Corrections/Police - Criminal Justice
Contemporary problems within the U.S. correctional system
The rate of lock ups has greatly increased in America at a rate that is higher than most developed nations around the world. According to the human rights watch article, privately run services spiked up in the year 2000 due to the fact that federal prison systems were extremely overcrowded housing more prisoners than any other country in the world. The cost of operating a prison has also become costly. A few years ago, prisoner maintenance averaged around $9,439 a year per prisoner for adult prison and $7,041 for adult jails. These figures exceeded by $20,000 per prisoner in a few states. Construction cost per bed ranged from $25,000 to $50,000. This meant that tax payers had to part with $5 billion construction bill for 800 local state and central institutions (Fangmeier A. Robert, 2012)
Racial discrimination also clearly exists within the prison system: According to the bureau of justice statistics on December 31st 2005, there were 3,145 black male inmates per 100,000 black males compared to 471 white male inmates out of 100,000 white males and 1,244 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males. This issue has caused great effects especially when it comes to the voting issue. According to a report by the sentencing project, out of nine states one in four black men can never vote again since they were convicted of felony which is a direct ticket to losing ones voting rights.
As the number of inmates in the prison system increases, prisoner on prisoner sexual abuse is also on the rise. This may later bring about physical effects like contracting HIV / AIDS or psychological effects like losing ones self-esteem thereby increasing cases of violence (Oracle Education Foundation, 2012)
Drug law propositions that could make a positive mark in correction centers is making the drug issue a public health problem rather than a criminal justice problem; this should be done in such away that use of drugs should be decriminalized and treated as the health issue its supposed to be. However, this does not mean that all drugs should be legalized because it would be impossible to do that.
Most correctional facilities are not conducive for human beings since they are overcrowded. More so, non-violent and violent criminals are dumped in one cell making it unfair for the non-violent offenders who eventually are programmed to become violent. Violence has been accepted as a fact in prisons even by the prison staff themselves. 'Alternatives for violence' programs are currently being conducted by the staff and inmates. The prison authorities should closely work with the prisoners to allow transformation and show them how much valuable they…
