Incarceration explosion
I find this graph quite staggering. Until the early 1980s there had been a slow growth in the New Hampshire inmate population, which is not surprising given that the population of the state was increasing. Then in the early 1980s there’s a massive explosion in the prison population, which continues to this day. The 80′s rise was due to an increase in the severity of sentencing, following a late 1970s crime surge (burglaries, for example were up to over 12,000 in 1980, compared to 1,100 in 1960). More people are staying in jail for longer. Crime rates have fallen since the 1980s, but the state of New Hampshire is actually having to close one prison in order to cut costs. How can we continue to incarcerate more and more people without spending money on new facilities? And are severely overcrowded prisons going to make inmates behave better or worse? Already at the prison I visit regularly, rooms used for rehabilitative programs are being converted to dormitory accommodations. This inevitably means that rehabilitative programs, which help inmates develop self awareness and empathy, are going to be cut. This is not heading in a good direction.
5 Responses to “Incarceration explosion”
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You’re currently reading “Incarceration explosion,” an entry on Bodhipaksa's blog, bodhi tree swaying
Published: Apr 20 2009
Good article, I agree that it’s not helpful to keep increasing sentencing for no reason except that it’s a political issue. More money is needed, but it is ALL going to security staff. Interesting point, Massachusetts CO’s are the highest paid in the country, at an average of over 41,000 per CO. Less than 1% goes toward inmates rehab programs.
Hi by the way, I’ve still not found your website. Don’t know why it’s alluding me. See you on Twitter, keep up the great work. Dana
We need more people to do the work you are doing, Bodhipaksa. Without guidance and knowing that the society still cares for them (at least some of them), inmates who come out could well go back in again. This will become a vicious cycle that pushes prisoner population even higher. Let’s hope the situation won’t get worse.
You are doing important life-changing work there. Don’t lose heart, pal!
Great article. Might be interesting to see how many were also small amount pot possession/usage crimes and divorced Dad’s squeezed by the system.
“Staggering” is certainly the right word. I am all for punishing criminals, but politicians have created a problem that needn’t exist. Mandatory minimum sentences should be abolished, and drugs should be decriminalized. Drug addiction should be treated as a public health issue, as it was in Richard Nixon’s first term in office!
There certainly was a crime wave to be dealt with, but I’m interested in knowing more about what the underlying causes of that crime wave were. The increase in prison population is totally disproportionate to the rise in crime it was trying to combat, and in any event the crime rate hasn’t gone back to anything like its 1960s levels, so arguably it’s not even working well as a strategy because it’s not addressing those underlying causes. And the overcrowding and lack of therapeutic interventions means that some of these guys are going to be harder criminals coming out than they were going in. It’s a mess.
One thing that’s striking is that many people will vote at the drop of a hat to increase the prison population without thinking twice about the extra costs incurred, but those same people will balk at spending a penny more on education.