The other day, I came across a disturbing post as I was scrolling through my Instagram feed. It was a recent video clip of the federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York, where hundreds of prisoners were pounding on the walls, in a desperate attempt to get people’s attention.
According to CNN, a weeklong power outage had left the inmates at the federal prison “without heat, water or electricity” in single digit weather. They were left to freeze in their cells in inhumane conditions, without adequate food, heat or medical attention. It wasn’t until Feb. 4 when power was fully restored to the detention center.
Anyone can say that the inmates deserve this: to be held in cells with inadequate food or heat just because they have committed crimes. But this is just inhumane, cruel and a violation of one’s civil rights. No one, despite what they have done, deserves to be treated this way, regardless of what brought them to prison. What more could this be than an indication of why we need prison reform?
It is very expensive to run prisons. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, it costs about $81 billion annually just to run the nation’s prison system. This money goes toward running the prisons, jails, parole and probation. It is very expensive to incarcerate a person for a year: about $30,000 on average for an adult and $87,000 for a juvenile.
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With the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United States has 2.2 million people locked up in federal prisons, state prisons and county jails across the country. Our criminal justice system is mostly based on the crime control perspective of justice: focusing on the victims of the crimes and using swift and sure punishments to deter people from committing crimes. We think that the best way to get rid of crime is to lock up all criminals and law offenders in prison, rather than a focus on rehabilitation. This is why U.S. prisons are at 103 percent over capacity right now, according to Forbes. Eighteen states have reported to have prisons operating at more than 100 percent capacity.
Overcrowding in prisons is a serious problem. Not only does it lead to overspending of state budgets, it also results in poor management of the prisons. Overworked correctional workers managing an increase of inmates can lead to unsafe conditions for the people there, such as what happened at the Brooklyn Detention Center. Overcrowding can also lead to increased stress levels in inmates and staff members, which could result in dangerous and violent confrontations. Also, when there is less funds and low staff, recreation, training and family visitation programs at prisons are the first to be cut. These programs are important to the well-being of the inmates and should be kept in place. And many of the people incarcerated in have committed nonviolent crimes. Shouldn’t there be an alternative to a lifetime in prison for them?
The prison system in America is overcrowded and understaffed. It costs billions of dollars each year just to run it, numbers that will only keep rising if the our criminal justice system continues to incarcerate people even for nonviolent crimes. We need prison reform and rehabilitation — there has to be a solution to less crime than just locking up all law offenders.
Shavonne Lin is a junior at San Mateo High School. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.
Thanks for your viewpoint. However, I can't but notice that the letter is one-sided. There are a lot of complaints, but no counterpoints. Maybe there's a reason that our prison system is overcrowded. What about the recidivism rate? What has been the result to the prison population due to the repeal of the death penalty? What about the inhumane, cruel and violations of rights of law-abiding citizens by these criminals? Would you feel the same way if someone you knew were a victim of white collar crime, and their savings were swindled away? Would you hire a non-violent offender of financial crimes to work in a business?
“We estimate that Prop. 47 led to a rise in the larceny theft rate of about 135 per 100,000 residents, an increase of close to 9 percent compared to the 2014 rate,” the institute said. It said thefts from motor vehicles accounted for about three-quarters of the increase. In San Francisco, auto break-ins soared, by 24 percent last year to a total of 31,222, according to police data. https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Prop-47-is-linked-to-increase-in-auto-thefts-12989137.php
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(3) comments
This is well written and current. Exceptional.
Thanks for your viewpoint. However, I can't but notice that the letter is one-sided. There are a lot of complaints, but no counterpoints. Maybe there's a reason that our prison system is overcrowded. What about the recidivism rate? What has been the result to the prison population due to the repeal of the death penalty? What about the inhumane, cruel and violations of rights of law-abiding citizens by these criminals? Would you feel the same way if someone you knew were a victim of white collar crime, and their savings were swindled away? Would you hire a non-violent offender of financial crimes to work in a business?
“We estimate that Prop. 47 led to a rise in the larceny theft rate of about 135 per 100,000 residents, an increase of close to 9 percent compared to the 2014 rate,” the institute said. It said thefts from motor vehicles accounted for about three-quarters of the increase.
In San Francisco, auto break-ins soared, by 24 percent last year to a total of 31,222, according to police data.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Prop-47-is-linked-to-increase-in-auto-thefts-12989137.php
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.