America’s Prison Population Part 1

The United States, which makes up roughly 5 percent of the world’s population, houses about 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.

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Black male offenders receive 20 per cent longer sentences that white male offenders committing the same crimes.

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The overcrowded prison system, which reached a high in 2009 with 1.6 million inmates, is still bursting at the seams with about one in 100 adults behind  bars.

Prisoners per 100,000 population in the United States did not change much from 1946 to 1972, but this rate doubled between 1972 to 1985, when it went from 93.4 to 201.5. In another 13 years, the rate more than doubled again, reaching a total of 461 per 100,000 in 1998.

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The federal prison system currently has around 216,000 prisoners, a little more than 40 percent of whom are behind bars for drug offenders.

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The chart below, from the Prison Policy Initiative, breaks down just where American prisoners are locked up, and the various crimes with which they’re charged..

Prison Policy Initiative

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Prison overcrowding has become a serious problem in America. There is currently not enough space in prisons for all convicted criminals to fully serve their sentences. This leads to the early release of offenders who are not ready to successfully reenter the community. The emergency release of offenders out the back door, in an effort to free up space for those at the front door, threatens the public safety of communities. This is neither effective nor efficient policy.

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EFFECTS OF OVER CROWDING

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Having more prisoners than a correctional facility can really accommodate means  that some of them will develop patterns of anti-social behavior, which may lead  to violence. Some prisoners are affected differently. They can become  increasingly stressed, suffer panic attacks and even lose their ability to form healthy relationships once released. Social rather than spacial factors contribute most to the problems associated with prison overcrowding.

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It is not just prisoners who develop problems in overcrowded facilities. Staff has limited time to deal with bad behavior, fewer resources to tackle crime and  violence within the prison and less chance to screen potentially dangerous  inmates, as explained by the website, Pantagraph. Staff also has less time to spend with individual inmates and cannot ensure they complete their rehabilitation and education programs. Staff subsequently becomes a target for angry prisoners; their working lives can be made much more stressful and dangerous as a result.

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Prisoners who have spent time in an overcrowded, understaffed prison are more likely to face difficulties adapting to normal life when released, as described by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). If prisoners who have not served their full sentence are released early and did not receive sufficient rehabilitation or drug therapy during incarceration, they will not be ready to reenter the community and could quickly reoffend. Prisoners may leave angry and frustrated, which can lead to further violence or drug usage. They can also struggle to rebuild relationships with family and friends or to create new relationships, and this may lead them back to a life of crime.

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“We are bursting at the seams in every facility in the state of Illinois,” said Eddie Caumiant, regional director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that represents prison guards and other correctional staff.

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Illinois’ prison population is exploding. With 48,760 inmates on Feb. 14, the state is on track to fill 52,000 beds, the maximum capacity now claimed by the Illinois Department of Corrections.

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“This population is a classic example of the sentencing policy in Illinois. This is not a Department of Corrections problem. This is a criminal justice problem,” said Smith the department’s newly hired chief of staff.

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More inmates and limited space pose risks for inmates and staff, said Rick Bard, a former IDOC director of operations who retired last year.

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“Prisons in the best of circumstances can sometimes be a dangerous and challenging place to work or be incarcerated. An overcrowded prison system can increase the frustration levels of inmates and the stress levels of staff that have to deal with numerous safety and security issues on a daily basis,” he said.

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Supervising a record number of inmates means there’s less time for screening, for monitoring problem inmates and fewer educational and other programs to occupy the time of inmates, said Bard, who still resides in Illinois.

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Caumiant, whose union represents the majority of the state’s 11,000 prison workers, estimates Illinois’ current prison population is at 140 percent capacity.

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COST

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An average bill per day to house an inmate in state prisons is about $129. The  bill at some prisons is a little less depending on the cost of living in the particular state, but these figures will likely increase every year.

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It costs about $65 a day to house a state prison inmate. Keeping nearly 30,000 inmates imprisoned for an extra 60 days adds $175 million per year in housing expenses, according to estimates from prison reform activist Stephen Eisenman, a professor at Northwestern University in Evanston.

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State corrections officials think Eisenman’s cost estimates are too high and are working on their own figures on what the higher population is costing taxpayers

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“The state needs to do something before the entire system becomes uncorked,” said Hal Jennings, a longtime Bloomington defense attorney.

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AMERICA LAND of the FREE

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Both parties compete for votes with strong law-and-order programs. Competition for votes in national elections induces incumbents from both parties to enact policies that lead to more people being sent to prison.

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Criminal justice statistics show that it was actually Democratic President Bill Clinton who implemented arguably the most punitive platform on crime in decades. In fact, “tough on crime” policies passed during the Clinton Administration’s tenure resulted in the largest increases in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history.

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Politics, not just the crime rate, plays a powerful role in determining how many people get sent to prison in our society.

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The U.S. prison population and drug policies are appalling.

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