Example research essay topic: U S Government Prison Overcrowding - 635 words

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Imprisonment Eric Schlosser in his article The Prison Industrial Complex examines the problem of prison overcrowding. While the correctional officers see danger in prison overcrowding, others see the opportunity to use prisoners labor. According to him, there are approximately 1. 8 million Americans behind bars, being nonviolent offenders in their majority, which mean jobs for depressed regions and windfalls for profiteers. In general, American prisons have more people than any other world country. The prisons hold people awaiting trials, serving short sentences, or convicted of federal or state crimes.

The vast majority of prisons are overcrowded, and, according to the author, the situation is so worrying, that simply to remain a double capacity the state will need to open at least one new prison a year, every year, for the foreseeable future. America experiences a real prison boom at approximately 445 prisoners for every 100, 000 people; among adult men the rate is about 1, 000 per 100, 000. The U. S. has developed a prison-industrial complex a set of political, bureaucratic, and economic interests encouraging increased spending on imprisonment, regardless of the actual need. Since 1991 the crime rate in the United States reduced by 20 percent, while the number of prisoners increased by 50 percent.

The logic is un exorable, - according to the head of National Criminal Justice Commission, in case the crime rate increases, the U. S. government has to build more prisons; and in case crime rate decreases, it is because the U. S. government built more prisons, - and building even more prisons will therefore drive crime down ever lower. The prison-industrial complex is not a set of set of interests; it is also a state of mind.

But, probably, it is not as bad as it seems to be. From the other hand, the prison boom, along with other results, provided a huge infusion of state money to economically depressed regions, such as the North Country and others. These infusions were, arguably, the largest direct investments the state has ever made there. According to the author, the prisons bring the North Country approximately $ 425 million in annual payroll and operating expenditures (an annual subsidy to the region of more than $ 1. 000 per person).

Besides, the economic impact of the prisons shouldnt be underestimated, as far as prisons are labor-intensive institutions, offering year-round employment. The corrections became a big business. The prisoners are perfect customers, and many business companies eagerly use the opportunity to offer their services. For example, the phone companies, providing phone services to jails and prisons consider it a highly profitable business, because phone calls are one of the prisoners few links to the outside world. A niche business for few companies turned into a multibillion-dollar industry with its mail-order catalogues, trade shows, direct marketing campaigns, etc. The prison-industrial complex now includes some of the nations largest architecture and construction firms, Wall Street investment banks, health-care companies, plumbing-supply companies, and others, selling everything one could wish to purchase.

The standard justification for todays prisons is that they are aimed to prevent crime. As it is confirmed by the author of the article, the crime rate indeed became lower. However, it seems that prisons became factories for crime. The average prisoner spends approximately two years in imprisonment and no one knows what happens during the period of his imprisonment. The lesson being taught in prisons, which its extortion, violence, rape and humiliation, is that the strongest always dominates. Evidently, the imprisonment hardly can be called the reformation or correction.

Something should be done in the entire system of our criminal justice to stop building unnecessary prisons, thus increasing the nations incarceration rate, but to decrease the violent crimes in more human way. Bibliography Schlosser, E. (1998). The Prison - industrial Complex. The Atlantic Monthly.

Research essay sample on U S Government Prison Overcrowding