Real Issues with Long-Hidden Mass Incarceration Issue

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The year 2009 marked the time of immense inmate reduction in the Federal Prison System, but that didn't seem to address the inversely changing problem occurring at the smaller, local level. Some municipalities have even reported rates that have tripled since 1983. But why is that?
Brentin Mock of The Atlantic calls upon the three main issues that continue to fuel the explosive growth of inmate population of jails at the city and county level that may come as a shock. 

Mock states, "Pre-trial detention is often exacerbated and stretched longer than needed because people can’t make bail, post bonds, or because they’ve missed court dates, summonses, or have misread court instructions". There has been a stark increase in the amount of inmates being held for pretrial purposes that fuels the crowding of prisons. As part of the legal process of trials, there are usually immense times between the time of the crime and the actual day the person is found innocent or guilty.When you take into account the amount of people booked for crimes each day with the rate at which cases are processed and we find that inmates who can't bond themselves out are locked for longer and people who payed to be let out begin to miss their court dates. Addressing this problem, according to Mock, would help free an astonishing 30% of inmates in local prisons.

Another crucial issue igniting the overall problem finds itself embedded in a sort of side business conducted between wardens at the local level with those at the state and federal. Because outsourcing of state prison operation has been handed to individual parish sheriffs, there are many contracts enacted years ago that relocate prisoners to local prisons in spite of diminishing federal prison levels. Another study shows that 15,700 jail cells at the local level are held for criminals of immigrations and deportation-related crimes. When adding these amounts together, we find that some local prisons are housing more than half of inmates who more than likely should and will be held at the state and federal level or even let out at some point. 

Alongside the potentially unnecessary levels of incarceration of non-violent, treatable crimes and the absence of alternative-to-incarceration programs, we find that the amount of prisoners at the local level does not match the amount that is actually supposed to be there given the falling rates of federal inmate levels. If we address these issues, we may find that we can free up a lot of space at both levels and work to solve this epidemic to society.


Source:
Mock, Brentin. “Why Jails Are Booming.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 1 June 2017, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/why-jails-are-booming/528837/

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 2, 2017 at 8:52 PM

    Aye Myat Mon
    Anthony,
    I think it's very interesting to read this view about the three main issues fuelling the outrageous growth of incarceration rates. How would you tackle the first issue? What do you think is the best solution to free the 30% of inmates in pre-trial detention?

    ReplyDelete

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