I am writing a paper on overcrowded prisons.?

Question

I have to present three options to overcome overcrowding. I was thinking of something like turning an island into a giant prison for all American inmates. Or sending them all to Iraq. Or releasing non-violent criminals sooner. Does anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

1. Carry out the death penalty on those that were sentenced to death and are crowding death row.
2. Build a 50000+ number cell high rise prisons in the deserts of AZ, NM or NV. If the prison is tens of miles away from civilization, if they were to escape, they'd bake in the sun of the desert.
3. Inconvenience the inmates so much that they'd never want to go back. Take away their TV and weights. Brainwash them with continuous fairy tales being played on load speakers all day long.
4. Scare the hell out of younger offenders so they don't continue a life of crime.
5. Mandate hard (embarrassing) labor to first time offenders.

My personal favorite...
On stationary bikes at the gym, the bikes show how many watts you're generating. Instead of the inmates sitting in their cell for 23 hours a day and watching TV or working out with weights for one hour per day, sentence them to ride stationary bikes all day. Don't sentence them to so many years in prison, sentence them to thousands (or millions) of watts generated by riding the bikes. The sooner they generate the watts per their sentence, they can leave sooner. In the mean time, the prison is capturing those watts from thousands of inmates' stationary bikes and selling the electricity as if the prison were a utility company.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

This is going to get me a lot of negative votes... well, hey, it's just for the fun of it and we're looking for some solutions to overcrowding, right?

OK, here's one: say for example that it costs $30,000 to house a prisoner in prison, and that prisoner is a criminal AND an illegal alien; well, whatever economic aid that prisoner's country receives from the US, discount the amount for the number of prisoners from that country the US is housing in prisons every year. Keep doing this and soon enough you'll see some rather imaginative and creative means undertaken by these governments to keep their own criminals within their own borders!

So they're overcrowded... so what? So are most ghettos and still many law-abiding people living in ghettos go to work and try to make the best of their conditions without resorting to crime! If the criminals don't like overcrowding and being inconvenienced in prisons, let them LEARN to behave once they're released! It's known as tuff luck if they believe that they're in a health spa or on a vacation! That will teach them to behave! No one ever said that prison was supposed to be fun... and I am NOT advocating abuse or cruel/unusual treatment... but prison should not be something to like or enjoy, right?

Another option is to FORCE the prisoners to learn a trade, like sewing, upholstery or carpentry so that they can work while in prison (making goods for the poor, elderly, disabled in foreign countries that need shoes, clothes, shelters, etc.) and when they come out, it will be easier for them to either find employment or work on their own without resorting to crime... which they do for lack of vocational/educational training to begin with (except those with serious mental/emotional/social problems that require psycho-therapy and/or psycho-pharmaceuticals).

Answer 4

Releasing non violent criminals is stupid. Some of these people have stolen peoples life savings and are just as ruthless as a guy with a knife demanding money.
Sending them to Iraq won't work. The British tried that sort of thing in Ireland in the First World War and it was a terrible disaster.
You're looking at the wrong side of the equation. Why don't you look at ways to discourage people from getting there and ways to reduce those who come out from reoffending.

Answer 5

Prisons have been designed to be corrective centres since the Renaissance. People go in, they reform, and they leave. This ethos is disappearing as politicians compete with each other to see who can implement the harshest laws for crime (rather than actually tackle the root causes of crime).

Iraq is a sovereign country and doesn't want to be the dumping ground for America's problems. An island...well, you would still need to clothe, feed, house and guard all the inmates.

Human Rights Watch covered male rape in US prisons, and gave some suggestions for reforming US penitentiaries:

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison

scary stuff.

Answer 6

You are right -- to decrease the overcrowding you must either increase the area of the prison(s); remove some of the existing population, of some combination. The great task will be to find some creative, yet not immoral, ways to do this.

I think many states are beginning to look at "house arrest" for non-violent offenders as an option. By electronic means, the person is confied to their home. BUT there must be many creative ways to do what must be done.

Answer 7

weve already done the whole island prison thing..its called Alcatraz (look it up hun). but one option some states are doing is called "shock probation". its where they will send some criminals (based on the crime and felony class) to prison for 90 days to "shock" them into what life is like in prison, and then release them on longer periods of probation. the goal of that is to not only keep prisons less occupied by less violent criminals, but to also teach the person a lesson that this is where they can end up on a more permanent basis if they dont knock off the crap.

Answer 8

Or ??? Why not put the Inmates into an 8 hour shift cycle ?? 1 group is in their beds for 8 hours. 2nd group is out doing manul labor. 3rd group is out on relaxation (ie... Rec Yard, Library, Watching Tv, etc...). This way you can effectively boost prison population without the need of building additional beds by 300 percent. Of course you will need a few additional spaces for those Inmates too sick to go to work. and you would need additional Correctional Officers.

