The U.S. corrections system has gone through an extraordinary growth during the last few decades. At the end of 2014, 1.5 million adults were in state, local, or federal custody, with another 4.6 million on probation or parole. Internationally. The United States has 5% of the world’s …show more content…
A number of small rural towns have chosen to tie their resources into prisons, viewing the institutions as recession-proof development. Though many local representatives cite benefits, broader research suggests that prisons may not generate the nature and scale of benefits municipalities expect or may even slow growth in some areas. Pennsylvania State University researchers created a special data set to track U.S. prison construction through the end of 1995 and examine institutions by type of facility, location, and other indicators. They found that nearly 40% (576) of the 1,500 prisons in operation at the end of 1995 were located in rural areas. Roughly 210 of those rural prisons, 36%, were built from 1985 to 1995; the height of the prison building …show more content…
The statistics on Pennsylvania prison overcrowding are as follows: Pennsylvania institutions are currently at 109.7% capacity, only five institutions are at less than 100% capacity. (ALEC) Sadly this has to do with the aging population and the recidivism rates for 18-29 year olds on probation. They are expecting that we will be at 110% incarceration rate at by 2025. Although these are the statistics for Pennsylvania this is a national issue. Pelican Bay State Prison in California is currently at 125% capacity they are sending inmates from there to Mule Creek State Prison which is actually has the lowest incarceration rate in the state at 80%. (CDCR) The inmates being moved here are non-violent offenders and are serving a maximum of 10 years. This is a desperate temporary fix for