America's Overcrowding Prisons

Prisons in America have been overcrowding. It's a known fact. And with overcrowding comes problems with security and lack of resources for every prisoner.

Prison isn't just a place for punishment. It's a place for criminals to learn a trade that will sustain themselves in society, and to rehabilitate. It's a place that gives them a second chance.

Well, it should be a place for those things. But the issue with overcrowding is that prisoners don't have access to all the resources they need, and security is dwindling. With so many prisoners to look after, security guards can overlook crimes that occur in prison, like rape and abuse among the prisoners.

Prisoners can also more easily escape with less security watching them.

Overcrowding prisons are a serious threat to society. But what can we do about them? Well, there's no easy short-term solution. Overcrowding has resulted in the early release of some prisoners by the government to make room, which can definitely cause problems. These prisoners may not be ready for a release yet.

Some criminals with an extensive criminal record do not belong on the streets. Yet they are there, free to commit more crimes to society. They are there because of overcrowding prisons.

We can't just make more prisons-- those will fill up eventually, too. And what does that say about the US as a country? That we'll simply contain crime, not do something to prevent it?

Besides, we don't have the money to make more prisons. It takes about $80,000 to maintain one prisoner every year, and if you take that amount and multiply it by the thousands, it really adds up. That is our tax money, going to give criminals a place to live.

Instead, we could take the $80,000 a year and put it into education. We could use it to create better environments for the next generation, to make them more successful so that they won't commit as many crimes because they don't grow up in an environment riddled with crime. This is only a long-term solution, and we'll have to wait for the next generation to prove it to be true.

For now, our prisons stay overcrowded and dangerous. For now, there is a higher risk of prisoners escaping. For now, prisoners are released early and before they are ready to create more room for others.

I just thought that would be something you'd want to be aware of. The reasons there is so much crime in the first place, is that people with extensive crime records are our streets. Those people should be locked up.

They should be, but it's not that simple.

Thank you and have a great day.