Prisons are overflowing with murders, pedophiles, rapists, drug dealers and felons of the kind. When we think of prisons we tend to think of chains, shackles, bars and tight security with barbed wire and spiked fencing. In most prisons there is an increasing problem with overcrowding which is forcing penitentiaries to seek alternatives in how to deal with excess criminals. Current prisons are becoming so overcrowded prisoners are getting relocated to out of state prisons or being “Let off the chain,” with shortened sentences. What is prison turning into, a game of Monopoly with a, “Get out of jail free card?” Prisoners have certain rights which come with costs in order to keep their facilities clean and safe. However, with overcrowding, the economic cost of building new prisons doesn’t seem plausible. When does allowing dangerous prisoners to be released out of jail based only on terms of overcrowding seem right?
People against getting out of prison early for minor crimes think the aspect of not receiving the full extent of punishment for their crimes may send the wrong message to offenders. For example, “Prison governors urged that offenders convicted of crimes that carry a sentence of six months or less should not longer be jailed, as prison population surged to a high” (Travis 7). As stated in the quote, prisons are lessening the sentences of criminals who otherwise would still be left in jail. Inmates who are let out of jail early due to their sentence being 6 months or under seem to be just getting a slap on the hand and sent home. Letting prisoners out of jail early is against personal beliefs some people think, "We need to prevent the overloading of the system to the point where it becomes impossible to manage the necessary educational, training and employment work which will avoid those leaving prison to reoffend” (Travis). Personal beliefs are a large part of legal decisions and influence the judgment about who should be getting out of jail.
People pro moving prisoners out of jail early who committed minor crimes, financially help the economics of our already in-debt society. For example, the article, “Campaign for an Effective,” states, “We believe that a wider network of intermediate sanctions is needed to create opportunities for offenders to repay their victims and their communities...such sanctions could be used to control and rehabilitate offenders who would otherwise be incarcerated at great expense” (Clark). Another example, specifically in Arizona, illustrates how Mexican nationals convicted of crimes are being held at in state prisons at the taxpayers’ expense. With the rise of inmates in Arizona it is becoming increasingly expensive to house every single prisoner due to the fact that, “The state is currently spending more than $16, 600 a year to house each inmate” (Travis). With the costs of keeping prisoners becoming a problem due to the already growing budget some critics are coming up with ideas in order to cut costs and move Mexican inmates who are not legal citizens back across the border. When it comes to the skyrocketing costs of housing inmates, Howard LaFranchi, staff writer of the Christian Science Monitor says, “Officials figure they could shave 30 to 50 percent off operational costs with a Mexico-based prison,” showing that if Arizona were to move prisoners who are not legal citizens into a prison in Mexico the costs would be dramatically lower.
The demand for cells in prisons has reached an all time high, and it is pushing less dangerous but still harmful people back out into our cities and hometowns. James Wootton, president of Safe Streets Alliance says who is against lessening sentences says, “Experience shows clearly that the first step in fighting crime is to keep violent criminals off the street. Keeping violent criminals incarcerated for at least 85 percent of their sentences would be the quickest, surest route to safer streets, schools and homes.” The aspect of the revolving door becomes apparent with some people because letting prisoners out of prison early who have not changed will only commit the same crime or worse again and be back in prison. Mike Newall, governor of Durham prison and PGA chairman, is pro lessening sentences of prisoners. He said,
“The governors wanted to keep short-sentence offenders out of prison, not to deal with overcrowding but because there was little they could do to tackle their offending while they were inside for such a short period of time. All we can do in a matter of weeks is assess people. Those who are neglected by society we can clean them up and start them on another path but that could be done better in the community" (Travis 7).
This makes clear how giving out lesser sentences to offenders in order to push them out of prison makes room for the more dangerous convicts such as murders or rapists. Newell states, “Criminals should be coaxed back into society and taught how to live correctly if they did not commit a crime that is worthy of 6 months or less of jail time.” Newell is describing how he thinks prisoners who have short sentences are usually not the most dangerous criminals in prison and can be easily let out.
