Thursday, December 11, 2014
Overcrowded Prisons
On Wednesday, one of the muckraking projects address the issue of overcrowded prisons. I was previously not aware of how terrible the system was. Many prisons are holding more than 200% of their designed capacity. This is a ridiculous number considering some inmates being sent to prison for pointless reasons raising the cost of money that needs to be spent on each person. Millions of dollars could be well spent on education around the state. California needs to focus on either transferring inmates to other facilities to prevent overcrowding or simply reevaluating the reason for each individual who is being sent to these prisons. Does anyone have other solutions for this problem? What can we do to prevent this in the future?
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Would spending money on transferring inmates to other facilities, or constructing new facilities for inmates to be transferred to really solve the problem? I personally don't think so. We should be focusing our fundings for this system with the pre-prison aspect of the issue. People shouldn't be sent to federal prison for small crimes. Of course I full on agree criminals should be sent to federal prison for murder, human trafficking, etc. , but it would be beneficial for California to figure out how to solve the punishment of small crime with out Prisons. Maybe rehabilitation centers or things of that sort?
ReplyDeleteScott is right on point we just re focus the money going into housing prisoners into building and establishing more rehabilitation centers. People who struggle with drugs or have mental issues that impede them from living a crime free life should not just be held in a prison, they should be instated in some sort of rehabilitation center. This would make the better spent, and would decrease the number of people in the California prison system.
ReplyDeleteI actually believe that a rehabilitation center is not the best option, but to go out with others who have committed the similar crime, and see the impact it has on a community. This should help this member realize what they have done wrong and what effects it has not only on them but others as well. More Funding for community colleges by the state of california should be required, so these prisoners of small federal crimes can be released sooner and back into school with less of a cost and more of chance to thrive in their "second life".
ReplyDeleteI would also agree with Scott and Nick in the idea that rehabilitation centers would actually be the best option. Did you know that the problems associated with incarcerating mentally ill individuals would mostly just include prison overcrowding, behavioral issues and physical attacks disturbing to others, victimization of prisoners with mental illness, deterioration of the psychiatric condition, increased taxpayer costs, and unequal rates of recidivism? I mean, if the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled rights towards mental illness treatment to individuals in prison/jails, then why not?
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