Necessity of Prison Reform

1. Necessity of Prison Reform Danna Krayem Info 173 Professor Colucci

2. How many people are locked up in US prisons? • Population of US prison inmates: 2.3 million • Total US population: 312 million • This means that about .74% of the US population is locked up in prisons • The USA’s incarceration rate has increased bymore than 50% since 1991 and the crime rate has been reduced by about 50% since 1991 as well

3. What is Prison & how do you get there? • A prison is a place where people are physically confined and usually deprived of a range of personalfreedoms. • Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime. • Other terms used for “prisons” are penitentiary, correctional facility, remand centre, detention centre, and jail or gaol. • In some legal systems some of these terms have distinct meanings.

4. Problems with prisons • Prison is meant to serve as a form of deterrence, retribution, security, and rehabilitation but does not always do so • Solitary Confinement is too inhumane and inexpensive • Many prisoner get locked up in solitude for months, even years at a time for minor crimes or none at all within the jail • overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and extreme abuse of inmates at the hands of deputies • Many prisoners are not even supposed to be in prison but are given extreme punishment for minor crimes • States have an upper hand during reapportionment, for example, when their prisoners are counted as part of the state population even though they don’t have other rights like voting

5. Health implications of Prison Time • Men get locked up for so long without women that they become gay from suppressed sexual tension • Rapes occur too frequently in prison cells, a minimum of two times per week • Weapons are smuggled into prisons for protection and for threatening purposes • Youth are put into adult prisons and are abused mentally, verbally, and sexually because they are so much younger than other prisoners and easier to manipulate

6. False Convictions

7. Prison Reform Ideas • Enforcing stricter scrutiny when deciding if a prisoner deserves prison time • Using today’s technology to keep a closer eye on what goes on in prisons, how inmates are treated, and be precautious of false convictions • Run stronger background checks on prison officials to assess their moral values and make sure they have sincere intentions • Create a stronger reintegration system into society for people done with prison time that allows them to leave with more than $200 in their pockets