Can Prison Reform Solve the Overcrowding Issue?

Prison
overcrowding  has been a wide-ranging topic in the United States for
decades now. This issue has been the contributing factor to prison violence,
safety endangerment, increase in psychological problems, poor health care, and
lack of rehabilitation. Overpopulated prisons have been a common topic in the
media and has come to be a controversial issue. Is Prison Reform the answer?
Will it indeed improve the penal system that has been operating in injustice?
 “Prison Reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, while
establishing a more effective penal system or implement alternatives to
incarceration” (Wikipedia) . I have chosen three sources to explore and engage
with, to understand this topic more in depth. The first article was written by
Andrea Caumont who works for Pew Research Center titled “ Chart Week: The
Problem with Prison Overcrowding”. The second article is titled “Are California
Prisons Punishing inmates based on race?” it comes from ProPublica and was
written by Christie Thompson. The last article is titled “Underfunded,
Overcrowded State Prisons Struggle with Reform” comes from USA News Today
written by Gaby Galvin. In these articles I will review keys points and
understand the correlation between the three sources.

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Social media editor, Andrea Caumont, has several publications. Caumont works at the Pew Research Center and explains her job on her LinkedIn profile as collaborating with the researchers, and writers to research compound information into content that is easy to absorb with a broad audience being the target. “ Chart of the week: The problem with prison overcrowding” is an article that was written by Caumont in August of 2013 and, published by Pew Research Center on their website. In this article Caumont discusses the problem with prison overcrowding world- wide. Caumont interprets the prison occupancy chart, taken from The Economist Magazine, published on August 1, 2013. Caumont focus starts with the hunger strike initiated by the California prison inmates, in response to “solitary confinements state policies at the state prison”(Caumont). Furthermore, she discusses the U.S Supreme court ruling, stating that overcrowding was an issue of cruel and unusual punishment. Caumont references many issues resulting from overpopulated prisons such as disease(TB), increased inmate misconduct,  and lack of meaningful work opportunities to name a few. She distinguishes the rise in prison population from 1978 to 2009 from 307,276 to 1.6 million. Caumont uses concrete factual information in the article. Logos is most prevalent through the article as she uses statistic-based findings. However, there are some points in the article where she uses pathos and ethos. In the article she paints a picture to the reader with the “ hunger strike” (Caumont),the prisoners initiated. The reader is able to feel some emotions from this. Ethos is exhibited when Caumont references the reader attention to the U.S Supreme court ruling. Throughout this article Caumont analyze other sources who provide precise information based on other studies.
           The
second article, “ Are California Prison punishing inmates based on their race”
was published in ProPublica in April of 2013, by Christie Thompson. Thompson
has written several articles mainly on prison issues in the United states, not
limited to immigration, and criminal justice topics. Her work has been
published in several outlets such as The Atlantic, New York Times, NPR in
addition to ProPublica. Thompson was the recipient of the George Polk award for
Justice reporting in 2016. In this article Thompson does an analysis and
breakdown of California prisons coding system that is used to separate
ethnicities, and medical complications, that led to lawsuits. This “color-coding”
system includes six different colors, these colors are placed at the top of the
inmate cells as a way to know the ethnicity of the person occupying the cell(Thompson).
State and Federal courts have ruled against the system a number of times. There
has been reports of at least 5 jails in California using this same color-
coding system. Prison personnel have made claims that this system helps to keep
race- based violence to the minimum and prevent assaults/thefts. This claim was
in response to a lawsuit, however legal advocates argue a different claim, stating
this system sounds much like “ segregation days”(Thompson). Federal officials
backed up these arguments conveying this “ color-system” was flawed, and
inequitable way for inmates to be kept. “California overcrowding was
contributed to race- based lockdowns”. Subsequently, the color-coding system
was “ severe enough to constitute cruel and unusual punishment and required the
state to cut its prison population”. Thompson provides another lawsuit claim,
that had an analysis conducted limited physical exercise for inmates. In this
lawsuit, an inmate complained of “muscle atrophy and muscle pain”, due to lack
of exercise. Thompson discusses, state official’s denial that lawsuit claims
were indeed race-based. With the countless number of lawsuits being brought forth,
Thompson, interview many different people on this issue. There are several
strong points made by Thompson. She gains her readers attention with thought-
provoking evidence.
