Overcrowding in prisons has become a growing social phenomenon occurring when the space demand in prisons exceeds the intended capacity of available prisons. The dangers or issues related to prison overcrowding are not new and have been brewed or neglected for several years. It is noted that prisoners’ number or those incarcerated exceeds the prisons’ capacity in about 115 countries (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008). Prison overcrowding, however, has been considered a consequence or effect of criminal justice and not rise in rates of crime, which has undermined the ability of prison systems to address basic human needs, for example, food, healthcare, and accommodation (Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014). Therefore, this paper highlights on the several prison overcrowding issues/dangers, the causes and solutions to the problem.
The History of Prisons
The prison system began in Europe back in the 16 th century, with the aim of temporarily holding offenders before trials. Despite the magnitude of the committed crime, all were confined in one cell, including the juveniles (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008). The lack of care for prisoner and spread of sickness led to several deaths within the prison system. The prisons during this 17th century introduced staffing that helped in the creation of a steadier system. In 2018, in the United States, about 2.3 million inmates were detained, and 1.3 million were confined in State Prisons. The prisons in the United States is half compared to China, while the population of China is about four times higher than the US. Even though the US holds the largest number of prisoners, it only caters for 103.9% of the prison capacity (Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014).
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The World’s Most Overcrowded Prison Systems
Haiti is considered to have the most overcrowded prison system in the world, with its correctional facilities overstretching to accommodate 454.4% of the intended capacity. The Philippines takes the second position with a capacity stretched to about 436.0% (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008). The condition in the Philippines systems deteriorated immediately after the launch of war by President Duterte on drug traffickers. The third overcrowded prison systems are El Salvador, with 348.2% overcrowding. The prisons were designed for war prisoners. However, they are overstretched, making the inmates live in a congested environment, which is risky for their lives. The fourth overcrowded prison facilities are Zambia prison systems. Zambia’s prison systems are overstretched to about 303.0%, which makes it the most crowded prisons in the African continent. Guatemala makes the fifth most overcrowded prisons, as it overstretches to about 296.2%.
The Causes of Prisons Overcrowding
Delays in Justice Administration:
In a correctional system whereby more than 60% of the prison admissions awaits trial, criminal justice administration becomes faulty. The delay in criminal justice administration is caused by several factors, such as inadequacy in judicial and court personnel (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008) . The other factors are that some legal practitioners attend the courts unprepared, lazy, and incompetent. Delays also occur because of the incompetence and indifference between secretarial staff, the magistrate’s frequent transfers that make it difficult for them to compile records, and judicial officials’ illegible handwriting. Lastly, delays are caused by a lack of legal aid for several inmates who awaits trial in custody, as high levels of poverty and illiteracy have led to several inmates to languish in jail since they cannot afford to pay the legal fees ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) .
Over-Criminalization:
The increase in criminal activities has led to overcrowding in most countries considered as the world’s most overcrowded prison system. Most of the youths, because of the economic deterioration, especially in the African countries, have engaged in criminal activities to satisfy their basic needs (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008) . The limited opportunities have led to illegal activities, which have led to several people behind bars, and because of the capacity of the limited prison, they become overcrowded.
Overuse of Prison Sentences by Judges:
Based on the prison population characteristics in the most overcrowded prisons, imprisonment has been overused as a punishment means ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . There have been no other means of accounting for the aspect that about one-third of the convicted individuals incarcerated for robbery without violence; about 80% serve not more than 2years of imprisonment, and not more than 55% are first offenders. The other evidence of overuse of prison sentence is the presence of debtors, mentally challenged people, and pregnant as well as nursing mothers ( Albrecht, 2011) .
Lack of Resources for Additional Correctional Facilities :
Prisons in most of the overcrowded countries were built during the colonial era or period. From that period, there have been fewer efforts by these countries, especially in Ghana, to create additional or modernize the already existing prisons. Thus, with the increasing prison admission over the years, overcrowding has become inevitable ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . The judicial systems have no option but to send the convicted or offenders to the existing prison facilities.
Prison Overcrowding Dangers
The Spread of Infectious Diseases/Illness:
Prison overcrowding has resulted in the spread of contagious diseases, for example, chickenpox, tuberculosis, among others. For example, SAPOHR, a human rights group in South Africa, has vowed to take the government to court, as they hold it accountable for violating the rights of prisoners ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . Unless the government addresses the issue of overcrowding, the Human Rights groups have vowed to take legal actions against the government as the issue of overcrowding has become an overgrowing concern. Based on the South African Prisoners’ Organization for Human Rights (SAPOHR), prison overcrowding has led to an increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008) . The diseases are caused and spread because of the conditions in prisons, which are inhumane and undermines human dignity.
