Prison Overcrowding Social Sciences Essay Research (Essay Sample)

Overcrowding in the Prison System
Institutional Affiliation
Authors Name
Introduction
           Today, the number of prisoners in the United States supersedes the number of farmers. According to research conducted by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “Over the past 40 years, the number of people held in prisons and jails in the United States per capita has more than quadrupled, with the total number of people incarcerated now surpassing 2.3 million.2 Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has risen 700%, a rate that far outpaces that of the general U.S. population and crime rates. Every state and the federal government have seen a massive increase in inmate populations in recent decades. Currently, one in 99 adults are living behind bars in the U.S., and one in 31 adults are under some form of correctional control, such as prison, jail, parole, or probation.” CITATION PAU19 \l 1033 (WILSON, 2019). On the other side, one in every thirty-one has a criminal record that greatly affects their chances of securing employment leave alone loans. Another huge percentage is under some sort of correction control like parole or probation. It should however be noted that prison overcrowding is not a result of increased crime rates but the current and operational criminal justice policies. Overcrowding in prisons is just a ticking bomb, but why wait while we can detonate it before we are out of time? 
Contracting Private Prisons
           “Research has discovered that, rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average saving from privatization was only about 1 percent, and most of that was achieved through lower labor costs. Nevertheless, there were indications that the mere prospect of privatization had a positive effect on prison administration, making it more responsive to reform.” CITATION Jam16 \l 1033 (Coventry, 2016). Governments that have previously contracted the services of private prisons agree that this single move cuts down operational costs by a stunning 13%. This directly translates to reduced taxation fees imposed on the citizens. Prisoners get to enjoy quality food, good healthcare services, direct counseling, and good space since there is no overcrowding. They also get to receive more literature materials as they serve their sentence. I believe that contracting private prisons is the future of our prison system.