Truth in Sentencing Laws Causing Prison Overcrowding

Truth in Sentencing Laws

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Institution

Truth in sentencing laws are laws designed a way to get tough on crime. Before they were enacted, convicts rarely served their entire prison sentence but were instead released prior due to prison overcrowding or because of good behavior. These laws stipulate that convicts should serve a substantial portion of their prison sentence, precisely 85% regardless of their behavior while in prison (Dhamarpala, 2009).

Before the enactment of the truth in sentencing laws, the power to release prisoners before the completion of their sentence was bestowed on parole boards, but this has now been taken away by the laws and placed with the sentencing judge. The process of enacting truth in justice laws was particularly driven by the argument that paroling a criminal after serving only a small fraction of their prison sentences highly undermines the extent of the victim's trauma (Klingele, 2010). This is not helped by the rising rates of recidivism in the society today.

What effect do these laws have on our prisons today? It is believed that the prison population has been directly affected by truth in sentencing laws. The consistent population growth has subsequently resulted into prison overcrowding, a reported increase of crime within the prison walls, and escalating government expenditures on the building and maintenance of federal prisons. This is money that could be used effectively for rehabilitation programs and education.

Prisons should be an institution where criminals are taken to reform and rethink their perspective on life. Overcrowded prisons compromise on this cause. This is simply because overcrowded prisons increase prisoner hostility and foster a risky environment where contagious diseases can very easily spread among the prisoners in the facility. An overcrowded prison will stretch the budget, and hence other resources will thin out. A prison that holds more than its capacity will require more manpower in order to regulate the inmates and keep them secure, but the facilities do not necessarily have enough funds to get the extra help. The prison workers will then have to work overtime, which also includes double shifts. This wears the prison staff down such that they cannot stay focused, a leeway for crime to infiltrate the prisons (Jones, 1995).

When prisons are overcrowded, it implies that more than one person will inhabit a cell, and sometimes there more people in a prison than there are beds. Some prisons have resorted to turning their gymnasiums and day rooms into pseudo-dormitories, where they pack in as many beds as they can into an