activities and petty offenses. Provision of facilities and funds for the expansion of prison facilities may prove futile, and just contribute negatively to development of the society in all aspects (Griffin, Johnson and Pitts 128). It is important that governments and authorities view prison overcrowding in the larger picture, formulate and execute measures to reduce the admission of persons to the facilities (Berlatsky 27). Construction of more prison facilities will mean efforts by administrators and authorities to make use of such services by filling them and may not be a solution but another problem all the same. Authorities should not ignore prison programming.