Answer 9

Why penal complex overcrowding isn't a difficulty: a million. while all human beings is squished mutually, they alter into rather close and build stable relationships. penal complex overcrowding is powerful for social motives. because of the fact while the inmate is released from penal complex, they might have already substitute into affiliated with a efficient underground cartel that bargains in drugs, weapons, and human trafficking. This ensures they earn stable funds and characteristic get admission to to a efficient 'kin' which will shield their pastimes. there is not greater proper place than penal complex for like-minded criminals to occasion and advance the ability of their cartels. 2. while all human beings is squished mutually in tight areas, and that they fail to type an actual bond, they finally end up killing one yet another. With greater lifeless inmates, tax payers would desire to spend much less funds on penal complex enlargement and maintenance fees. And it additionally ability, the justice gadget gets to maintain funds too, because of the fact now they are able to throw out a rather good variety of cases that have been queued up for this actual lifeless prisoner. 3. penal complex overcrowding creates a rather good variety of jobs for small cities interior whose limits those penitentiaries are outfitted. technology after technology of redneck families, staffed as protection guards, beating the relax will-to-stay into obedience out of persons who've already been oppressed handed snapping factor and all dignity stripped, and would extremely be considered human anymore. And so, penal complex Overcrowding is powerful because of the fact: a million) it makes it possible for social networking, 2) it saves taxpayers funds, and 3) creates jobs.

Answer 10

Thanks for the opportunity to ask such a great question!!

"Alcatraz" is on an island. But, the prison in San Francisco bay was, when I 'looked it up', essentially just another dingy American style prison.

Option 1
Here in Mexico, we do have a large designated actual island where prisoners can live. They must stay there. However, their family provide them with food and clothes and they grow food and learn skills. It makes me laugh to read Americans reject this out of hand.

Especially when in New Mexico you have 150 miles between Las Cruces and Albuquerque with sparse to no population.

The problem is when this option is used by people like that Sheriff in Arizona. Remember the guy who makes prisoners wear pink underwear?

This only works for volunteers who want to live there. But think about the innovation that might help everyone.

For example, electric is not installed in parts of my neighborhood. Yet, we use clean, green windmills to generate our own electricity. What would your convict island invent?

Option 2
Governor Arnold is now sending California state prisoners to privately run facilities out of state. That is certainly a California option and Hawaii has sent prisoners to the mainland, at a lower cost in dollars for many years.

By why look to other states!!!! In California, more than 25% of the current 170,000+ prison population has INS holds.

The Governor simply returns these 40,000 prisoners to their respective countries and/or bill the US Federal Government for the cost of housing them.

In California, the cost to house prisoners with INS holds is more than $2 Billion ANNUALLY!! Say hello to either a lot of new prison space or simply free California from its current overcrowding.

Option 3
Why do drug crimes so often lead to prison time in California when simple possession is legal in many countries? Does locking up fellow citizens bring joy and satisfaction to others?

When prisoners cost over $30,000 per year, each, unless you are a prison guard, why not simply help these people to emigrate to where drugs are legal?

How tough can it be to move a person to Amsterdam? Does the public hate these people so much it doesn't matter how much money can be saved?

Maybe US citizens fear these drug people will go to hell for their sins? Why would they rather pay $30,000 per year when they can just say "you must pay for the plane ticket and all other expenses"?

Option 4
The US military does not accept convicts. Never has. So sending the 2 million people currently in US prisons to Iraq probably won't work. (Cuba, I don't know about!!)

The military doesn't allow convicts because of the increased risk that convicts would commit rape and torture than say the 182nd Military police. They would do great at Abu Ghraib though.

But the Bush war on terror changed all the rules, why not change this also?

There are countries currently filled with landmines. Princess Diana worked to remove these and make us aware of the danger to children in those places.

Why can't convicts volunteer to remove landmines? It is dangerous enough! California Convicts make license plates and the pants your postman wears. At California Corrections Institute in 2001, the pay was 48 cents per hour.

What would the cost per hour be to remove landmines? $1.50? What is the holdup???

And what about other dangerous missions in outer space or under the sea? Like fishing off the Alaska coast where they lose 12 men every year? No, we'd have to pay them!!

BTW, CA has given over 300 LIFE sentences under 3 Strikes where the third strike was Shoplifting. So reform of 3 Strikes along could also save alot of space.

Final option
Stop incarcerating mentally ill people. I'm mostly ashamed some of the proposals I read. The explanation is that some people don't have the time for serious reflection so can't say much that is serious.

In California, about 25% of the entire population is on some kind of psychotropic drugs. That is about 45,000 people doing the thorzine shuffle every morning.

Now, I'm not sure, but isn't that much higher than the non-incarcerated CA population? Couldn't that suggest that some of these people are locked away just because some brother or auntie didn't want to care for them?

Good luck to you on your options!!! Please consider posting your completed project!!!