Introduction
Overcrowding in the California jails is imminent and poses a threat to the safety of the inmates. This is because there is stiff competition for space and resources in jails. This builds up hostility among inmates thus leading to conflicts. Therefore, solutions to eliminate this problem of overcrowding have to be formulated. However, this requires strong political goodwill from all the relevant stakeholders. The process of decongesting correctional facilities requires careful planning to come up with the correct procedures that will be implemented to reduce the number of inmates in the correction facilities.
Factors That Catalyzed an Increase in Rates of Imprisonment
The correction facilities in the country, which include jails, probation units, and parole functions, have experienced a rise in the number of inmates over the past years. This increase was at its peak in the year 2008. Information conveyed by Pew Center for the States in 2006 showed that there were more than 2,320,000 adults in the correctional facilities. The increase in the number of inmates in these facilities had been catalyzed by drug abuse that is rampant in the US. According to Levitt, (2011), there are more inmates today due to the drug menace. Other factors that have led to the increase in the number of offenders in prisons include the radical change in the philosophical approach that corrections facilities should serve as rehabilitation centers as opposed to being centers for punishing criminals (Pollock, 2005).
Another factor that has catalyzed the increase is the general decay in levels of morality in society. Hough and Allen have cited this, (2008) as a rising notion of relativism where people seek to justify their actions based on their interpretation. This has led to torrents of youths being arrested and locked in total institutions (Levitt, 2011). The motive behind these arrests and subsequent imprisonment is to deter them from committing more crimes, but as sooner as they are arrested, a new generation takes over and the vicious cycle continues.
Measures to Decongest Prison Facilities
The Release Program
The continued existence of the human race depends on the present generation. A survey conducted to express the opinion held by the public on what should be guiding the philosophy in correction facilities found out that over 72% of the population opted that the system should be rehabilitative to the offenders rather than being a punishment facility (Hough & Allen, 2008). California has 125 jails, but they are overcrowded with offenders. To minimize the overcrowding, these jails have been releasing criminals back into the community to create space for more critical offenders. For instance, in 2006 alone, over 220,000 inmates were released.
To eliminate incidences that see the release of criminals back into the community while they have not served their sentence, the assembly bill 2819 of 2006 was drafted with the aims of providing an alternative to this problem by modifying the bill in use that allowed the release of inmates. It proposed that inmates who were to be released should work under the county release work program, which would have the following benefits. First, it would reduce crowding in the jails. Secondly, the inmates would offer valuable services to the state by giving their labor resources. Thirdly, this program would ensure that the inmates complete their sentences. Fourthly, this program will rehabilitate the inmates (Hough & Allen, 2008).
Inmates Entrust Program
Another approach that could be adopted in mitigating overcrowding in jails is the pledge approach where inmates with less serious crimes are allowed to pledge to appear in the court when their cases are brought before the magistrate (Council of Europe, 2002). The pledge should also incorporate their dedication to participate in the community-based programs that aim at eradicating the drug and substance abuse menace in the community.
Criminal justice administrators should come up with reporting avenues where the progress of inmates will be monitored closely. The program should have the rehabilitative aspect that will guarantee vocational training for inmates to ascertain that they reform. In order to ensure that only appropriate inmates qualify for this program, two approaches should be adopted. First, the judge giving the verdict can decide to put the offender under this program and secondly, an inmate must serve a minimum sentence period from which they qualify to be elected to join this release program (Peak, 2010). This approach, if properly administered, will guarantee decongestion in the correction facilities.
Facility increment
Lastly, decongestion could be achieved if the current facilities are expanded, and new ones built. This option is time-consuming and requires a lot of finances to execute, but it should never be downplayed. For instance, in 1996, after congress had determined that on average, only 44% of the inmates in jails served their jail terms in full, it authorized funding that would add the number of correctional facilities in the country. The added jails enabled the facilities to ascertain that at least every inmate was able to serve over 85% of their jail terms before they are released (Hough & Allen, 2008). However, over the years the facilities have been unable to cope with the increase in the number of inmates. This continuous rise prompted the California governor to present a reform report that would see a growth in the number of prisons in the county. The governor had projected a $10.6 billion reform package that would see the total bed capacity in the county prisons expanded by a total of over 78,000, which would help decongest the prisons (Clear, Cole & Reisig, 2010).
Conclusion
It is evident that jail crowding is a menace in California. Several alternatives have been suggested above that guarantee possible decongestion of jails. However, it should be noted that they are not exhaustive as there are other possible courses of action that can reverse this problem. Having identified the various issues that catalyze crime, it is important to note that crime mitigating measures that should be adopted should be in line with the crime catalyzers. Measures that have been identified as possible avenues to decongest prison facilities include the release program, the inmate entrusts program as well as facility increase program. Such measures will aid in decongesting the prisons.
References
Clear, T., R., Cole, G., F. & Reisig, M., D. (2010). American Corrections. Upper saddle river: Cengage Learning.
Council of Europe (2002). Prison overcrowding and prison population inflation. London: Council of Europe.
Hough, J. M. and Allen, R. (2008). Tackling Prison Overcrowding. New York: The Policy Press.
Levitt, D., S. (2011). The Effect of Prison Population Size on Crime Rates: Evidence from Prison Overcrowding Litigation. Chicago: Elsevier.
Peak, K., J. (2010). Justice administration: Police, courts, and corrections management. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Pollock, J., M. (2005). Prisons: today and tomorrow. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning.