More prisons?

Summary:

·       In 2005 nearly 5 million people were on probation or parole.

·       Also in 2005 there were 10.2 million arrests.

·       Many of our criminal justice systems policies are ill-conceived, ineffective and even destructive in the long run.

·       In 2005 1.43 million people were housed in state and federal prisons.

·       Federal and state prison populations have increased a total of 4% from 2004 to 2005.

·       On study showed that for every $1 spent of taxpayers money, they saved $17.20 in costs related to crimes.

·       There can be little dispute that incarceration 1.4 million people has resulted in a decrease in community crime.

·       One study found that the 300% increase in federal and state imprisonment resulted in a 27% decrease in crime rates between 1972-1996

·       Steve Anos estimates that a 10% increase in imprisonment will decrease crime 2-4%

·       Operating costs for a prison in 2003 was 68 billion total and $22,650 per inmate for a year.

·       Some indirect costs of incarceration are the spreading of disease

·       One study found that female spouses spent $292 per month to support someone in prisons.

·       Imprisonment of women has jumped 47% compared to 30% of men and this has had a devastating effect on families.

·        In 2005, 101,000 inmates were housed in privately ran prisons representing 6.7% of the inmate population in America.

Reflection:

            On its face the answer to this question appears obvious. Should we build more prisons? Well if our population continues to grow and if police continue to do their jobs along with judges continuing to sentence convicted offenders than yes we should. For someone to say hands down no we should not build more prisons seems to be suggesting that we should arrest fewer people, or prosecute fewer people that have been arrested, or perhaps we should stop sentencing convicted offenders to prison. While I am all about developing different methods for dealing with minor non-violent offenders and drug users, that does not mean that I am suggesting that we stop incarcerating those convicted of crimes that warrant incarceration.

            Yes prisons cost a lot to maintain, but they also provide jobs, and many programs allow and require some inmates to help improve their community such as picking up trash along road ways. Yes the incarceration of a mother or father husband or wife can be devastating and costly to some families but it seems like in those situations we are blaming the system instead of the fact that a person committed a crime and was convicted in accordance with state and federal laws. It is wrong to demand perfection of the system. Just because his family is going to be negatively affected by his incarceration should we simply ignore the crime a meth dealer commits by selling meth? Furthermore, should we not care about the families this one man has negatively affected as well? The world population continues to grow at an alarming rate as does the American population. Population grows and crime seems to go hand in hand. We must not look away from those who choose to break the law rather on the topic of building prisons, we must build in accordance with the amount of criminals prosecuted and convicted.