A recent report released by the Government Accountability Office, Growing Inmate Crowding Negatively Affects Inmates, Staff, and Infrastructure, found that the Federal Bureau of Prisons operated at 39 percent over recommended capacity nationwide.
From 2006 to 2011, prison population grew at 9.5 percent, outpacing the 7 percent growth in infrastructure and new beds. Prisons are staffed at 90 percent, the minimum safe standard, reported the Madison Times.
“This severe crowding has resulted in double and triple bunking inmates,” Harley G. Lappin, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons told the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 2011.
“As of January 2011, 94 percent of high security inmates were double bunked, and 16 percent of medium security inmates and almost 82 percent of low security inmates were triple bunked or housed in space not originally designed for inmate housing.”
Overcrowding can create dangerous conditions for inmates and prison staff.
The ability to get into programming can adversely affect an inmate in several important ways. First, mental health issues, drug and alcohol or anger issues are not being addressed.
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This year’s budget provides $153 million in prisoner reentry and jail diversion programs, including $80 million for the Second Chance Act and $52 million for problem-solving grants supporting drug courts, mentally ill offender assistance, and other problem-solving initiatives.
The Obama Administration has acknowledged that, with 2.3 million people in prisons nationwide and 1 in 32 American adults under some form of correctional supervision, a new direction is needed.
One potential direction might include reining in federal over-criminalization. A little more than a century ago there were a handful of federal criminal statutes. As of 2008, there were more than 4,000 federal crimes.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the growing number of federal crimes is responsible for the rising number of people sentenced to federal prison. The U.S. population grew by 36 percent over the last 30 years.
The total federal prison population grew more than eightfold—twice the growth rate of the state prison population.
Investing in reentry services on the back-end might influence the cycle of reincarceration.
However, only bold—forward thinking—initiatives on the front-end will lead to real and meaningful reductions in prison populations.
Crimereport.org, 11/14/12