| From what I hear they do not really have enough bed space for everyone in jail as it is, at least that is a problem here in California.
But they have NOT built any new prisons for a long time now and some political leaders say that it is time to build more prisons and courtrooms.
But the taxpayers will not vote for that as it means raising taxes to budget a prison system that can handle the overflow. They added more police to the streets but now they have no room for more people that get arrested by that enlarged police force.
1 in 100 is a lot of people. It makes me wonder if we got too many laws. But I think one reason is that at the same time the inmate population is going up we are going into a economical nose dive into poverty as large numbers of people are getting laid off due to the closing of plants (that move to another country or whatever). Clearly poverty and crime are linked. People are in danger of loosing their homes, they cannot afford health care, and the price of gasoline and food has gone up double what it was 20 years ago (estimate not confirmed) as also unitlity bills and so forth. In our culture you must have money to eat and for shelter and so forth. Fewer decent paying jobs = more crime.
As well as the fact that the unemployed might turn to cheap booze or drugs out of depression.
Adding to their chances of getting arrested.
And as we move into this economic downsizing of the American economy we find the fines are going up higher for most crimes, as well as for traffic tickets. And more people cannot afford to pay the judge so they are placed in jail.
More poverty, more police arresting people, and higher fines for violations, would mean more prision inmates.
The best way then to deal with that problem is to find ways to generate more decent paying jobs and to bring down the cost of living. Or downsize the police force and remove as many laws from the books as possible, reduce the fine and the mandated time spent in jail for those crimes. Take your pick. |