No Room in the Inn…
This week’s post will be our last. Hope you’ve enjoyed the news posted here. This week’s ARTICLE focuses on the Kentucky Department of Corrections overcrowding problems. Since we’ll be talking about parole later this week I thought it appropriate. Apparently the State of Kentucky is pretty much over capacity for most of its jails and prison prompting a move by the DOC to fast track the early release of some 500+ inmates.
These are some of the issues we’ll talk about on Wed. The state of TX was in a similar predicament in the 1990’s (their answer was to build a ton of new prisons). Which is better? Building more prisons, releasing inmates earlier than planned…or maybe you have your own suggestion…
Well it is evident that overcrowding is unsafe and putting criminals in an unsafe environment leads to very unsafe conditions. In Kentucky, the prisons are not overcrowded by a few hundred but by over 1,000 people. They are housing more than double the capacity.
I do not think that building a ton of new prisons is the right idea, but maybe a few so they do not have to let such a large number of criminals out. Releasing inmates that are not dangerous and have not gotten in trouble while being in prison, I can understand early parole. These certain people getting early parole should receive harsher penalties. But the ones that are in prison for parole violations should not be released as they will probably just violate their parole again and end up back in prison anyways. This is a touch topic to think about.
Overcrowding is a huge problem that exists within our criminal justice system. When jails and prisons are overcrowded- it can lead to increased violence, harder conditions on the inmates, and worse guard to inmate ratio. Kentucky is facing the extreme of overcrowding at the moment.
I do not believe that building new prisons because we have found that people are more likely to go back to prison once one leaves prison. Thus, we need to find alternatives for people who commit crimes, so they do not continue committing crimes. If that is through different rehabilitation programming options or changing parole alternatives for lesser offenders. Overall, I believe that building more prisons is not the option for overcrowding.
It would be interesting to learn about the effects of Texas building new prisons. Obviously there are many issues with overcrowding in prisons and needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I think releasing inmates on early release is a better idea than building new prisons because some people are in prison for drug charges, some non-violent, and I believe there cases could be reevaluated so they can receive early release. However not everyone in those cases should be released because not all or non-violent. Once the inmates are evaluated on whether or not they can be release I think if more action needs to be taken, create halfway houses are put some inmates in rehabilitation programs for the inmates. Instead of releasing over 500 inmates put them into different programs to prepare them for life outside of prison.
Seeing as overcrowding has been a problem within the United States criminal justice system, it is apparent that releasing some of those criminals who have done close to their sentence, or who have more minor crimes than others would be a benefit to many. As noted in the article, overcrowding can cause safety concerns within the individual facility and this can lead to other problems along the way. Having the jails and prisons both open up due to this problem I think it would be a good idea to release them. While it may not be the best idea to release them straight back out into society, there may be room to address cases/sentences individually and decide which method of reintegration or rehabilitation would work best for their release.
When I read, “State prisons are all operating at 98 percent and 107 percent capacity” I thought to myself “and let me guess, they’re understaffed as well?” My concern is that they are considering contracting with private prisons. I would honestly rather have them build their own jails/prisons because private prisons have such a bad reputation. But, it would not surprise me if almost every state said they were over capacity.
I actually think this article is really interesting! My boyfriend is from Kentucky. Over the years, in conversations with him, I always viewed Kentucky law enforcement as tough on crime.
Therefore, for one, it doesn’t surprise me that the prisons are overcrowded, however, I would more so expect Kentucky to go down the Texas road versus releasing inmates (building more prisons).
Though, the more I think about it… I wonder if Kentucky could afford to build more prisons?
Nonetheless, I think releasing inmates is the route to take. However, I do fear recidivism if reintegration is not worked on.