Prisons Slipnots

Right now in the United States of America murderers, rapists, and child molesters are being set free. Prisoners are watching T.V., eating a meal, and using exercise equipment while law abiding citizens are starving and living in the gutters. Prisoners even have their own periodical. Dangerous criminals are walking the streets and crime is a way of life to many Americans. In America, crime does pay because our nation's prison system is not working.

The nation's prison system must be changed because of major problems with the system such as overcrowding and the fact that early release programs do not work. Building more jails is expensive and does not solve anything. These problems can be solved by giving prisoners no chance for parole and imprisoning only violent offenders. The non-violent offenders should enter a work program for the duration of their sentence. Since 1980, jail and prison populations have grown by 172 percent (United States 11 Sept. 1994). Overcrowding is both inhumane to the prisoner and dangerous to the prison staff. When you put a lot of people, especially criminals, in close quarters tensions rise and the chance of a riot increases. If a riot occurs both prisoners and guards are put in danger. In some states, the jails are full. There is an estimated backlog of 29,000 state prisoners who are incarcerated in county jails awaiting new cells in Texas. (Brida 24 Nov. 1994) Texas is not the only state with overcrowding problems. For example, Ohio's prison system is operating at 180 percent of capacity. (Varnam 16) Also, the federal prison system is 37 percent over-capacity (Clark 4 Feb. 1994). Statistics like this are found across the country. Prisons should have two results; 1. Keep dangerous criminals off the streets and 2. Create a deterrent for committing a crime. Our system has failed to do either. Early release programs let prisoners out of jail before their sentence is complete. This promotes good behavior in prison and keeps the prison population lower. However, many released prisoners just commit another crime and are returned to jail. In 1992, one in three state prison admissions was a probation or parole violator. (Byrne 50) Also, a special report from the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics stated: State courts in 32 counties across 17 States sentenced 79,000 felons to probation in 1986. Within 3 years of sentencing, while still on probation, 43% of these felons were rearrested for a felony. Half of the arrests were for a violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault) or a drug offense (drug trafficking or drug possession). This proves that the current system puts dangerous criminals back on the streets without being rehabilitated and that imprisonment is not a successful solution. Although it is a step in the right direction, criminals should not be allowed to break the law three times before they are punished. It would be a much greater solution if they were not offered parole at all.

Prisoners should not be given a parole opportunity. Criminals should know that if they are convicted of a crime they will not be able to get out early. This creates a heavier punishment for people who are considering criminal acts. It would also assure that dangerous criminals are kept behind bars longer and therefore given a better chance at rehabilitation. Some could say that having no parole would cause prison population to increase even more, but not if only violent offenders were imprisoned Violent offenders are the prisoners convicted of crimes in which a victim was emotionally or physically harmed, for example; murder, rape, or child abuse. They are dangerous and need to be incarcerated. Non-violent offenders are the criminals convicted of crimes such as embezzlement, drug possession, or petty theft. These non-violent criminals should be put into work programs. There is plenty of work to do on both the national and state levels. Road crews could be used to build and repair roads. National and state parks always need manpower to build and improve on their lands. The possibilities are endless. Where these criminals would be housed? Since they will only be working in an area until the work is done, they could build their own temporary shelters or stay in tents. Texas is currently implementing this by putting hundreds of inmates to work on land owned by Texas Parks and Wildlife (AP 24 Nov. 1994). It could be argued that this would take jobs away from the public. Actually work programs would create jobs. The prisoners would not be skilled at building roads, buildings, or whatever so they would need almost constant supervision by experienced workers and the final work would have to be done by skilled workers. Extra security would also be needed to preserve the guard to prisoner ratio, therefore creating even more jobs.

What would the violent offenders be doing while non-violent offenders are out improving communities and supporting themselves? They would be working towards self-support as well by farming their own food, doing prison maintenance, and getting psychological help for their rehabilitation. However, they would be allowed no extracurricular activities, no television, and limited contact with the outside world. Having prisoners farm their own food will not only save money, but also teach prisoners that they can have productive lives. Prisoners already