Policy Issue and Solution Draft.docx.pdf

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Policy Issue and Solution Draft

Heaven Whiteside

Helm School of Government, Liberty University

Author Note

Heaven Whiteside

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Heaven Whiteside

Email: hlwhiteside@liberty.edu

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Abstract

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the highest incarceration rate nationwide. This is equal to about 25% of the world's total prison

population yet has 25% of the world’s prison population (ACLU, 2023). Something has to

change. Looking back as far as 1970 the population of individuals incarcerated in the United

everyone that the system is broken and in need of serious help. Overcrowding in United State

prisons is not an issue that should be overlooked. When looking at these numbers, citizens may

think that overcrowding is a result of crime rates rising over the years, but that is not the case.

Instead, it is a result of criminal justice policy and its failures (PRI, 2023). Overcrowded prisons

undermine the facilities’ ability to provide essentials like medical care, food, and housing to their

inmates. Recreational activities, educational programs, vocational training, and rehabilitation

programs are all compromised. Prison population rates are influenced by the overuse of pretrial,

and the use of prison for minor, petty offenses (PRI, 2023). Another issue with overcrowded

prisons is overworked, overly stretched staff in a high-stress environment. This occurs not just

because of the number of inmates, but the lack of staff to help with supervision to ensure the

prison is operating smoothly, and keeping everyone safe inside and out.

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Significance of the Problem

like food or request more funding from taxpayers, inmates, and their families.

Overcrowded prisons are unsanitary and violent leaving inmates to be harmed both

mentally and physically (Macdonald, 2018). Why should anyone care about prisoners’ well-

justice system to make sure they reenter society with the right tools to be an asset to the

community, rather than a miscreant. Prison was designed to hold offenders until they were no

longer deemed a danger to society, in other words, rehabilitated.

Currently, depending on the facility an inmate is charged a fee daily, in Virginia Beach for

example it costs three dollars a day for rent (Payment of costs associated with prisoners' keep,

2003/2010). So, depending on the length of their sentence the cost can become astronomical. If

they can not afford to pay it during their incarceration, which is often the case, then they will

have all that debt as fines to pay back when they leave prison to reenter society. Depending on

the amount some prisoners are not released until fines are paid which without an income or at 30

cents an hour working in the prison, is not feasible. Also, if a family member puts money in their

account thinking they will get money for items or on the phones, the debt is subtracted first and

if any money is left over that is what the offender may use to get underwear or whatever they

may need. With debt like this, the offender often finds other illegal means inside or out to earn

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the desired income to stay afloat causing them to stay or return to incarceration for more time.

bars. How is this helping downsize the prison population? How is it helping rehabilitate

more solutions was yesterday.

Correctional Officers

it hard to keep prisons staffed properly. Correctional officers who suffer from post-traumatic

stress disorder have been estimated at nearly 50% (Smith, 2022). It is common for a CO to have

a number of psychological disorders develop during his or her career such as post-traumatic

stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder (ASD), a precursor to PTSD. As a result of

overcrowded prisons, there is a greater risk of infection from the prisoners and a greater risk of

stress and mental health problems for COs (MacDonald, 2018). There is a high risk of heart

disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, and the risk of contracting infectious diseases

among COs (Smith, 2022). Correctional officers see some horrific things in prisons and with

overcrowding they become witnesses or even victims rather than the ones that stop the incident,

punish the wrongdoers, and protect the victims. They undergo more violence, stress, and burnout

than most individuals in other careers. Sometimes the risk is more than witness, more than victim

of trauma, but rather the loss of their life. When prisons become overcrowded and resources

become scarce, prisoners become desperate, and desperation holds no bounds. Why would

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anyone want to go into this field, let alone continue to work in these conditions and be

their families, and society as a whole. Rather than contributing to the economy in 2018, 2.3

debt they may never be able to repay (Resney, 2019). Taxpayers pay roughly 80.7 billion dollars

a year to keep the corrections system (jails, prisons, probation, and parole) operational (Resney,

Jails are for crimes that an offender only needs to be housed for a year or less, or while

awaiting judgment. Prisons on the other hand are for longer and more harsh sentences because

they house serial felons and violent criminals that need more secure measures to keep society

safe (McLeod, 2019). Are prisons overcrowded because there are that many violent criminals

and serial felons? Is the entire prison population in there because they are a danger to society?

These are the questions that need to be addressed when trying to solve this problem. McLeod

(2019) suggests that legislation needs to address laws and modernize them to reflect what the

world needs to be safe now, not what made it safe 30-plus years ago. That would be one step to

helping at the front end of this problem, but more needs to be done. Front-end strategies for

overcrowded prisons are to prevent crime from occurring. So, what needs to be done? The focus

needs to be on reform and reducing the number of prisoners. Why not just build more prisons to

house the inmates? The problem is not that there is not enough space to house prisoners, but the

fact that there are too many in prison, to begin with. There are a few solutions to this issue. These

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include the use of probation services, providing outpatient and inpatient mental health services,

turning them into halfway houses, or workforce release housing would be more beneficial to help

overcrowding is to attack the problem from all angles.

Do Nothing

get worse and cause other problems along the way if not treated properly. By doing nothing,

inmates will continue to get sick, self-harm, resort to violence, and commit other illicit activities

within the prison. There will be consequences for the department, the budget, and for

stakeholders if this continues to be ignored. Furthermore, more tax dollars are going into the

running of prisons, and more prisons will become privatized to focus solely on incarceration

rather than rehabilitating offenders to become more productive members of society.

Impact on department

Continuing to overlook the issue of overcrowding in prisons will only continue to have a

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death at an all-time high. Prisons are understaffed and order is expected to be maintained by COs

when it is constantly someone new. Some prisoners will take advantage of this situation.

Budget has remained a significant problem in regard to prisons in the United States. By

allowing prisons to become overpopulated, the already limited budget to keep a prison running

will be unable to keep basic functioning to house its inmates in the upcoming years. The prisons

will see cutbacks on quality food inmates, cutbacks on programs for education and rehabilitation,

increases in rent for prisoners, and increases for purchasing supplies such as hygiene and

underwear if nothing is done. Having the budget stretched so thinly will have inmates and their

family in state of desperation trying to survive, it will cause prison staff to leave to find better job

opportunities, and the rise in population will only continue to grow as offenders continue to

reenter the system. Prisoners will reenter the system due to lack of budget for reforming

programs. Despite the fact that incarcerating chronic, violent offenders does contribute to public

safety and crime control, increasing the use of imprisonment for nonviolent offenders does

contribute to public safety and crime control, increasing the use of imprisonment for nonviolent

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easier to maintain and follow through with budget and action wise. In this approach, the factors

of inmates and helping them get proper help. Once this is an active routine practice in all prisons

health will make an impact on the department, stakeholders and the budget.

Impact on Department

The impact this would have to the department is that there will be new training, new

routine, a few extra steps to learn and follow. An implemented approach to the department could

be as simple as hiring more Cos to minimize burnout from being overworked and understaffed.

Trying to assist inmates with mental health and substance abuse can help the department run

more smoothly. By addressing medical and mental health concerns like that of substance abuse

and psychological issues operations can run more smoothly. Less violence and more stable

inmates with clear minds will make for more predictable situations for COs to know how to keep

them safe. Having medical facilities properly diagnosing and treating inmates will significantly

reduce the number of incidents in prison and can help an inmate be able to reform. Less chaos,

less pressure means fewer turnover rates and burnout for staff. There are a number of poor health