The issues facing prisons in contemporary America are broad and interconnected. The interconnection, coupled with misinformation and hysteria in media and the general public, makes it difficult to address these issues, especially for policy makers. In this essay, I am going to look to three pieces of the issues facing modern prisons and briefly discuss what, if anything, can be done to help resolve the issue.
Often times, the first dilemma that comes to mind is prison overcrowding (Florida). Prison overcrowding is also, possibly, the hardest issue to cover as its cause can be traced back to numerous places, and it is difficult to say which, if any, are the true cause. Luckily, however, there are a few key causes that are known and can be addressed …show more content…
According to a poll of correctional officers in Florida prisons, about 12% (possibly higher) considered the lack of good employees to be the most important issue facing the system. For comparison, the highest value, or prison overcrowding, sits at around 14%. Unlike overcrowding however, it is much easier to trace the root cause of poor employment down so it can be resolved. Often times the cause is the high stress/intimidation environment, low pay, and poor management, which easily drives away good employees, leaving only those uninterested in their work, but desperate for the paycheck, which can lead to further corruption. A helpful anecdote is one by Kevin Miller, a former South Carolina Lieber Correctional Institution officer, who, after being assaulted on two separate occasions and being diagnosed with PTSD, quit because of the harsh working conditions (P&C). He states that, “[T]here's not much you can do because people just keep leaving. It just gets worse and worse and it's going to continue to get worse.” While this may simply be a more isolated issue, it certainly begs the need for an improvement in staffing at all correctional institutes, both for the safety of inmates and …show more content…
According to a Florida Department of Correction’s poll of civilians, media, and correctional staff, there is a massive disconnect between those working in prisons and those observing them (most often civilians follow along with the media). This gap easily ensnares policy makers who are more concerned with elections and hot-button issues than real concerns. A prime example is the previous topic where I discussed employment issues, which, unlike the 12% of correction officers who see it as a problem, only ~0.3% of the public sees it as one. Furthermore, understaffing, morale/leadership of correction officers, underfunding, inmate control issues, and a lack of rehabilitation programs are large margins between the views of correction officers and the general public. Simply put, armchair wardens prevent any real change from occurring and inhibit the possibility of prisons improving in the near
Often times, the first dilemma that comes to mind is prison overcrowding (Florida). Prison overcrowding is also, possibly, the hardest issue to cover as its cause can be traced back to numerous places, and it is difficult to say which, if any, are the true cause. Luckily, however, there are a few key causes that are known and can be addressed …show more content…
According to a poll of correctional officers in Florida prisons, about 12% (possibly higher) considered the lack of good employees to be the most important issue facing the system. For comparison, the highest value, or prison overcrowding, sits at around 14%. Unlike overcrowding however, it is much easier to trace the root cause of poor employment down so it can be resolved. Often times the cause is the high stress/intimidation environment, low pay, and poor management, which easily drives away good employees, leaving only those uninterested in their work, but desperate for the paycheck, which can lead to further corruption. A helpful anecdote is one by Kevin Miller, a former South Carolina Lieber Correctional Institution officer, who, after being assaulted on two separate occasions and being diagnosed with PTSD, quit because of the harsh working conditions (P&C). He states that, “[T]here's not much you can do because people just keep leaving. It just gets worse and worse and it's going to continue to get worse.” While this may simply be a more isolated issue, it certainly begs the need for an improvement in staffing at all correctional institutes, both for the safety of inmates and …show more content…
According to a Florida Department of Correction’s poll of civilians, media, and correctional staff, there is a massive disconnect between those working in prisons and those observing them (most often civilians follow along with the media). This gap easily ensnares policy makers who are more concerned with elections and hot-button issues than real concerns. A prime example is the previous topic where I discussed employment issues, which, unlike the 12% of correction officers who see it as a problem, only ~0.3% of the public sees it as one. Furthermore, understaffing, morale/leadership of correction officers, underfunding, inmate control issues, and a lack of rehabilitation programs are large margins between the views of correction officers and the general public. Simply put, armchair wardens prevent any real change from occurring and inhibit the possibility of prisons improving in the near