Posted: August 9th, 2022

Current Trends in Correctional Facilities

Current Trends in Correctional Facilities.
List three major issues facing jails in the modern era. Assignment help – Discuss Each in detail.
Provide a resolution for each issue cited and do you believe these solutions are feasible given today’s budgetary restraints and concerns?

Current Trends in Correctional Facilities
Admittedly, lawful incarceration under the criminal justice system and policies focus on utmost behavioral change for offenders. The correctional facilities (jails/prisons/rehabilitation centers) around the United States are tasked with the duty to hold criminals for behavioral change and correction of character through various set programs. Notably, over the past decade, correctional facilities in the United States have failed to operate to their full capability to attain and realize the demands of the justice and principles of the criminal justice system. Therefore, this paper highlights Jails’ core issues and recommends the attainable changes to remedy the same.
According to the Federal and State law enforcement units’ statistics, the U.S crime rate has steadily increased from 2007 to 2018 at 35%. The rise in the crime rate has increased incarceration, resulting in jail overcrowding (Seigafo, 2017). The U.S department of justice and law enforcement units largely focuses on society’s security at large; the need to reform and give the criminal a second chance should not override such public policy. Despite the overall prisoners’ population drop, many facilities are still overcrowded; this because upon their release, they pose a great danger to society. The release of offenders is limited because the large population of dangerous criminals tends to remain constant. Conversely, the high-security facilities that can efficiently house the dangerous criminals are limited. The situation worsens because constructing new high-end security facilities needed to cater to overpopulation is rare due to the high financial strains involved.
Secondly, funding gaps offer another problem faced by jails and the correction facilities generally. Despite a stable economy, matters relating to correctional services rarely sees an increase in funding. In case budget reduction is needed, correctional facilities are often regarded as a prime source for budget-saving. Reasonably, funding of prisons is unjustifiable to reduce crime compared to the funding of schools and hospitals. Prison facilities are expensive to start, operate, and maintain. Therefore the low budget of prisons affects the operation of their activity. Therefore, prison facilities are outdated, old, and in most instances, the funding given is directed towards the repair of the old structures (Kaeble, & Cowhig, 2016). This becomes hard to maintain and ensure maximum security of offenders.
Thirdly the issue of staff safety and inmate violence is an issue affecting all prisons; the same is intertwined and correlates. Inmate violence and wars pose a threat to other prisoners and their staff; this violence by dangerous prisoners may result in bodily harm, deaths to staff and other prisoners, and even at worse, escape for other prisoners. During these attacks, the staff is mandated to intervene and prevent these attacks; thus, they expose themselves to other prisoners’ unthinkable danger (Bedard, Metzger, & Williams, 2016). Violent prisoners target weak inmates, staff, and systems within, hence the correlation with weakened systems’ previous aspect. These violent prisoners may take advantage and breakout due to the aging facilities that cannot handle such persons.
The aforementioned issues face relatively every correctional facility across the U.S. Safe to denote that massive incarceration does not primarily uproot dangerous behavior or create a safe society. Therefore recommendations towards the same indicate that there is a need to form other means of punishment. That a capital offender is separated from first-time offenders of minor crimes means that they can be put into separate programs from prisons. Finally, restorative justice beats the shortcomings of massive incarceration and problems that have been highlighted herein. This means prisoners shall be subjected to other means of punishment since imprisonment may create a violent character as above expressed.
References
Bedard, R., Metzger, L., & Williams, B. (2016). Ageing prisoners: An introduction to geriatric health-care challenges in correctional facilities. International Review of the Red Cross, 98(903), 917-939.
Kaeble, D., & Cowhig, M. (2016). Correctional populations in the United States, 2016. NCJ-251211. Washington DC: US Department of Justice.
Seigafo, S. (2017). Inmate’s Right to Rehabilitation during Incarceration: A Critical Analysis of the United States Correctional System. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 12(2).

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