Is Prison the Way to Go for America?





Pie chart showing the number of people locked up on a given day in the United States by facility type and the underlying offense using the newest data available in March 2018.
Wagner, Peter, and Wendy Sawyer. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018.”
According to Forbes, almost 2.3 million people are serving a jail sentence in the United States, the highest rate in the world (Forbes). More people are serving jail sentences because the United States has the highest crime rate in the world. A report from Nation Master states that 11.88 million people commit crime, compared to the United Kingdom which only has 6.52 million (Nation Master). With 2.3 million people serving prison sentences, many problems arise from the prison system. Many people want to reform the criminal justice system.

One problem that prisons have is overcrowding. A report from Prison Policy states that more than 1,316,000 are locked away in state prisons. but only 71% of Americans in total, including 87% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans, believe that American politicians should reduce population in prisons, according to an ACLU article. Another reason for overcrowding is because according to Treatment Advocacy Center,  15% of people who are mentally ill are in prison, which is 356,000 people.With 356,000 mentally ill people in prison, it is 10 times more than the 35,000 people are in institutions (Treatment Advocacy Center). 
“50 Companies Supporting Modern American Slavery.” Cagedbirdmagazine,  

In addition to overcrowding, another problem from the criminal justice system is people being wrongly convicted of crimes. A recent study from William Wayne Housley, who is an attorney at Law, reports that in 2015, 11,500 of these prisoners were wrongly convicted of crimes that they did not commit, of the 195,000 incarcernated each year. With 11,500 innocent people in prison, only 2% can clear their names of the crimes they were convicted of. However, many innocent people receive money after they are proven innocent. Housley reports that Mississippi prisoners who were wrongly convicted can receive up to $50,000 in cash for each year they were wrongfully convicted (Housley, Law). 

Many politicians realize that massive incarceration in prisons is an issue in America, and they have been working to pass many laws to solve many of these problems. According to Sentencing Project, politicians at the federal level voted to reduce excessive prison sentences for 46,000 people. In addition to reducing jail sentences for 46,000 people, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010, which reduced the disparity of drug offenders using crack and powdered cocaine. An estimate of 12,000 people were sentenced to jail because of drug related offences. But, because of the Fair Sentencing Act, 2.6% of people were set free from Missouri, and an additional 34% were released the following day, John H.Tucker, writer for the Riverfront Times, reports.

The United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate. With this high incarceration rate, it leads to 2.3 million people in prison. With 2.3 million people in prison it leads to many problems. The prison issue is so bad that many reforms and groups have taken notice and are trying to fix the problems so people in prisons have fair sentences and real convictions. 

Comments

  1. Is the main issue at hand that there should be a decrease on how many people should be place in prison or the jail sentences on the prisoners? Now with the mental ill inmates, there should be some professional organization in placement on those with serious mental illness. Prisons are not so suitable for the mental ill since their cycle of deterioration will return to them. It is better for them to be placed in hospitals for psychiatric treatments. With the current rate on the prisoners in the United States it is questionable on why all types of prisoners should be placed together.

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  2. Probably reason #1 for our prison overcrowding is the "war on drugs" and drug-related prison sentences, that are disproportionately given to people of color. I think this post would be interesting with a piggyback post on the war on drugs. Understanding historically how our U.S. prison population has ballooned might help citizens put politicians into place that can address and hopefully reverse this trend. Just look at what Chuck Schumer's legislative news this week...

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  3. It's unfortunate that the number of wrongly convicted crimes are so large. That is the problem that needs to be taken control of, considering us as tax payers pay for their incarceration. How is this problem resolved though? I would love to see more information on that. What really caught my eye were criminals that have mental illnesses. I feel that there should be mental health screenings before being put in prison. If people have a mental illness they shouldn't be put in a place that can possibly make them worse. They should pay for their crimes, but in a different facility. If we're reducing jail sentences to lessen overpopulation, that also means we're throwing people with these illnesses back into harsh environments. Not only will they most likely repeat what put them in prison, but be at a danger for others. Creating a requiring cycle of over population.

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