Introduction
The United States of America is the leading country in the number of people in jails globally. The country has more than 2.2 million people locked up in jails for various offenses. Within 40 years, the American correctional centers have seen a 500% increase in the number of inmates ( Simon, 2014 ). The major cause for the increase in the number of people in jail has not been attributed to an increase in crime rates, but by changes in the sentencing laws and policies. As a result, American prisons have been overcrowded leading to fiscal burden on the government as the penal system continue to expand. The major contributor to the increase in the jail population is the changes in the drug policies. Over the past decades, America has escalated the war against drugs, a move that has seen many people being jailed for drug-related issues. Over the years, the United States jails continue to be crowded amid the calls to change the law on drug sentencing to avoid the incarceration of the minor drug offenders.
Overview of US Jail
More than 12 million Americans go through the US jail system annually. Jails mainly serve as a short term designated house where people are locked waiting for sentencing. The conditions of the confinement in today’s jails and prisons have similar features that existed over 30 years ago ( Simon, 2014 ). This is so even as the prison and jail population has tripled over the last two decades. As a result of the changes in the sentencing laws and the tough war on drugs, the American jails have increased dramatically calling for the need to consider the confinement conditions. These correctional facilities continue to be the same in size, yet the population continues to rise. The jails and prisons in the United States have been blamed for the deplorable sanitary conditions as well as the claims of a large number of inmates being brutalized.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
By the end of 2004, the United States jails and prisons had a total population of about 2.2 million as compared to 216000 in 1974. Currently, two third of the inmates are housed in the state prisons while the rest are found in the local jails ( Pitts, Griffin & Johnson , 2014). According to the Department of Justice reports, it is estimated that the United States has the highest number of incarceration in the world despite having a population that is less than 5% of the world ( Subramanian, 2015 ). Reports show that the jail population in the United States grew dramatically during the 1990s than any other period in the history of the country. According to the recent data, about 24 state department of correctional facilities are operating above the capacity, with some up to 40% above the capacity. The population of the people in jails has run out of capacity making these confinement rooms being unsuitable for human survival. Even as the mass incarceration continue in the United States, the conditions of the jails and prisons have significantly remained in a deplorable situation.
History of American Correctional System
Before the 18th century, the concept of prison or jail as a means of punishment did not exist in Europe or its American colonies. While there were jails, they were used as facilities for holding the criminals for a certain period of time, and the criminal justice system did not rely so much on incarceration as it is today. At the time, two major features defined the criminal justice system in the American colonies. They involved an extreme severity in the fines and exclusive employment of some form of corporal punishment. The religious, civil and criminal factors were also taken into consideration while analyzing the crime ( Subramanian, 2015 ). Until the 1770s, it became a norm for the Europeans to banish the offenders to the American colonies as a form of punishment. The practice, however, ended after the revolutionary war when Australia became the new destination for the British convicts.
Because the colonial authorities never relied on the jail and prisons as a form of punishment never meant they were not essential to the early settlements. As the economy expanded and trade increased, the rate of crime also got higher. The colonial authorities responded to this by the introduction of the bloody code which made some crimes capital offenses. Many Americans were not contented with the high reliance of capital punishment and therefore sought to get an alternative to it. This led to the call to substitute capital punishment with imprisonment. After the end of the Revolutionary War and independence of the United States and towards the 19th century, there were increased immigration and low mortality rates which led to a rapid rise in population ( Olson, 2016 ). The increase in prisons led to an increase in crime rates and the need to have more jails and prisons constructed. Due to the resource constraints in many jails as a result of overcrowding, the conditions in these correctional facilities began to derail. The hygiene got poor even as more people continued to face incarceration filing the already overcrowded jails and prisons. As a way to offset the costs, the prisoners had to work in hard labor around the jails. Such kinds of work were also seen as an opportunity to rehabilitate the prisoners and make them well-equipped to return to society at the end of their jail term.
In the mid of the 19th century, there were a lot of demographic changes in the United States. The end of Confederacy resulted in the emancipation of the millions of African Americans slaves in the South. As the jails witnessed an increase in the number of inmates, corruption rates rose. After the end of slavery, many minority groups who were now free found themselves in the jails for minor offenses. The African Americans disproportionately became the key target by the authorities as their population in the jails continued to rise ( Olson, 2016 ). The incarceration became of racial prejudice as more blacks became the target for the law enforcement officers to meet the racial profiling. Due to the poor conditions in jails, injuries and even physical harm were common as the officials tortured the prisoners. Towards the end of the 19th century and to the beginning of the 20th century, the United States saw the introduction of the women-only prisons and juvenile centers for the minors. This led to some improvements in the conditions of the jails and prisons. Programs such as education libraries and recreational facilities were introduced in some prisons
Towards the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, the United States heightened the war on illegal drugs and introduced tough measures. As a result, many Americans were incarcerated and locked up in jails for minor drug offenses. Majority of the inmates were found to be in possession of illegal drugs and were taken to the correctional facilities ( Harding, 2018 ). The war against drugs led to a rapid increase in the number of inmates in the United States jails making it the leading country in the world in terms of incarceration. The prisons and jails were few to accommodate all the offenders at a time when the prisons required a huge portion of the budget. Due to the rising costs and lack of enough jails, there was the introduction of private prisons.