In some circumstances pertaining to overcrowding, states such as Arizona, Florida, and California have to increasingly send their inmates out of state to find empty cells simply because their states do not have enough room to house all their prisoners. For example, Bob Weier, a Hawaiian convicted of armed robbery, was sent to be incarcerated at the Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona. An example of how prisoners are sent around the United States in search of empty cells due to overcrowding in their own state would be best described by Bob Weier’s travel. He states that, “Since his imprisonment 12 years ago on Maui, Mr. Weier, 53, has served his sentence in prisons in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Arizona. He last saw his daughter 11 years ago and has five grandchildren he has never met” (Moore 1). This illustrates how prisoner’s families are being destroyed due to the fact that they are being moved from one state to the other only because they need to make room for other inmates.
Many people believe that releasing criminals early before their sentences is wrong and there should never be a question about who gets to have a lesser sentence. For instance, “Government statistics on release practices in 36 states and the District of Columbia in 1988 show that violent offenders received an average of seven years and 11 months imprisonment, but only served an average of two years and 11 months in prison,” (Clark). This makes evident how offenders who are considered to be violent on average were released from jail as early as five years before their assigned release date. When prisoners are released early there will be a high percentage of them who will commit crimes again as soon as they get out. Wootten states that, “A three-year follow-up of 108,850 state prisoners released in 1983 from institutions in 11 states found that within three years 60 percent of violent offenders were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor.” This revisits the aspect of how releasing criminals early will only not teach them to not act properly in society, but will give criminals the idea that they get away with more than they previously thought.
On the other hand, the people who are pro for letting prisoners out early are firm on their beliefs that it will be too costly in order to build new accommodations for the already overloaded prisons. Corrections director Terry Stewart’s argument is that, “The average prison costs $34,000 a bed in Arizona to build,” which will turn out to be too costly and only put the state farther into debt (Danziger). Delaware governor Pierre S. du Pont believes that, “The prison overcrowding crisis presents an opportunity for a fundamental reshaping of the (Unites States) corrections philosophy which we cannot afford to pass up,” because we will not be able to build enough prisons for a growing population (Danziger). If nothing is done about decreasing the amount of people who commit crimes worthy of jail time, the levels of inmates will keep steadily rising and then the U.S. will have to build even more prisons after the ones they are planning to build now. Du Pont’s idea of using old tactics that worked in the past included, “The get-though-on-crime philosophy espoused by the Reagan administration” (Danziger). His idea includes the thought of teaching children what is right and what is wrong at an earlier age so future generations may move backward in the paths of violent offenders who are in and out of jail their whole lives. Du Pont also supports keeping prison populations lower in order to not be forced into building costly new facilities. He proposes, “The pre-eminent goal of the criminal justice system must always be to incapacitate the violent predator and career criminal” (Danziger). When examining Du Pont’s point he means, we should work on eliminating the people who are repeat criminals and it will begin to lessen the overcrowding problems of prisons.
Penitentiaries around the United States are becoming increasingly crowded and have several several viewpoints on how this situation should be handled, but whether the prisoners are let out early based on the severity of their crime or held for the full extent of their punishment something still needs to be done in order to decrease the amount of criminals there are in the prisons overall. These alternatives to dealing with the overcrowding of prisons is subject to debate across America and is a true problem in Arizona with increasing costs and numbers of criminals going up each year. Something will need to be done about either keeping criminals in jail or allowing them to be released whether it is building new prisons, lessening sentences, moving prisoners who are not legal residents across the border, or simply getting tougher on crimes to keep prison populations to a minimum.
Popular Sources
Danziger, Gloria. "Prison Crowding." Editorial Research Reports 1987. Vol. II. Washington: CQ Press, 1987. 393-408. CQ Researcher. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1987080700>.
LaFranchi, Howard. "Arizona Plans to Export Mexican Inmates." Christia Science Monitor 17 June 1997, International: Pg. 8. Print. LexisNexis Academic.
Moore, Solomon. "States Export Their Inmates as Prisons Fill." New York Times 31 July 2007, Final: Pg. 1. Print. LexisNexis Academic.
Travis, Alan. "Governors plead for cut in jail sentences: Overcrowding in prisons spurs call to revise sentencing." Home Affairs 1 May 2002: Pg. 7. Print. LexisNexis Academic.
Wootton, James. President, Safe Streets Alliance. From “Truth in Sentencing,” Heritage Foundation State Backgrounder, Dec. 30, 1993 web source.
Hello Everyone! I created this blog and website for my english 102 class at the University of Arizona. Our assignment was to pick a public argument and talk about the opposing sides in a controversial analysis paper. I then created this website to convey my ideas from the classroom to the general public. i hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to post your own comments or material!
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