Undermines the Social Control in Prisons:
Prisons’ overcrowding across different countries makes it a challenge for the prison authorities to control the inmates. The congestion results in noise and higher temperatures, poor ventilations, idleness, disagreement as well as irritation among prisoners. The condition develops into conflicts among prisoners and can influence their relationship negatively, especially the relationship between prisoners and the staff ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . Besides, overcrowding breeds a whole lot of rape and violence cases among inmates, which escalates each minute or hour, as they would be interacting, and cross each other’s boundaries.
Mental Problems:
It is noted that in addition to the increased cases of violence, over-populated prisons lead to stress and depression among staff and inmates. The daily challenges that the prisoners and staff go through daily in an overpopulated environment results in both mental and physical problems as there would be several cases of assault ( Albrecht, 2011) . The assaults by other prisoners on others have made the situation more complicated, and several cases of mental illness reported because of stress and depression.
Poor Conditions of The Prisons:
The other danger caused by prison overcrowding is poor prison conditions or environments. The living spaces allotted for convicts are severely restricted ( Albrecht, 2011) . Prisoners are always in the constant presence of others, leading to fears of being molested or assaulted by their fellow inmates at any given time. The prisoners in this condition must always defecate and urinate in the presence of others. Such a situation or environment makes it nearly a challenge or impossible to create an environment that is conducive to prepare one for outside life. Thus, the strain on resources increases, and one cannot expect to see nurtured citizens emerge from such an environment ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . People who cannot take care of their essential needs.
Cost to the State:
The other issue of overcrowded prisons is the cost that the state has to bear. It is noted that more inmates mean that the states have to consider their budget about prison services. The state or government will have to consider shifting some resources from other economic sectors and channel it to prisons to help in solving some of the cases ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . When the government shifts resources or a considerable amount of budget on prisons, then the other sectors in the economy are likely to drag behind because the sectors will receive less amount or will have less budget.
Solutions to Prisons Overcrowding
Improve Criminal Justice System Efficiency:
The judicial system reforms ensure that criminal justice system have adequate legislative grounds to undertake the necessary actions and consider decisions that would decrease imprisonment use (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008) . The judicial process would be effective if the criminal justice systems work efficiently. A criminal justice system that is inefficient leads to an increase delays in justice delivery, even to those who would be found innocent ( Albrecht, 2011) . Therefore, improving efficiency in the criminal justice system will help solve the overcrowding issue and reduce the cases of health issues.
Improve access to Legal Assistance and Legal Aid:
The access to legal assistance proves to be among the key ways of reducing the rates of detentions, the detention duration, unfair imprisonment, and sentencing. The government should ensure that all detainees without or with a criminal charge, should have quick access to a lawyer not later than 48 hours from the time of detention or arrest ( Albrecht, 2011) . By doing so, the number of pre-trial detentions will reduce, and this will help in the issues related to prison overcrowding.
Reduce Imprisonment Scope and Develop Fair Sentence Policies:
The first step for judicial reforms is to review the legislative process by ensuring that domestic legislation comply with global standards, and most importantly the principles and norms (Hough, Allen & Solomon, 2008) . The legal review would also foster for depenalization and decriminalization, whereby, decriminalization is the activity removal from the criminal law sphere. Depenalization is the penal relaxation sanction by law for offenses or offenses. Moreover, the review would also restrict the use of life sentences in most prisons, thus reducing the number of detainees or jails ( Albrecht, 2011) .
The Use of imprisonment Alternatives:
The use of non-custodial sanctions and measures directly leads to the reduction of prison populations ( Albrecht, 2011) . The other aspect related to imprisonment alternatives is that they help in reducing re-offending and, therefore, helps reduce the population in the process. The imprisonment alternatives likely to be used by the judicial systems include freedom limitation, community service, electronic monitoring, correctional work, certain rights removal, and a deferred sentence ( Pitts, Griffin III & Johnson, 2014) . The courts considering these alternatives will help create space in prisons and address the overcrowding issues or dangers.
Conclusion
Overcrowding of prisons has been a concern in most countries across the world. The causes of prison overcrowding, as noted above, includes delay in justice administration, over-criminalization, and overuse of prison sentences by judges. Overcrowding has also led to several dangers and issues, such as mental health issues, the spread of infectious diseases, and cost to the state. Moreover, the solutions to prison overcrowding include use of imprisonment alternatives, improve access to legal assistance such as getting legal counsel, and improve the criminal justice efficiency. The government and the judicial system, by considering all the necessary steps would be in the position of solving overcrowding issues in prisons and related issues/dangers as well.
References
Albrecht, H. J. (2011). Prison overcrowding: finding effective solutions. Strategies and best practices against overcrowding in correctional facilities. In Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (pp. 65-130). UNAFEI (In-house publication).
Hough, M., Allen, R., & Solomon, E. (Eds.). (2008). Tackling prison overcrowding: build more prisons? sentence fewer offenders? Policy Press.
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.
