Policy making processes can be long and arduous. Nevertheless, they play a very important role in determining the way a country should be governed (Anderson, 2015). One of the issues that needs urgent attention from public officials is the crowding in correction facilities.
A correction institution is a place where people who have been convicted of crime are kept and housed in an environment of limited freedom. The amount of time one spends in prison depends on a number of issues and the nature of crime committed. Convicted felons are transferred to places that suited to hold them according to the level of crime.
Correctional facilities vary from one country to another but the most common ones across the globe include juvenile detention, jails and prisons. There are separate institutions for holding women and men prisoners
The correction department has the responsibility of incarcerating offenders with the hope of rehabilitating them. Prisoners are kept in prison hoping that they will be reformed during the time in prison and be reunited to the community. However, while in prison there are many challenges that many challenges such as overcrowding and shortage of basic services for prisoners. This challenges are not limited to any specific country or correction facility. The prison staff are also not well prepared and equipped to effectively rehabilitate offenders. The problem is compounded by the inadequate shortage of prison workforce, many officers are daily leaving the force due to the pressure that comes with the job.
According to Waller (2009) the problem of overcrowding in prison has become a very serious problem and the correction authorities are finding it extremely difficult to cope with this problem. This is due to the increase of crime and the lack of political goodwill to tackle the problems facing
the correction department. The administrative challenges have also been cited as the reasons behind poor planning and overcrowding. This problem is likely to have other effects on society if it is not properly and adequately addressed because offenders maybe worse off when they are released than when they went in.
This problem is squarely at the feet of state legislators, state governments and the federal government. They need to do something about the overcrowding in correction facilities. Having a unique way of looking for the solution, they need to think out of the box .We need to begin to ask our government some hard question such as, is prison the most effective way of rehabilitating offenders?
According to Muraskin & Roberts (2009) there are many other ways of reforming offenders without having to devastate them with jail time. In the USA the law allows for other ways of providing correction services such as community service, electronic monitoring, fines, parole and conditional imprisonment. All these measure would go a long way to help decongest the correction facilities and they have also proofed very successful in rehabilitation of young offenders (Muraskin& Roberts, 2008).
There should be legislation in all state assemblies that makes it not only an option but a necessity to consider other forms of rehabilitation other than incarceration. Judges should put into consideration the crime level and before making an appropriate sentencing so that prison becomes the option of last resort. This will ensure that petty offenders are not sent to jail to crowd them when they can be reformed in another way. Clear, tough enforceable laws will ensure that this is made possible and actively considered(Haerens,2010)
However, we must state here that prison congestion goes beyond good laws because some of the problems have been caused by lack of and inadequate funding to the correction department. Facilities that were meant for smaller populations have been stretched so much that offenders are not being rehabilitated but prisons in a way have become places of radicalization.
Going forward, we will need to consider correctional facilities that are not necessarily into incarceration. Offenders need to be given an opportunity to reform without being kept away in prison.
Prison decongestion is an important issue both locally and nationally for many reasons. As Robinson (2009) points out incarceration has been widely used by authorities as a means of reducing crime by jailing mainly members of the minority communities as a way of reducing the crime rate but it has not worked. But it has only served to disfranchise members of the this minority races, so reducing prison population will be a way to reach out to this communities so that they won’t think they are being deliberately targeted. Reducing prison populations would ensure that only serious enough offenders are locked up behind bars and the rest can be rehabilitated in other ways.
Incarceration has devastating social impacts on those that undergo it especially on the labor market where people who have done time in jail have reduced prospects on the job market. This problem is especially common among the black population where many young men who have done some time in jail are unable to get a decent and well-paying job. This compounds poverty levels especially in the black population.
Decongestion of prisons would also help both prisoners and prison staff health wise. The overcrowding in prisons also contributes to poor hygiene in the prison and this contributes to poor health of both the staff and the prisoners (Palmer,2010). Those suffering from mental illness are likely to have their problems exacerbated because the prison are not well equipped to give them the care that is needed. This problem has a great bearing on society and there must be both political will and sufficient funding for it to be solved .The results would be more effective correction system can be created.
Reference
Anderson, J. E. (2015). Public policymaking: An introduction (8th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning
Haerens, M. (2010). Mandatory minimum sentencing. Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning.
Muraskin, R., & Roberts, A. R. (2009). Visions for change: Crime and justice in the twenty-first century. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Palmer, J. W. (2010). Constitutional rights of prisoners. New Providence, NJ: LexisNexis.
Robinson, M. B. (2009). Justice blind? Ideals and realities of American criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Waller, B. N. (2009). You decide!: Current debates in criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.
