War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding Analysis (Essay Sample)

War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding Analysis in the State Of California
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War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding Analysis in the State Of California
In the recent years, the issue of overcrowding prison facilities has become a growing concern in the U.S. The number of inmate population has substantially increased in many correctional facilities in the country owing to the escalating crime rates in many states. As the law enforcement tactics improve every day, there is much concern that the prison facilities may experience difficulties accommodating the huge number of the inmates streaming in (Engel, 2014). Overcrowding of the prisons in the country is associated with various negative consequences to not only the inmates, but also the government. Although there exist several offences that drive people into the prisons, the war on drugs in the country has played a major role in promoting the overcrowding of the prisons in the country. This paper seek to analyze how the war on drugs in the U.S has contributed to prison overcrowding in the state of California and discuses on the workable approaches the government and the relevant bodies can employ to mitigate the issue.
According to statistics, drug convictions in the U.S are the largest contributor to prison overcrowding. In the 1980s, drug convictions rate was 15 inmates per hundred thousand adults, a number that rose to 148 inmates in 1996 (Engel, 2014). Today, it is estimated that more than half of all the America’s federal inmates are in prisons owing to drug convictions. Despite the huge convictions on drug charges, the huge penalty has become a massive failure by overcrowding the country’s correctional facilities without having any substantial impact in reducing drug abuse in the country. In California, arrests of drug abusers have sent many people into prisons. More so, the youths are currently considered the biggest culprits to the issue. Drug abuse and peddling have not only exposed people to arrests, but has also contributed to increases in crime in the state, which has accelerated the rate at which inmates are filling up the prisons for drug use and drug related crimes charges. According to reports, a 33 adult prison system in California held 143, 000 inmates in 2006, a figure that was excessively much for a prison designed to hold 80,000 inmates (Thompson, 2011).
The overcrowding situations in the Californian prisons have raised some concerns in the recent years. Different bodies such as the U.S Supreme Court have called for the state government to adopt ways through which it can reduce the number of prisoners to help solve the risks associated with the condition (Thompson, 2011). It is believed that the overcrowding of the prisons exposes the inmates to various risks such as outbreak of diseases and possible death, and increased inmates violence, which act against the concept of human dignity. Locking up people in prisons for having committed crimes such as simple drug possession is seen as an oblivious act that does not benefits the country, but only does more harm to the nation. Holding a single person in a California prison can cost taxpayers up to $52,000 per year (Lyman, 2013). This amount could even be bigger in the event of some catastrophes such as outbreak of diseases in the prisons. With this in mind, there is urgent need for the Californian State Government to adopt ways to reduce the number of people going to prisons. This is important as it would save the taxpayers huge amount of money, besides ensuring that the government create a suitable environment for the prisoners, as their commitment towards respecting human rights and dignity.
Various ways exist through which the California State Government can reduce the number of people going to prisons for drug related charges. One of this ways is to direct lower-level offenders to alternative sentencing programs such as community work where an individual would be required to serve his/her sentence by providing free services to the community they live in (Lyman, 2013). this would benefit the government as it would reduce the costs spent on providing community services such as environmental cleaning. Working in one’s own community would also serve a good example to warn others especially the minors from engaging in drugs to avoid being publicly exposed as drug abusers while serving their prison terms providing free services to the community. The second way would be to establish drug reform programs to treat drug abusers especially among the youth instead of sending them to prison, which has proven not to help reducing the drug nuisance in the country. It is estimated that having a drug treatment program would cost the government $120 million per year to accommodate and treat 24,000 drug offenders (Schrag, 2001). This is beneficial, as it would cut down prisons operating costs by approximately $265 million and further provide a better solution not only to the offenders, but also to their families and community at large. Establishing school based drug education programs can also be an appropriate approach to address the use of drugs among the minors and consequently reducing the number of young person going to prison. This strategy is simple as it only involves ...