Privatization of Prisons and Jails
Before the 1980s, private prisons and jails did not exist in the United States. The government war on drugs, however, led to a rapid increase in the rates of incarceration and a subsequent increase in the number of inmates. The number of inmates exceeded the available number of state jails calling for a need to have more jails. The first ever private jail was introduced in 1984 in Tennessee, and within six years, there were over 66 private prisons in the United States ( Harding, 201 8). Political influence has played a key role in determining the growth of private prisons. Even though the issue of private prisons has attracted controversy over the years, such prisons continue to provide sentencing services for the government in an attempt to ease the pressure on the state prisons which have become overcrowded. The major statistics show that for every 12 people in jail, one is incarcerated in the private jails. The use of private prisons has continued to rise at a 42% rate over the past five years.
The private jails and prisons have been referred to as for-profit correctional centers. Over the years, the use of private prisons has attracted controversy with increased calls to outlaw them. The arguments against for-profit jails surround the idea that justice should not be administered through the prism of profits. The incarceration of people through for-profit businesses tends to make justice become a business ( Bales & Garduno , 2016). Many private prisons get their revenue from the government depending on the number of inmates they host. This could make such prisons want to have more people arrested and jailed so that they can maximize their profits. In the end, justice for the inmates is lost as they are merely turned into business items for making profits.
The most significant financial arguments regarding private jails are the motive that influences their financial decisions. When they get into a contract with the federal or state government, the private jails are paid a fixed predetermined price per head depending on the population of the inmates. Most of the corporations are publicly traded and thus make decisions based on for-profit motive. Many argue on the ethical considerations for incarcerating people for profits. There is, therefore, an ethical implication of private jails being used to incarcerate people and make profits. The major purpose of the correctional facilities is to rehabilitate and develop a positive behavior change amongst the offenders ( Bales & Garduno , 2016). With the profit motive, the goal of correctional facilities shifts away from its goal as a rehabilitation center to a profit making center. The ethical implications are therefore to lock up people for the purpose of making profits from them. Other than the ethical implications, the private jails have been confirmed to be uneconomical as it costs the government more money that it would be for running public jails. While the proponents of the private jails argue that it helps the government save resources, recent research has shown that the government spends almost 25% more in funding the private prisons than it does for the state jails.
Types of Jails and Prisons
While jails are designed to hold people who have broken the law and deny them some freedom as well as separating them from society, there are many kinds of these correctional facilities. The first kind of correctional facility in the United States is the Juvenile jail. These are facilities meant to lock up the people under the majority age when they have committed a crime. A person who has not attained 18 years of age is considered to be in a minority age and are taken to the juvenile correctional centers when they have committed a crime. Such facilities are exclusively designed for the juveniles and any person above 18 years cannot be taken to the juveniles. The minimum security correctional centers are mainly used to detain people who have committed white collar crimes such as fraud, corruption, and embezzlement of funds ( Blomberg , 2017). While such crimes are equally serious, they are non-violent, and as such, the offenders are not considered to have a risk of violence. The medium-security jails are used to hold the majority of the criminals in the United States. They house a wide range of criminals who require medium security. The high-security prisons, on the other hand, are used to house people who have been convicted of crimes involving violence. Such criminals are considered to be dangerous and risky to the security; thus the need to provide high security.
Problem with American Prison and Jails
The major fault of the prisons and jails in America is not as a result of the administrators or the agents of criminal justice, but on the whole structure of the crime control. Despite the theory of social control and crime reduction, American penology stands with one foot on the need for rehabilitation and the road of punishment. The criminal justice system is based majorly on mass incarceration and imprisonment. While the theoretical view is to rehabilitate the offenders, the US prisons and jails play a limited role in rehabilitation ( Blomberg, 2017 ). The recent study has shown that the rate of recidivism is very high and that one in every ten people who leave prison are more likely to commit the crime and get rearrested. The high rate of recidivism is as a result of lack of appropriate structure and programs aimed at developing positive behavior change in an individual and ensure a smooth transition back to the society.
