Courts continuously send people to prisons due to different offenses. Most correctional facilities face the challenge of hosting more inmates than they should. Prisons are not only expected to maintain inmates in a secure and safe place but also offer rehabilitative services as the prisoners prepare to leave and become responsible citizens (Albrecht, 2012). Overcrowding in prisons, therefore, has devastating results ranging from quality of rehabilitative programs to health and even discipline. This paper will review corrections by considering problems associated with overcrowding in prisons.
Overcrowding causes many challenges to the management of prisons. To solve the issue of congestion, it is essential that one outlines and understand in depth the problems that come with overcrowding in correctional facilities. Critical questions to consider before allocating people to prisons should be their safety, security, and human rights to make sure that the environment is habitable. Firstly, overcrowding reduces cell space by occupying more than the capacity (Albrecht, 2012). In this case, there is diminished bed space making the situation under which inmates sleep deplorable. In instances where a room had been designed for single occupancy but ends up occupied by about three or four, it means that the conditions under which they stay are extremely uncomfortable.
Secondly, overcrowding leads to a shortage of human resources. Prison contain criminals who need constant observation to prevent the occurrence of unpleasant actions such as fights, bullying, and drug abuse. With the increasing numbers, the ratio of the wardens to that of the prisoners continually drop. Such a scenario encourages the emergence of lawlessness in the facilities since surveillance is limited. Prisoners become harder to control as the numbers increase. Staff resources are also very essential in facilitating programs that enhance rehabilitation among the prisoners (Lugo & Wooldredge, 2017). With limited personnel, it hard for the facilities to promote personalized care to the convict to enhance total rehabilitation. Correctional officers in overcrowded prisons cannot effectively execute their duties and fail to interact with victims more sufficiently and positively.
Thirdly, overcrowding poses a risk to the safety and security of inmates. In overpopulated prisons, cases of assaults and bullying are more rampant than those that are less populated. One of the causing factors is fewer staff resources as well as the scramble for essential supplies. In these facilities, commodities such as beds may be scarce hence causing problems among inmates an aspect that may lead to fights and instances of bullying. Also, because of overcrowding, prisoners can plot a successful prison break, due to lack of prison staff. Prisoners can also attack the correctional officers and escape since they are many.
Further, health risks are imminent in overcrowded prisons. As the prisoner’s numbers increase, it becomes difficult to provide healthy meals. Thus, many may lack critical nutrients as a result of poor diet. Sanitation in prisons commonly causes a significant health risk (MacDonald, 2018). Since the facilities are not built to accommodate as many people as they end up doing, they lack proper sewerage system to facilitate effective sanitation. As a result, diseases such as cholera break once in a while due to poor sanitation and hygiene. Overall, overcrowding has many adverse effects on health ranging from sleep-related issues, nutrition, and sanitation. Overcrowded prisons have also been associated with stress-related conditions such as depression. Research has been done to demonstrate the relationship between overcrowded prisons and diseases such as blood pressure, related illness complaints and other psychological conditions (MacDonald, 2018). Prisons have been associated with different kind of health issues considering the level of hygiene, aeration, nutrition, and stress among others.
Overpopulation in correctional facilities affects individual inmate behavior. Congested environments are likely to cause stress on the inmate hence causing adverse conduct among the prisoners. The terror of crowding rises as a result of a fear of bullying and the inability to turn off unwanted stimuli such as noise and idleness. Inmates develop different ways to deal with stress, but most likely these methods are unhealthy to the development of ethical behavior. Therefore, overcrowded prisons usually increase aggression among inmates as they compete for resources. Such an environment may promote violence which in the long run becomes part of the individual personal character (Madoc-Jones et al., 2016). In many cases, prisoners develop defensive mechanisms which may include ganging and withdrawal.
Additionally, as the management of prison attempt to deal with the issue of overcrowding, some inmates have been harmed in the process. In prisons with little or no space left, prisoners are not classified regarding security but unfortunately according to the available space. Depending on the kind of offenders, some tend to be more violent than others hence may end up harming their cellmates physically or psychologically. Such misclassification has adverse effects on the process of correction on individuals. Classifying maximum security inmates as medium security may have negative implications on the progress of correctional attempts on the inmates (Madoc-Jones et al., 2016). Mixing of such prisoners also makes it difficult on the part of the management to develop effective correctional programs suitable for all the prisoners. Misclassifications due to overcrowding give inmates wrong labels which bring along negative connotations that adversely affect their progress.
Another problem of overcrowding always overlooked is noise pollution. In a place where thousands or tens of thousands are concentrated in a small facility, noise is inevitable (Albrecht, 2012). In this case, the sound is at times more since prisons contain the communities’ psychopaths and criminals. Noise emanates from walking, talking, televisions and radios as well as the voices of people yelling at each other. In many instances, prisoners bang metal grills on their door hence making the conditions unbearable regarding noise. Many prisons floors are tiled, the entries are made of metal bars, dining tables, chairs and beds are metallic hence produce a lot of noise shaping the environment very stressful. Excess noise reduces interactions in prisons. Research shows that people discussed more private issues in a softly furnished environment rather than a hard and noisy one (Albrecht, 2012). Noise reduction is therefore very critical in the process of improving interpersonal relationship which promotes behavioral change.
Other problems arise in the quest to decongest these prisons. For instance, one of the most commonly used methods of decongesting prisons is through releasing the inmates before sentence is adequately served. Several considerations are made before a prisoner is released. For instance, prisoners must have demonstrated a change in behavior. However, with this incentive in mind, inmates may pretend for some time seeking early release. Once outside, the convicts become a danger to the community in that they are likely to continue with their old vices hence endangering the lives of other citizens (Lugo & Wooldredge, 2017). Despite efforts to ensure that only the ones that are eligible are released, the system may not effectively eliminate fraudsters hence making it entirely ineffective. The government, therefore, should consider improving the criteria for selecting the individuals to release.
Since most prisons are overcrowded, even the prisoners who are released once their time is due sometimes are not ready to integrate into the community. As earlier discussed, overcrowded prisons cause negative behavior such as withdrawal. Withdrawn inmates are likely to experience challenges in integrating into society once they are released. Notably, this is because many are not fully rehabilitated since correctional facilities are unable to thoroughly address individual problems as prisons have much work than they can handle (Madoc-Jones et al., 2016). When such convicts are released, they are likely to go back to crime hence making it a cycle of release and arrest. Indeed, as a result of overcrowding, correctional facilities can be termed ineffective.
In conclusion, overcrowding has adverse problems for inmates and even the community at large. The issues include health issues, competition for items such as food, noise pollution, psychological torture, physical harm, and a shortage of human resources among others. These limitations hinder the process of rehabilitation and promote negative behaviors making the method of correction not only difficult but also ineffective. Although there have been several measures to mitigate the problem of overcrowding, their implementation should be done carefully to ensure efficiency.