Thompson
uses pathos, logos, and ethos in grabbing the reader’s attention. She uses
logos  when she provides evidence and fact-based information like when she
states” the analysis found that nearly half the 1445 security-based lockdowns
between January 2010 and November 2012 affected specific racial or ethnic
groups”. Thompson uses  pathos frequently throughout this article, to
illustrate the suffering of inmates like when four inmates went to the hospital
after a fight broke out. This article produces many credible outlets including
resources that provide statements and evidence.
           The
third article is “ Underfunded, Overcrowded State Prisons Struggle with Reform”
by Gaby Galvin, who is a staff writer for US News & World Report. The
article was published on July 26, 2017, on the US News & World Report
website. Galvin begins this article with discussing the death of a correctional
officer during a prison riot and puts focus primarily on the Delaware prison
system. The main point she is making in the article is that prison overcrowding
is  a burden not only for prisoners but it, also, stresses correctional
officers, and ultimately makes the entire system fail when it comes to the
program, care, treatment, and rights of prisoners. Galvin elaborates on the
riot that took place at the prison, and shows the use of pathos, as she reconstructs
the sequence of event that took place on the day the correctional officer was
killed James T. Vaughn Correctional Center. She states that his death was a
catalyst in getting the Delaware legislation to take a public stance on issues
that inmates have been complaining about for some time like abuse and health
concerns.  She examines the overcrowding prison population as well as the
high turnover rate of corrections officers in the prison, correlating them with
the cause of many of the issues that were occurring there. For example, she
uses interviews to show that staff were sometimes burned out and inmates had
programs and other rights taken because of overcrowding and understaffing
issues were safety risks. She uses logos when she gives statistic-based
information when she gives Bureau of Justice Statistics data. This article is
very credible and informative. Rhetorical analysis shows that Galvin includes
statistic-based information and conducts interviews with credible people.
           In
concluding the analysis conducted on my three sources I have found that all of
the sources used a substantial number of rhetorical tools. All three of my
sources were very credible and provided concrete information. The claims that
are made in each of the three articles correlate with a point or two that the
other had touched on. Caumont claims are based primarily on statistical
information. Caumont details how federal prison population decreased before
increasing three years later. Galvin has a similar idea, that agrees with
Caumont, stating a slight decline in 2015 and predicts an increase due to the
political leanings of the new Presidential administration. Moreover, Caumont
discusses the forced release of some of the prisoners in California
correctional facilities due to practices considered cruel and unusual
punishment and Thompson cites this ruling as well. She states that the Supreme
court made the ruling after California “color-coding” system targeted
race-based lockdowns. Caumont, however, neglects to mention this detail, and
gives a small amount of detail on this issue, as Thompson goes more in detail.
Thompson gives the reader a better picture on how the California prison system
treated their inmates. While all sources discussed prison overcrowding, I don’t
feel a solution was ever achieved. Prison reform can, indeed, be the answer to
prison overpopulation, but I think the key element is taking apart the system
and looking at the foundation in which the system was built. First starting
with the sentencing guidelines that incarcerate people for things such as child
support.  Second, the bail system should not be a monetary device in all
situations. For instance, a DUI offender with no harm to person or property
should be released the next day or there should be a program to take them to.
Third, jail officials and all judicial officials should work to rehabilitate
instead of incarcerating and locking away everyone without clear, unbiased, and
just guidelines. The justice system clearly needs much work before true prison
reform can take place. Prison reform can work if we acknowledge that we have
failed many people and move forward with new solutions as a true united nation.
Let’s make Prison Reform great.!
Works
cited :
Caumont, Andrea. “Chart of the Week: The Problem of Prison Overcrowding.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 7 Feb. 2014, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/08/02/chart-of-the-week-the-problem-of-prison-overcrowding/. [Accessed 11 October 2018].Thompson, C. (2018). Are California Prisons Punishing Inmates Based on Race? — ProPublica. [online] ProPublica. Available at: https://www.propublica.org/article/are-california-prisons-punishing-inmates-based-on-race [Accessed 11 Oct. 2018].Galvin, Gaby. “Underfunded, Overcrowded State Prisons Struggle With Reform.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 27 July 2017, www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-07-26/understaffed-and-overcrowded-state-prisons-crippled-by-budget-constraints-bad-leadership. [Accessed 11 October 2018].