Abstract
Overcrowding of prisons is a problem that transcends borders and knows no gender. It is a problem that affects both the industrialized countries and industrializing countries yet addressing it effectively remains the subject of many strategies: some tried and true while some are new to the sometimes rigid criminal justice departments in some countries. Estimates in the United States show that by the year 2005, federal prisons were operating at 134% capacity while state prisons were operating at 107% capacity. This is an increase in a dangerous trend of soaring numbers of prisoners that has been evident in the past four decades. Several factors have been responsible for the skyrocketing of prisoners in the prisoners. One of the reasons for overcrowding is that a great number of convicts return to prisons after serving their first term. According to a survey in 2000 the return rate of prisoners or recidivism rose to about 50%. Prison overcrowding can also be caused by a gradual increase in the number of prisoners leading to a culture of ‘chronic overcrowding’. It may also occur due to an upsurge of convicted criminals who have been imprisoned due to perpetrating serious crimes as in the case of Rwanda. The problem of overcrowding is made worse by the never ending political debates that seem keener on swaying the electorate than tackling the problem heads on. In addition, almost all national economies worldwide have experienced serious crunches in the recent times hence they have been forced to make fiscal cuts in some departments such as the prison departments in order to stay afloat.
1.0 Introduction and the current prison status
The overcrowding of prisons remains an issue of grave concern due to the influx of prisoners in correctional facilities as seen in the recent years. According to The Bureau of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation it is estimated that in the year 2,000 alone, 896,000 aggravated assaults, 40,600 robberies, 8,400 rapes and just over 15,000 murders were committed. Between 1990 and 1999, the number of violent offenders in Federal prison increased to 39.7%, while that of drug offenders rose to 124.4%. By the close of the year 2000, Federal prisons were operating at 31% above their intended capacity while State prisons were operating between 100%and 115% of capacity. By the year 2005, federal prisons were operating at an average of 134 percent capacity and state prisons operated at an average of 107 percent beyond their capacity.
Several factors have been responsible for the skyrocketing of prisoners in the prisoners. Part of the problem can be attributed to the great number of convicts who return to prisons after serving their first term. A survey puts the return rate of prisoners or recidivism to about 50%.Prison overcrowding could be the result of a gradual increase in the number of prisoners leading to a culture of ‘chronic overcrowding’. It may also occur due to an upsurge of convicted criminals who have been imprisoned due to perpetrating serious crimes as in the case of Rwanda. After the Rwanda genocide in 1994, approximately 120000 people suspected to have been involved in mass murders were detained in prisons that were ill prepared to handle the upsurge in numbers and a justice system that was only capable of handling a few thousand cases per year.
Studies have been done to establish if there is a correlation between the rate of imprisonment and overcrowding. In Georgia, there are serious problems of overcrowding as a result of a rapid increase in the number of prisoners between 2004 and 2008. The number of prisoners tripled in this period from some 6,500 to almost 20,000. In the United States the rates of imprisonment have continued to be on the rise in the past four decades until 2008 but there was a gradual decline in the recent past. This decline has had varying effects with some states reporting a decline in overcrowding but some remain overcrowded because the prison facilities have not undergone expansion in the recent past .
In Indonesia, the number of prisoners was approximately 90,000 in 2006 but in2009, it was estimated that there were 140,000 although the official capacity that the prisons can handle is 80,000.In Thailand it is reported that 200,000 prisoners are being held in prison meant to hold 100,000 prisoners while in 95,000 prisoners are being detained in prisoners that were originally built to contain 36,000 prisoners.
Overcrowding has several effects. It is a violation on the human need for privacy and desire to be treated with dignity since the overcrowding of prisons strips him or her of both. It results in a scarcity of social amenities such as water and sanitation services since the facilities are no longer able to meet the needs of the population that requires them. The substandard environment may lead to the outbreak of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera and typhoid among the prison inmates .
Such statistics are indeed proof that a policy to decongest prisons is a necessity. Among the key contributing factors to the problem of overcrowding is prison recidivism. The return of previously convicted criminals back to prisons after they have been released can be attributed to lack of proper mechanisms to integrate the prisoners back into the society after their release, economic hardships that they experience and the poor monitoring of prisoners who have been released on parole or are on probation. The aspects form the basis for the policy on the reduction of prison overcrowding.
2.0 The Education and Supervision Strategy
The prison population has been termed as one of the “most educationally disadvantaged population in the United States”. Statistics indicate that nationally less than 50% of state prisoners possess high school diploma in comparison to 75% of the rest of the American population. The picture gets grimmer at the state level where in states like Illinois, only 25% of Illinois inmates have successfully completed high school while 36% did not go beyond the ninth grade . Unfortunately completing ninth grade or high school is not a guarantee that an inmate will have acquired basic literacy skills or simple arithmetic skills. These alarming statistics point to a need to emphasize on the need for educating the prisoners in addition to developing and implementing a policy that will address the illiteracy levels among the inmates. There is a wide gap between the skills that most of the released inmates and the skills that are required in the market.
The implementation of education begins with its approval by law makers as a strategy towards reduction of the excess numbers is dependent on several stakeholders. To begin with, law makers are required to pass the laws that make it a requirement for the inmates to provide with education and make budgetary allocations towards that. For instance in Illinois, the legislation was passed in 2005that required the department of correctional facilities to increase the percentage of prisoners who enroll in GED classes to twice as much as the current number .
Another law offers a former prisoner less parole time if he or she earns a GED. This steers the educational programs in the right direction but there are still hurdles to be overcome. There have been no new resources allocated to meeting this goal, a possible hindrance to the implementation of this policy too.
The implementation of this policy is dependent on the cooperation with the prison department who are responsible for the daily administration of the program. They are however constrained in the course of implementing the policies due to unavailability of funds required for the purchase of educational materials and within the education system.
