Social Problem of Prison Reform: Government's Role & US Economy

This essay examines prison reform as a social and governmental issue in the United States, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. It identifies blind injustice as a potential cause and compares different forms of incarceration, including confinement to correctional facilities and pretrial detention, assessing their helpfulness. The essay highlights the negative economic impact of high incarceration rates, arguing that the social costs outweigh the benefits, especially for non-violent crimes. It also critiques federal and state policies, such as strict parole rules and contracts with private prisons, that contribute to the growing prison population. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for strategies that focus on correcting behavior and reintegrating offenders into the community.

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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

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of individuals who have committed petty and non-violent crimes. A numerous number of
scholars argue that the best strategy would be employing a strategy of correcting such
individuals and then integrating them with the community members.
There are certain policies that have contributed to the high incarceration rates in the
United States. For instance, there is a federal policy that stipulates that a prisoner cannot be
accorded the federal parole if they have not served at least 80 percent of their sentence
(Travis, Jeremy, Bruce and Stevens, 3). Such a policy means that the number of prisoners
will only continue growing as the rate of incarceration will be higher than the rate of release.
The second policy has been observed in the state governments. This involves forming
contracts with private prisons that a certain number of prisoners will be supplied to the
private prison by the state government within a certain period. This demonstrates the
willingness of the state governments to ensure that more and more people are arrested. It is
sad that the number of prisons is almost more than those of educational facilities. The other
policy is that of mandatory minimums. These provide for the least applicable sentence for a
crime of a certain nature. This contributes to the incarceration of more people since the law
must apply to every case.

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References
Clear, Todd R., and Natasha A. Frost. The punishment imperative: The rise and failure of
mass incarceration in America. NYU Press, 2015.
Moore, Ryan. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colour-blindness. Macat
Library, 2017.
Travis, Jeremy, Bruce Western, and F. Stevens Redburn. "The growth of incarceration in the
United States: Exploring causes and consequences." Routledge, 2014.
Wagner, Peter, and Bernadette Rabuy. Mass incarceration: The whole pie. Routledge, 2016.