Majority of the people in the American jails are those who have been caught up in minor offense and drug abuse. In most cases, such offenses are better solved through rehabilitation and therapy that helps promote behavioral changes. Unfortunately, the American prisons and jails do not have programs in place to help inmates reform. Majority of the inmates repeat the crimes ones they are out of the facility, a sign that the prison system plays no role in modeling behavior. The system focuses more on punitive measures rather than correctional ones. Due to the mass incarcerations, the United States remains the leading in a number of inmates, yet the least effective in modeling behavior change amongst the inmates. According to the research by the Pew Center, 43% of the prisoners released find themselves right back to jail shortly ( Trestman, 2014 ). Jails and prisons have become a cycle system where individuals get in and out. After a few months of being released, many people get arrested for other crimes or even a repeat of the same crimes previously committed. This rotational movement of inmates in and out of the jails has been contributed to the lack of effective programs to help the inmates develop behavior changes.
The matter is made worse by the existence of private prisons which benefit when more people are incarcerated. Such prisons are less likely to provide any programs that can help reduce recidivism and promote smooth transition back to the community because high recidivism is an increased profit to them. Instead, prisoners are locked up in the facilities under limited freedom and restriction with sometimes hard labor yet not provided with effective education to avoid the repeat of crime.
Prisons and Jail Reforms
Due to the various problems that exist in the American jails and prisons, various reforms have been identified to help change the situation. The first required reform is on prison management. Jails and prisons need to be managed in a fair and humane manner. The policies and international standard for human treatment require that all human beings be treated in a fair manner and to live in a hygienic environment ( Gottschalk, 2014 ). Boosting the morale of the staff can provide a basic starting point for the initiation of the reforms. Conditions that are inhuman and risky to the health of the inmates should not be allowed in the prisons and jails. Even though the inmates are criminals, they deserve to be treated like human beings and allowed a chance to change their behavior.
The other reform required not only in the jails and prisons but in the entire criminal justice system is the use of alternative measures to correct the minor offenders rather than just relying on the incarceration and imprisonment. The punitive system used has led to a high number of inmates in American prisons and jails. ( Trestman, 2014 ) Even as the government incurs a lot of money in the management of prisons, studies have shown that it is ineffective in promoting behavior change. Many people with minor offenses have filled the jails, and even after serving their jail terms, they tend to get out unchanged people. The fact that there is a high rate of recidivism shows that the current mass incarceration and jail system is ineffective in changing the behavior. Rather than imprisonment of minor offenses, they can be taken to the rehabilitation and education centers where they can learn how to live a positive and constructive life away from crimes and other law-breaking activities. Recent studies have shown that such programs are ten times more effective in modeling behavior change than the current prison system.
The other reform required in the American jail and prisons is the rehabilitation and social integration programs. One of the basic principles of a prison system should be to contribute to successful reintegration of the prisoners back into society after the completion of their jail term. This can be done by the introduction of appropriate treatment programs and interventions that promotes the smooth transition back to society after the jail term ( Sifakis, 2014 ). Also, rehabilitation and guidance and counseling programs need to be introduced in the jails to promote behavior change and reduce recidivism. Jails and prisons should be correctional centers and not punishment facilities. As a result, various programs that can help the inmates change their behavior and live as law-abiding citizens after the jail term needs to be introduced. Without such programs, the prisons and jails remain purely as punishment centers that play very little role in social control and positive behavior change.
Conclusion
The United States is still the leading country in the world in the number of people incarcerated. The rising number of inmates has been increased by the tough war against drugs and changes in the sentencing policies. American jails and prisons are currently operating above capacity even as more inmates are expected to increase. Despite the mass incarceration and overcrowding of the prisons, the rate of recidivism remains high, and the jails have become a rotational system where people get rearrested within five years after release. Various reforms are therefore required to increase the effectiveness of the prisons in modeling behavior change amongst prisoners. Currently, jails and prisons in America are more of punishment centers rather than correctional facilities and does not play a key role in having a smooth transition back to society.
References
Bales, W. D., & Garduno, S. L. (2016). Confinement in local jails. Advancing criminology and criminal justice policy , 267-281.
Blomberg, T. G. (2017). American penology: A history of control . Routledge.
Gottschalk, M. (2014). Bring it on: the future of penal reform, the carceral state, and American politics. Ohio St. J. Crim. L. , 12 , 559.
Harding, R. (2018). Private prisons and public accountability . Routledge.
Olson, J. C. (2016). Race and punishment in American prisons. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory , 26 (4), 758-768.
Pitts, J. M., Griffin III, O. H., & Johnson, W. W. (2014). Contemporary prison overcrowding: short-term fixes to a perpetual problem. Contemporary Justice Review , 17 (1), 124-139.
Sifakis, C. (2014). The encyclopedia of American prisons . Infobase Publishing.
Simon, J. (2014). Mass incarceration on trial: A remarkable court decision and the future of prisons in America . New Press, The.
Subramanian, R., Delaney, R., Roberts, S., Fishman, N., & McGarry, P. (2015). Incarceration’s front door: The misuse of jails in America.
Trestman, R. L. (2014). Ethics, the law, and prisoners: protecting society, changing human behavior, and protecting human rights. Journal of bioethical inquiry , 11 (3), 311-318.
