Prison Reform: A Social Problem and Government Responsibility

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PRISON REFORM SOCIAL PROBLEM AND GOVERNMENT
Prison is still an issue in America. This is because the United States has one of the
highest incarceration rates in the world. The rate is about 693 of every 100000 people (Clear
and Natasha, 9). Extensive analysis of the issue has revealed that the problem could have
been brought by the issue of blind injustice (Moore, 7). This refers to a situation where
people are wrongly convicted. There are different types of incarceration. One of these is
confinement to a prison or a correctional facility. In these kinds of facilities, there is high
security to prevent the imprisoned from escaping. There could also be hard labour associated
with this form of imprisonment. This form is not helpful. The approach that is helpful is that
of influencing the inmates to change their behaviour for the better (Wagner, Peter and
Bernadette, 4). The other form of imprisonment/ incarceration is the pretrial detention. This is
where a person is detained before their case is heard and determined. It is usually done to
prevent the individual from interfering with the case. For instance, the individual will not be
able to interfere with the witnesses. This form of incarceration is usually helpful.
Incarceration affects the economy largely in a negative way. As seen above, the
incarceration rate in the United states is one of the highest. While it is true to say that the
rates of crime have increased, the level of incarceration seems unreasonable and unjustified.
The governments spend a lot of resources building prisons and maintaining the inmates. From
an economic point of view, comparing the social benefits of incarceration to the social costs
of the same, the high incarceration is unjustified. This particularly applies to the incarceration