FREE ESSAY ON DO PRISONS HELP THE CRIME WAVE?

DO PRISONS HELP THE CRIME WAVE?

Do prisons teach people to become worse criminals? Many people think that a prisoner is
taught how to be a better criminal while in prison. Prisoners are integrated with people
that have committed worse crimes than the ones that they have committed. The bigger and
better criminals teach the others what they need to learn to survive prison life. There
are many other aspects of prison that can make a prisoner worse than when he or she went
in. Are prisons helping to stop the crime wave?
For starters, prisons around the United States are extremely overcrowded. Wyoming is a
good example of overcrowding in prisons. We have had to send a number of prisoners to
Colorado because we have run out of room to keep them in Wyoming. The number of people
sent to prisons were for drug offences more than violent crimes(). Some people are saying
that making some drugs legal, such as marijuana, would decrease the number of prisoners
drastically. There are also evidence that even though they are in prison, they can still
buy and sell drugs. It has been found that 80% of drug offenders that have received
sentences in New York have never been convicted of a violent felony or committed a
violent crime. It was found that one in four drug offenders in prison was convicted of
simple possession (Human Rights Watch). 
Are prisoners learning prejudice in prisons? There is evidence of this. Some civil rights
organizations are calling for renewed scrutiny of the segregation policies of many state
and federal prisons, charging that they inadvertently promotes growth of hatred and serve
as recruiting grounds for supremacist groups. David Novak, a man who spent a year in a
federal prison camp, said that it left an imprint of racial intolerance on him. He said
he felt compassion for the three white murder suspects in the killing of James Byrd Jr.
in Jasper, TX. Two of the three allegedly have made ties with white-supremacist gangs
while they were behind bars. Novak said, "In prison it is easy to fall into such groups
(Prejudice in Prisons). 
Prison officials acknowledge that cell-blocks are often segregated by race. Putting
members of rival gangs together not only endangers the prisoners, but also the lives of
the guards and the very security of the institution. Texas is the nation's most
integrated prison. In 1987, a federal district court ruled to ban cell-block segregation
in the state. Since the ruling went into effect, prison murders have dropped by half to
an average of five per year (Prejudice in Prisons).
There is argument that life in prison isn't actually all that hard. It's more like a paid
vacation than a punishment. While in prison, everything you have is paid for by the
government. The food is free, the cable is free, the clothes are free, and you even get
to lift weights and work for money. If you want, you can even get an education while in
prison. Many prisons offer a chance to get your GED or even a college education. Prisons
are equipped with library's that have computers that the inmates can use.
There are many issues concerning weightlifting in prison. These are things such as
inmates using size and strength gained from weightlifting as a weapon against guards,
other inmates, or the public upon their release. People do not want their tax dollars
being used to provide gymnasiums and new weight rooms for felons. Weightlifting equipment
could be used as a weapon against guards or other inmates. Weightlifting equipment could
be used as a tool to escape. And most of all, prison is not supposed to be a "nice
place." We do not want them to come back again and again (Strengthtech).
Some incidents have occurred from weight lifting in prison. Such as, in a Ohio prison
riot, inmates used weightlifting bars to batter down a concrete wall protecting guards.
One of the guards was killed. In a New York prison, fifteen correctional officers and ten
inmates were injured in a gymnasium when a fight broke out between two inmates
(Strengthtec). It seems that by allowing prisoners to have these luxuries, they are only
making themselves stronger and making it easier for them to escape. It may also be
telling them that it is okay to go to prison. 
Another bad thing about prisons is there is no segregation between HIV/Aids victims and
non HIV/Aids victims. Prisons around the world have grossly disproportionate rates of HIV
infection and of confirmed Aids cases. For example, in the United States in 1994, there
were 5.2 cases of Aids per 1,000 prisoners. This is nearly six times the incidence found
in the general adult population (Human Rights Watch). Not only do people entering prison
tend to have a relatively high incidence of HIV, prisons provide a perfect breeding
ground for transmission of the virus. High risk behaviors, such as injecting-drug use and
unprotected sex, including coerced sex, are common in prisons around the word. Health
care is usually substandard and sometimes nonexistent. Rather than providing prisoners
with prevention tools, notably condoms for safe sex, and liquid bleach for sterilizing
needles and syringes, prison administrators frequently bar the entry of these items. Even
HIV/Aids education, which could help prisoners understand their vulnerability to the
virus, is rarely found in the world's prisons (Human Rights Watch).
There is also the question of private prisons, and whether they are worth having. With
promises of big savings, private prisons seem to offer a solution. But opponents of
private prisons say that the truth lies where the money is. For private corrections
business, inmates equal dollars. When the profit is being jeopardized when there aren't
enough inmates, private facilities will take anyone from anywhere to ensure that their
revenues exceed their expenses, regardless of the inmate's classification or whether or
not the facility and staff are prepared for them (Corrections.com). Some feel that some
issues are being ignored when comparing the costs of operating private facilities and the
costs of operating public facilities. These include the amount spent on government
monitoring of private operations which is conducted by government personnel, unemployment
benefits for former corrections officers who lose their position as a result of the
private takeover, the continued reliance by private firms on government services to
address issues such s public health problems, riots, employee strikes, and chasing after
escapees (Corrections.com). Some private corrections firms may under represent projected
costs and over represent estimated savings to generate new business and beat out their
competition. So it seems, that prisons should not become private prisons after all.
The rise in the prison population in recent years Is remarkable given that crime rates
have been falling nationally since 1992. With less crime, one would assume that fewer
people would be sentenced to prison. This has been overridden by the increasing impact of
lengthy mandatory sentencing policies. Such as, mandatory minimums, the "three strikes"
policies, and "truth in sentencing," which requires certain offenders to serve 85% of
their prison sentence (Sentencingproject.com).
Due to the fact that prisoners are starting to serve more of their terms, they are
getting tired of waiting around in prison. There is overcrowding, causing uneasiness in
prison gangs, because they are having to integrate. Prisoners are being taught by other
prisoners tricks of the trade, and are coming out worse criminals than they were before.
They are also coming out bigger than they were before because they are allowed things
such as weight machines and gymnasiums. And why wouldn't someone like to go to prison? In
prison everything is free, and it's an easy life. Therefore, I don't believe that putting
more people in prison for more and more crimes is the answer. Prisons don't deter people
from committing crimes, they only teach them better crimes.
Bibliography
http://www.mcc.org/
http://www.sentencingproject.org/
http://www.esva.net/
http://www.csmonitor.com/
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
http://www.ncjrs.org/homepage.htm
http://www.corrections.com/