Trends in Correction

Though the lack of jobs has increased poverty, hence an increase in crime rates, new policy reforms have led to changes and trends in correction facilities. This concept is based on the fact that mass incarceration is the main factor in prison overcrowding.

For over a decade and a half, we have been on the first-row seat to some major trends that have plagued the country. One of them can be highlighted as the rapid growth of increasing numbers of inmates transitioning from police practices to criminal sentencing. Due to the increasing growth, some correctional systems have been pushed to their limit to salvage the crisis. An emphasis on economy and cost control has been taken into account as another trend; realizing that arresting and arraignment can be worth a lot of money and may impossible to raise those amount to push through with the cases, the community has taken matters into their own hands and dealt with the problem by minimizing costs whatsoever. This paper tends to tackle recent trends in correctional programming. It specifically looks at current practices, how the trends have modified the sector, and the effectiveness of the new trends in the correction. Policy change and how they have improved the system will also be discussed in the paper.

                                   Inmate Population Increment

Inmate populations comprise of various subpopulations, each requiring its unique programming requirements. Growth among inmates has led to the categorization of inmates in correctional facilities, mainly elderly inmates, young inmates, and female inmates.

Elderly Inmates

Increased sentences and restrictions on parole releases are among the causes of the elderly population’s increment in prisons. The expense of incarceration for the elderly is three times that of young offenders, particularly medical care expenses. Some correctional facilities, such as The Hocking Correctional Facility in Ohio, have specially crafted facilities to meet the elderly inmates’ demands. As one of the significant roles performed by prison facilities includes preparing the offenders better for release into society through programs, especially for the significantly advanced inmates.

Pre-release preparation and aftercare have been integrated into prison mainly because, if an elderly inmate is released from jail, and they have been serving a more significant sentence, the community which they return to will be lagging. Taking a criminal through this transition can be difficult due to their low cognitive capabilities and physical difficulties. Elderly criminals may be solely dependent like the young inmates and may require some assistance in carrying out their day to day tasks. Other aftercare concerns include access to medical services. The integration of specially designed facilities for the elderly and the pre-release preparation programs are correctional facilities’ trends.

Young Inmates

Young offenders present a challenge for the correctional facilities, mainly featuring their developmental growth, emotionally overwhelmed, physically deteriorated. Some of these young inmates, if not all, tend thinking that maturity is for the old, and it’s only live once mentality and end up making a bad call on various decisions. In some cases, they end up engaging in altercations among themselves. There should be basic programs that will change them, for instance, education and job training. These individuals will dedicate their time to do good with themselves other than bringing themselves down. Various juveniles are required by the law to be part of these programs, especially educational programs, while others have attained 18 years and have begun path towards work career. There are measures to be taken to prevent any interruption caused by the offenders’ institutionalization. If reintegration is successful young offenders are provided with supportive and directive services.

Female Inmates

In most cases, women have been linked to the minority groups, whereby they face challenges of drug abuse, sexual assaults, which may lead to them triggering their acts. Unlike the male species, female inmates tend to hold on to childhood memories, which may be harmful or useful, or in some cases, hold on to the abuses they faced. According to statistics, around 6% of these female inmates are pregnant when serving their jail time, hence the importance of developing nurseries for infants in female prisons. Despite giving birth in prison, these women usually face a hurdle of being separated from their infant, causing anxiety and depression. This has brought a sense of urgency for these women as they typically take responsibility for their under 18 years. There have been growing concerns regarding female prisons’ maternal duties as they advocate for family visitation in prisons.

Cost Saving

Despite having increasing numbers of people in prisons, there have been increased expenses as far as prison is concerned. Government officials and other stakeholders have come up with the following recommendations to cut down costs.

Correctional facilities have a very straightforward approach:  Cutting costs by eliminating some programs and staff. There is a belief that prisons are too comfortable, hence introducing punishments to push out inmates from their comfort zone and make prisons more effective.

People can agree that technology has and still changing the landscape of our modern life and correctional facilities bear no exception. Computerized technology can be seen as a catalyst in delivering a broad spectrum of instructions vastly modified to meet an individual’s requirements. The technology also plays a role in managing these correctional programs to make work more effective and efficient. Records of inmates have been digitized to cut the budget in employment as the record-keeping department is mitigated.

The privatization of facilities has also been among the significant developments of the century. Privately run correctional facilities have gained popularity among people in society to capitalize on the flexibility shown by the management and innovation of this private sector. Having competition from these sectors, administrators working in public sector facilities have been forced to develop new ideas on managing these prisons.

                                          Policy Change

Across the country, there has been some up to date policy mending propositions in prisons that reconsidered the period of imprisonment, classification of crimes, and the reinstatement of voting rights for parolees.

Through a report by Justice Statistics, a moderate decrease in the inmates’ population across the country. The modification made in policy included; alterations to incarceration laws to mitigate inmate populations. The alterations clarified judgment and punishment, which is believed to influence mass imprisonment. Some states reviewed felony crimes and changed them to misdemeanors, other countries modified the required base sentencing for drug charges, while others even abolished the death penalty.

Furthermore, the numerous incarceration reform policies, many states are allowing offenders the right to vote. States like California have permitted voting rights to approximately over 70,000 lawbreakers, as stated in Assembly Bill 109 signed in 2011. Assemblies such as the Maryland General implemented the House Bill 980, which allowed voting rights to about 40,000 to its state citizens on felony probation and parole oversight. Kentucky Governor provided a legislative decree which reinstated voting rights to over 90,000 individuals who had passive felony charges. Restoration of voting rights has made the political environment evolve from being firm on crime to integrating policies with a softened view on crime judgment.

Drug reclassification was also another policy change. Governor Malloy constructed House Bill 7104 and passed it in 2015. The Bill restructured sanctions for drug charged crimes and provided judgment options for incarcerated inmates. Inclusion of new sanctions for sole possession of illegal drugs. Custody of illicit drugs is now considered a misdemeanor punishable by up to one-year incarceration for first-time offenders. The new sanctions have also widened home confinement options according to the exact amount of the drug in the defendant’s custody.

Conclusion

The drastic growth of inmate populations has led to a massive rise in offenders required by law to receive various services. This growth also has facilitated changes in the attributes of offender populations that are pertinent to programming decisions. The statistics of aged offenders, juvenile offenders, and women offenders are rising out of correctional systems. Each category has well-defined program needs both through confinement and when liberated. Finally, the prominence of cost reduction resulted in a comprehensive selection of initiatives, especially the privatization of many correctional activities.

References

Sawyer, W., & Wagner, P. (2019). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2019. Prison Policy Initiative, 19.

Gaes, G. G. (2019). Current status of prison privatization research on American prisons and jails. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(2), 269-293.