Criminals must serve time. Justice demands for that. But sometimes there are offenders who do not need to spend another day in prison. This pertains to those guilty of non-heinous crimes, to which imprisonment in overcrowded prison will only turn them into hardened criminals. Policy makers and other experts can see the solution in using technology to keep an eye on those who are serving time but doing it outside the penal colony. For this to possible the United States government is turning to high technology and a product popularly known as ankle bracelets.
This paper will look into the problem of prison overcrowding and the need for electronic gadgets in the war against crime and an ineffective U.S. penitentiary. It is a documented fact that oftentimes than not imprisonment will make a person much worse instead of rehabilitating him. But an alternative to prison time means putting a system in place where authorities can keep a watchful eye on a convicted felon’s movements even if the justice department had given them a more lenient sentence by sending them home rather than hauling them to the slammer.
Prison Overcrowding
It is a sad and lamentable fact that prison overcrowding is a serious problem in the United States. In the book about U.S. prisons, authors Clear, Cole, and Reisig found out that, “In 2003, 22 states and the federal prison system reported operating at or above capacity. The federal system was estimated to be operating at 39 percent, and overall the state systems were operating at 14 percent above capacity” (2005, p. 467).
Michael Jacobson the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, the largest city jail system in the U.S. provides additional figures that helps to clearly illustrate the crisis. And he remarked, “The United States now locks up a higher percentage of its population than any country in the world. The more than 2 million people who are incarcerated today make up roughly eight times the number in 1975” (Jacobson, 2005, p. 8).
Problem with Overcrowding
What is the big deal with overcrowding? It is helpful to see prison overcrowding from another perspective. And that is to understand the real purpose of incarceration. Colvin argued that policy makers should be reminded that the main purpose of prison is to rehabilitate offenders and not just function as a place to lock them up (1992, p. 1).
Aside from futility of rehabilitating a criminal in an overcrowded facility there is also the problem of criminals seeing a significant flaws in this country’s laws and how to enforce them. Jones and Kovavich believe that, “…some crimes were committed because criminals believe the criminal justice system is so slow and backlogged, that even if they got caught, they will be given a suspended sentence or released from prison or jail early because of overcrowding” (2006, p. 392).
Solution
Overcrowding reduces the efficacy of whatever rehabilitative impact prison can offer. This was highlighted by Clear, Cole and Reisig when they asserted that, “Prison overcrowding directly affects the ability of correctional officials to do their work, because it decreases the proportion of offenders in programs, increases the potential for violence, and greatly strains staff morale” (2005, p. 469).
It will not require a rocket scientist to realize that the solution is effective crime prevention because Americans could no longer afford to keep sending and sending more men and women into the brig. For those who are already inside, their sentences must be shortened and for that to happen without offending the victims, an efficient system of giving parole must be in place.
Aside from giving parole to those who have shown the capacity to change, a serious reduction in the number of inmates is to simply create laws and statutes that will be more lenient to those who were found guilty of less serious crimes. For this type of criminals staying in jail will be counterproductive to say the least. Justice can still be served in the form of stiff fines, forfeitures, denial of privileges and limiting their mobility through house arrest etc. This will only be possible with the use of technology.
Ankle Bracelets
Aside from all the tried and tested solutions discussed above, law enforcement in the 21st century will benefit much from the proper utilization of science and technology. And one of the most effective uses of technology is in the use of monitoring devices such as ankle bracelets. An example such a device is called “The Constant Watch”, a stainless steel wristwatch or bracelet affixed and locked to a parolee’s ankle, to which Nils Christie pointed out as having:
A Global Positioning System chip … [that ] will track the individual’s changing location … If a parolee moves out of the prescribed freedom area or removes the Constant Watch bracelet, the Constant Watch computer system will immediately alert police officers who can take corrective action to contain the offender (Christie, 2000, p. 126).
Conclusion
The issue of prison overcrowding plus the general accepted idea that the U.S. prison system is not helping in deterring crime or rehabilitate offenders puts pressure on policy makers to grant more parole and to encourage the use of other punitive devices to exact punishment for the guilty. This can only mean one of two things: a) free up the prisoners to reduce the number of inmates and b) to increase the use of house arrest to punish less serious crimes and yet restrict mobility of the convicted felon.
The only possible route is to go the high-technology way wherein law enforcement officers rely on sophisticated gadgets to keep intense vigilance of those found capable of doing illegal acts and yet allowed to serve time under house arrest. It is a good thing that there is a gizmo such as the “Constant Watch”, a gadget that points to the future of crime prevention and a new way of keeping an eye on a few troublemakers.
Reference List
Christie, N. (2000). Crime Control as Industry: Towards Gulags, Western Style. New York:
Routledge.
Clear, T., G. Cole, & Reisig, M. (2005). American Corrections. Belmont CA: Thomson Higher
Education.
Colvin, M. (1992). The Penitentiary in Crisis: From Accomodation to Riot in New Mexico. New
York: State University of New York Press.
Jacobson, M. (2005). Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration.
New York: New York University Press.
Jones, A. & Kovavich, G. (2006). High-Technology Crime Investigator’s Handbook.Burlington,
MA: Elsevier.
