The Overcrowding Of Prison And Massachusetts - 1261 Words

After exploring options of which states had the most overcrowding in prisons, the best option to go with was California because states like Alabama and Massachusetts did not have current statistics. If anything, their statistics were from 2016 or 2013, making data harder to collect. Therefore, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website, the most recent report they have of the total population is as of midnight February 8, 2017. The total population is 180,885, with four of them being civil addict. Total in-custody is of 129,284 inmates, parole is 44,721, non-CDC jurisdiction is 1,022 and lastly other population #6 inmates with 5,854 (â€Å"Weekly Report of Population†, 2017). Once again looking at a weekly†¦show more content†¦This law increased the population rate in prison because not only did it affect serious crimes, it also affected those that committed petty crimes. Later on, after the prisons were so overcrowded, California ’s Proposition 36 changed the way â€Å"Three Strikes â€Å" law was. Proposition 36 allowed those to only get life sentence if their new felony conviction was serious or violent (â€Å"California Proposition†, 2017). Not only that, Martinez states that the state was then under pressure from a three-judge federal court. In 2011, the federal court ordered the state to reduce its population to 137.5 % by December 31st or be held in contempt. The judges determined that in order to meet the medical and mental health care of inmates, the only way to resolve this was to reduce prison overcrowding (â€Å"California to Challenge†, 2013). Another addition to the changes in the prison population was California’s Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, this allowed certain offenders to serve their sentence in jail rather than prison (â€Å"Realignment Report†, 2013). Before 1998, California’s state prisons were designed to house 66,000 inmates, that m eant one inmate per prison cell. Around the time of September of 1998, there were 120,000 inmates resulting in an overcrowding level of 182 %. Construction plans after 1998 were for new prisons to hold 80,000 inmates (â€Å"Accommodating†, 1995). Referring back to the 137.5% reduction that needed to be met by three-judge panel, that would mean that it wouldShow MoreRelatedThe Unconstitutional Horrors Of Prison Overcrowding934 Words   |  4 PagesUNCONSTITUTIONAL HORRORS OF PRISON OVERCROWDING. The article is preceded with an illustration of a jail cell in Texas where a prisoner would wait to be executed. The author starts her article off with a hypothetical scenario involving convicts being executed entirely based on their healthiness. She went on to reference the 2011 Supreme Course Brown v. Plata. Mayeux mentions how the most functional of prisons have a difficult time employing certified medical staff. This prison in California was builtRead MoreThe Overcrowding Of The C orrectional Facilities1730 Words   |  7 Pagesthreat to maintaining this balance is the overcrowding of prisons. In 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled that massive overcrowding of California prisons violates its prisoner’s eighth amendment right protecting them from cruel and unusual punishment (Boylan, 2015, p. 558). At the time California’s correctional institutions were at double their capacity, housing over 155, 500 prisoners in only 33 institutions (Specter, 2010, p. 194). The overcrowding of correctional facilities is one of theRead MoreThe Death Penalty Should Be Abolished1645 Words   |  7 PagesThere have been recent debates over the methods used for putting people to death and over the abolishment of the death penalty. 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In the 1840s U.S. reformer Dorothea Dix observed that mentally ill people in Massachusetts were still mistreated. â€Å"Timeline: Treatments for Mental Illness† continues, â€Å"they were incarcerated with criminals and left unclothed and in darkness and without hear or bathrooms. Many are chained and beaten.† Over the next 40 years Dix establishesRead MoreThe Crime Of The American Criminal Justice System1898 Words   |  8 Pages Over the last few decades, the American criminal justice system has seen an increase in the amount of drug offenses being committed. While the number of drug offenses have increased, the amount of resources for addicts who are in prison have not. Although it has been made clear that drug abuse and crime are linked, the justice system has co ntinued to punish offenders, rather than allowing them treatment. 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Despite this, statistics suggests that overall reported crime rates have remained relatively stable. (Fortner, 2013). A question is raised then, as to why incarceration rates would be on the rise despite little change in crime. This essay will attempt to answer this question and to make sense of the Prison Industrial