The Benefits of Community-Based Alternatives to Incarceration

As crime and arrest rates continue to climb, prisons across the nation, and even the world are beginning to experience immense overcrowding, placing a burden on both the prison personnel and inmate population. Nevertheless, this scenario is nothing unusual for anyone who has either worked some time for served some time in almost any prison. With most prison staff members suffering from high levels of stress from the unbearable workloads placed upon them, work conditions are starting to be considered near impossible, which is completely unacceptable. However, it’s to be expected if you work in a prison. So, what does the correctional department do to address this issue? Surely, officials aren’t apprehending a lesser amount of individuals†¦show more content†¦Even today, offenders are being placed behind bars with multiple inmates confined to a single cell. Why is this? Should jails be constructed larger to adhere to these escalating needs for space, or should th e corrections department reanalyze the types of offenders they’re putting behind bars? Needless to say, jails and prisons just simply do not have the space to construct new cells, nor do they have the budget to pull a project like that off. With crime rates increasing or remaining consistent, prison vacancy is becoming scarce. However, within the walls of most prisons, stress is beginning build and tempers are flaring. To ward off the stress overcrowding may cause for both inmates and prison personnel, community-based programs, such as probation, parole, and even community service for low-risk offenders may do corrections a favor by cutting down on prison populations and making some more leg room. Moreover, this maneuver provides generous benefits for the community as well. Inmates may be required to clean the neighborhood, pick up trash and recycle as part of their obligation to their sentence. With this being said, utilizing the community as a place to rehabilitate low-risk offenders will drastically lessen the mental and physical burden on other inmates and prison staff by decreasing overcrowding, as well as put forth an effort to strengthen theShow MoreRelatedMale And Female Sentencing : A Look Into Alternative Sentencing1274 Words   |  6 PagesFemale V Male Sentencing A Look into Alternative Sentencing Ritchey, Christian American Military University Author Note This paper was prepared for CRMJ201. Abstract With incarceration rates rising and jail and prison populations at an all-time high, alternative sentencing is being used more often with non-violent offenders. This paper looks at male and female incarceration rates, the use of alternative programs for sentencing between the two and the effectiveness of such programs. 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