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Of late, the U.S. correctional system has come
under critical public scrutiny and politicians,
policy makers and social scientists are scrambling
to find ways to establish effective correctional
programs. High recidivism rates, the growing issue
of substance abuse in prisons and the inability
of prison management in correcting the offender,
unprecedented increases in the number of women
prisoners, the community reentry of hundreds of
thousands of prisoners annually are some of the
factors that have garnered the attention of policy
makers in reviewing the correctional policies
and programs. The paper attempts to examine problems
and issues affecting the correctional system so
as to understand the ineffectiveness of today’s
correctional system.
The Ineffectiveness of U.S. Correctional System
The ineffectiveness of the U.S. correctional system
in dealing with criminals is apparent in the increasing
incarceration rates in the country. It is estimated
that over 2 million individuals are presently
locked up in prison or jail. Statistics reveal
that, the per capita rate of imprisonment in America
has increased four-fold during the past 25 years.
[Cohen, 2001] “After 300 years of the American
struggle with crime and punishment-related issues,
the nation seems less able to deal with them now
than at any other time in history,” observes
criminology expert Alexis Durham in his book Crisis
and Reform: Current Issues in American Punishment.
[Durham, 1994]
Issues and Problems Affecting Corrections
The Opinion survey conducted by the Florida Department
of Corrections (1998), among the general public,
news media and the department of corrections staff,
though specifically identify the most important
issues and problems facing Florida's Corrections
System, can be considered to be indicative of
the problems affecting American corrections industry
and research suggests that the problems have been
aggravating over the years.
According to the survey, over half of the general
public who responded (56.5%) said overcrowding
and early prison release/gain time/parole are
the biggest problems in the Department of Corrections’.
The news media (56.1%) also considered these to
be the biggest problem in correction, however,
placed a greater emphasis on overcrowding than
the early prison and parole related issues. The
corrections staff identified over-crowding, lack
of education and rehabilitation programs of inmates
and lack of good employees as the problems in
corrections leading to the inefficiency of correctional
system. [Florida Department of Corrections, 1998]
Discussed below are the major problems, including
the above as well as other issues, that are identified
by different researchers studying the problems
in U.S. corrections.
- Overcrowding; lack of prison space —Prison
overcrowding is perhaps the biggest and most cited
problems faced by the U.S. corrections systems
today. Considering the estimated increase in the
prison population during the turn of the millennium,
Robert J. Ohlemiller, deputy commissioner of the
Indiana Department of Corrections, observes that
the conditions in U.S. prisons are widely expected
to worsen in coming years as a result of overcrowding
[Cited Cohen, 2001]. While overcrowding by itself
implies lack of prison space and proper supervision
of the incarcerated, it also suggests the failure
of criminal justice system in dispensing the primary
duty – control of crime in society.
- Early prison release/ parole facilities-- Early
prison release and/or parole facilities are considered
to increase the rate of incarceration as the released
prisoners early and parolees are not properly
rehabilitated and prepared to re-enter communities
and often return to prison. [Durham, 1994]
- Lack of proper and effective rehabilitation
programs – Recent studies suggest that only
that rehabilitative treatment involving cognitive
behavioral therapy is effective in correcting
the delinquency of offenders, so that they become
law-abiding citizens and in the process reduce
recidivism. However most of the prisons and correctional
institutions lack the necessary trained staff
for devising and implementing effective rehabilitation
programs [Ryals, 2003]
- Comfortable and easy prison conditions, redundant
inmate rights -- As Ed Cohen reports in his article
the public today consider prisons as places of
punishment, where criminals get their “just
desserts,” than as resources for rehabilitation.
[Cohen, 2001] Hence, a view gaining ground in
policy debate is that if prison conditions are
unpleasant, possibly that will discourage people
from committing crimes. The involvement of human
rights agencies involvement in the prison management
have led to the establishment of more comfortable
and easy prison conditions, which alleviates the
effect of incarceration on the offender.
- Drugs and substance abuse and lack of drug rehabilitation
programs – While about eighty of crime in
the United States is driven by substance abuse
and substance addictions, it is estimated that
about 60-85 percent of individuals under the supervision
of the American corrections industry are addicted
to alcohol and/or drugs. While most of the correctional
officers may be aware of the situation, it is
reported that the corrections industry continue
to support the heavy use of alcohol and drugs
the addicted inmate quieter and earlier to handle
as compared to the ones seeking recovery, education
and training, life skills, and release from the
institution. Moreover the life of the guards and
other staff is easier and wealthier if they support
the drug and alcohol culture in correctional settings.
[Buddy, 2004] This situation points to the need
of a dedicated approach and attitude on the part
of correctional officers to change the substance
abuse habits of the offender.
- Short and light sentences; need for long and
tough sentences – The prevalence of short
and light sentences for offences can be considered
to be one of the main causes for increased recidivism
and incarceration rates. Though the advocates
of short sentences claim that ‘certainty
of arrest’ is more important than the length
of incarceration, researchers confirm that longer
and tougher sentences would reduce crime rates
due to three reasons [Blumstein, Cohen, and Nagin
1978]:
- Incapacitation – the offender cannot re-offend
while incarcerated
- Specific deterrence – long and tough incarceration
dissuade released offenders from committing additional
crimes; and
- General deterrence -- The knowledge of punishment
discourage potential offenders from committing
crimes
- Increasing female offenders – The female
offender population in American correctional system
has increased dramatically over the past two and
a half decades. According to studies by United
States Department of Justice incarcerated women
have some needs that are absolutely different
from the needs of men. This is due in part from
women's disproportionate victimization from sexual
or physical abuse and in part from their responsibility
for children. These issues place added burden
on the corrections system. [ Morash et al, ]
- Inmate control issues; Redundant inmate Rights;
Problems posed by gangs or security threat group
(STG) – It is reported by researchers that
the Supreme Court has gone too far with inmate
rights leading to may inmate control issues within
the corrections. While the issue of gangs in prisons
remains to be studied in detail, today all states
report some level of a gang or security threat
group (STG) problem in their correctional system
leading to such issues as increasing occurrence
of employee/staff assault, racial conflicts between
gangs etc. [Knox,1999]
- Lack of adequate funding – Lack of adequate
funding is also often suggested by correctional
staff as the main problem affecting corrections.
However, while this may be a problem in many prisons,
and implementation of educational and training
programs are greatly affected research suggests
that the issue is much less significant as compared
to the attitude and foresight of correctional
staff towards offender correction. [Buddy, 2004]
- Understaffed Prisons, Lack of good and dedicated
employees – As Robert J. Ohlemiller is reported
to have said, ‘understaffed prisons are
dangerous.’ However, even as correction
department tries to make up the staff requirement,
recruiting and retaining employees is becoming
increasingly difficult day by day. [Cohen, 2001]
The quality of staff – the commitment and
proficiency – is another problem affecting
the corrections system today.
- Poor leadership and lack of employee morale
– Leadership is crucial to the success of
any organization, it is crucial to corrections
as well. Corrections management today lacks effective
and result oriented leadership, capable of inspiring
and motivating the staff and inmates towards achieving
correctional objectives. [Jacobs & Olitsky,
2003]
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