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Rogerian Argument: Prison Reform

PART I - INTRODUCTION

Attention Grabber

As extensively noted in popular, professional, and academic sources, there is widespread concern that the United States has been experiencing severe prison overcrowding for some time.

Thesis Statement

There are significant differences of opinion as to what actually constitutes overcrowding, what role it plays in causing or exacerbating prison management and inmate-related problems, or what steps should be taken to deal with it.

PART II - BODY

Main Point #1: Discussions of overcrowding frequently merge concerns about state and federal prisons together with municipal and county jails, which in states such as Pennsylvania, are confusingly referred to as county prisons.

Explaination

With the exception of Alaska, Hawaii, and a small number of northeastern states that operate integrated jail/prison systems, state and federal prisons or penitentiaries house exclusively sentenced felons, usually committed for a minimum of one year. (McDonald: 236) Jails typically hold varying proportions of felons and misdemeanants sentenced to less than one year. However, they also house pretrial detainees who have not yet been convicted but are held pending prosecution and disposition of their cases, usually because they have not been able to secure pretrial release by posting bail. Because the extent of crowding, along with the reasons, consequences, and potential remedies can vary considerably depending upon whether the focus is on prisons versus jails, it is important to separate the two. In this discussion, focus will be primarily on the issue as it involves state and federal prisons.

Support

Much of the literature on prison crowding focuses on the overall size and growth of inmate populations and correctional facilities as indicators that the United States builds prisons and incarcerates at far higher rates than most other countries. (Osborne: 72) Data on prisons and prison populations to support such conclusions are usually drawn from two general sources. The most complete picture is found in the annual reports and on the Websites of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and many individual state departments of corrections. Through its national prisoner statistics program, BJS produces annual and semiannual data on prisoners in state and federal prison facilities.

Opposing Viewpoint

A recent Pew Center report estimates that the number of state inmates alone increased over the last four decades by more than 700 percent, rising from 174,379 in 1972 to over 1.4 million by the end of 2009. If inmates  of federal prisons are included, the latter figure climbs over the 1.6 million mark, and this does not include the more than 100,000 persons estimated to be held in prisons in the U.S. geographical areas, and in separate residential facilities for juvenile offenders. Such growth has been accompanied by a sizeable investment nationwide in building new prisons and adding beds to existing institutions. (Sullivan: 56-58) The California Department of Corrections, for example, added 21 new prisons from June 1980 to September 1997, and added beds to several of the 12 existing prisons. Most of the new prisons house in excess of 4,000 inmates each. A 2004 study by the Urban ...