Education of the prisoners shall therefore provide them with the skills that are necessary for the job market. Educational programming has been shown to have a far greater effect in the reduction of overcrowding prisons than incarceration. Other schools of thought postulate that increasing the time spent in prisons by small time drug offenders, enforcing the three strikes approach and enactment of minimum sentences can reduce crime by up to 25%. However the disadvantage of that school of thought is that when it comes to the economic implications, one million dollars spent on correctional education prevents about640 crimes, while that same money invested in incarceration alone prevents 350.
Education reduces recidivism, a major contributor to the soaring number of prisoners in correctional facilities. In recent study have conducted by meta-analyses of existing research, the Correctional Education Association (CEA)’s Three-State Recidivism Study found that participation in educational programming resulted in a reduction of recidivism by 29%. In one of the states that were a part of the study, this translated into economic gains where two dollars returned for every one dollar spent on educational programming. However participation in educational programs does not entirely eliminate the problem of recidivism. There is an implicit suggestion of huge potential cost-savings in future incarceration costs. For instance in the state of Illinois, 29% reduction of recidivism rates would mean that, enrolling 100 inmates in educational programming at a cost of approximately $96,200, saves the taxpayers $271,374 in prison costs alone.
Educational attainment reduces reliance on public assistance and increases tax revenues by the prisoners. This result in engagement in petty crimes by the offenders leading back to prisons that eventually leads to the overcrowding of prisons. About 30% of inmates who enter prison were recipients of public assistance prior to their arrest. As a person receives more education, he or she is to become employed to engage in gainful employment .
Their reliance on public assistance therefore decreases. People exiting prison without the skills to obtain a good job, whether they eventually return to prison or rely on public assistance for income, are simply more likely to use tax revenues than to generate them. According to a study on Florida prison-based Adult Basic Education (ABE) program it was found that ABE participation was linked to increased probability of post-release employment, but it does not necessarily result in higher post-release earnings. The benefits increase with an increase in an individual’s level of education. Earning of GEDs while one is in prison makes him or her more likely to obtain a permanent, better paying job upon release.
Education results in an increment of the self-esteem of the formerly incarcerated hence they become more productive, positive members of society. In one survey, it was found that a burning desire to increase self-esteem is one of the most common reasons why prisoners choose to “go back to school” while incarcerated. Educational programs may increase self-esteem is that they are a vital aspect of keeping autonomy alive since class attendance offers the inmate an opportunity to be the sole decision maker at that point and time. In encouraging these independent choices to be positive ones, the prisoners more aware of their own behavior and how it imparts those around them. Researchers have found that education hastens maturity among inmates, as well as moral development .
Throughout history, parole and probation have been regarded as means of deterring crime and controlling it, methods of punishment, and methods of rehabilitating and reintegrating released prisoners back into the society and a relief for overcrowded prisons. Parole and probation aid in the controlling crime by the reduction of the opportunities that an offender has to commit crimes by placing him or her under the supervision of a case officer. This is mostly applied in intensive supervision programs (ISPs) in which a random officer is required to make visits, regular check-ins that mandatory and strict curfews that curtail the opportunities that the offenders have to break the law.
Studies that have been conducted in Georgia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey have shown that ISPs are an effective tool reducing misconduct among the offenders, especially when strategies to survey and control repeat offenders from going back are applied in conjunction with rehabilitative services, such as drug treatments and support groups. In addition, the researchers from New Jersey found that ISPs are prone to create a more cumbersome administrative system but they are still more cost effective than imprisonment and did not increase recidivism.
Probation and parole are a mode of punishing the perpetrator of a crime via the behavior restriction, mandatory community and imposing stiff financial penalties. Different combinations of these elements can be applied tailor sentences so that the punishment does indeed fit the crime. In a study by Morris and Tonry in 1990, it emerged that “punishment equivalences” were as severe as prison sentences in some level community based punishment. Another study revealed that the integrated supervision programs were actually feared more by prisoners hence they preferred being imprisoned to being on probation or on parole. This helps in clarifying the role of parole and probation in criminal justice where it has been viewed as “a slap in the wrist” yet it is a vital and effective mode of punishment.
Through community service which is a form of probation, convicts who have been released from prison can be re-integrated into society as law abiding citizens. Community service does not have direct financial implications on the offender and the participants get personal satisfaction as a result of their work. It also places the offenders back to the community but does so methodologically and in a supervisory manner. The case workers and other staff constantly monitor the behavior of offenders who have been assigned various roles. However, it is the sole responsibility of choosing their hours of work shows up at assignments and fulfills their commitment .
Therefore community service orders offer a chance for rehabilitation by making the offenders accountable for their actions thus catalyze the development of a renewed sense of accomplishment and ability. Successful completion of the assigned task by the offender offers them an opportunity to receive a letter of recommendation that might come in handy as they look for employment.
3.0 Hindrances to the implementation of the policy
There are several challenges in the implementation of the education and integrated surveillance policy. Like with other reform process, political will is required in the implementation of the strategy. This may take a while to come by and during this time, the problem of overcrowding in prison shall continue to be exacerbated. In addition, the funding for implementation of the strategy is critical if the programmed is to be successfully implemented. However this might not be possible due to long and winding processes that are required before the approval of the budgetary allocation for such a program.
References
Investigation., F. B. (2006, September 28). 2005 Uniform Crime Report. Retrieved June 28, 2011, from fbi government: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/
Mauer, M. (2007). The Hidden Problem of Time Served in Prison. Social Research, 701-706.
Policy, M. I. (2000, July 28). “Transforming Probation Through Leadership: The ‘Broken Windows’ Model. Retrieved June Monday, 2011, from manhattan institute:
