1

Amelia Graham
ENG 112-59
30 March 2015

North Carolinas Overcrowded Jails

In the state of North Carolina there are fifty six state prisons holding approximately thirty
eight thousand inmates (Sullivan). North Carolinas growing crime rate has just started to
become a problem within the last twenty years. In 2005, the crime rate for North Carolina
dropped by 0.5 percent compared to 2004, but violent crimes rose 3.7 percent and murders
increased 9.7 percent, according to reports from law enforcement agencies across the state
(Marshall). According to the Bureau of Justice, the nation's jail population grew 2.6 percent over
a 12-month period, to nearly 2.2 million inmates as of June 30, 2005, the most recent data
available. During that period, three states, North Carolina being one of them (up 1,482 inmates)
accounted for more than 40 percent of the [nations] growth (Marshall). With that being said,
overpopulation in North Carolina is obviously a problem and a growing problem at that. North
Carolina has tried to solve the problem themselves with the House Bill 945.
Found on the NC Legislation website, the bill 945 States in, SECTION 2.16. Sentencing and
Prison Overcrowding (S.B. 1046 Kinnaird; H.B. 1092 Bordsen, Love) The
Commission may study the State's current sentencing laws and policies, consider the
current availability, use, and effectiveness of alternative punishments, and evaluate how
all of those contribute to the increasing number of nonviolent offenders housed in State
and local government correctional facilities.
This began a sort of early release program by releasing a small amount of inmates back
into society. But North Carolina's answer has not been to shorten sentences, but to add at least

Amelia Graham
ENG 112-59
30 March 2015
nine months of mandatory parole to existing sentences for some felonies, ensuring that every
departing convict has some time under supervision (Eckholm). This allowed criminals extra
chances to roam the street while awaiting potential sentencing or permanent release. Yet,
overcrowding is still an issue. Crime will never stop unfortunately. There will always be people
who cannot follow rules and enjoy breaking the law. Then you have people with psychological
problems who cannot comprehend the law and have a whole other set of issues that they cannot
control. There is a difference between these people, but they are all sent to the same
overcrowded prisons and all sentenced the same form of punishment.
North Carolina jails are obviously overcrowded with no real solution to the problem.
However, recently many states across the country are beginning to look at the possibilities of
admitting criminals into mental health hospitals instead of throwing them into the overpopulated
jails. In Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Wednesday to fund
several programs for people undergoing psychiatric crises (Sewell).
Sewell also states in her article that state funding for opening three new 24-hour psychiatric
urgent care centers, where police can bring people undergoing mental health crises
instead of taking them to overcrowded emergency rooms or jail. The money would also
help pay for an estimated 560 new residential treatment beds and to create 14 new crisis
response teams that send mental health workers -- sometimes in conjunction with law
enforcement -- to respond to incidents involving people believed to be mentally ill.

Amelia Graham
ENG 112-59
30 March 2015
This means that not everyone is just locked up for domestic violence of public disturbance for
example. It means that people can be evaluated to see if they need help, as opposed to a 6 x 6
foot cell. In 44 states there are estimated to be more people locked up with a serious mental
illness than in any state psychiatric hospital (Mercimer). With North Carolina being one of them,
this transformation from jails to mental hospitals should be considered greatly. Researchers
surveyed corrections officials about the shift of the mentally ill from hospitals to prisons. They
describe a horrific and unmanageable job of managing hundreds of mentally ill inmates cycling
in and out of jail, taking up space and also getting sicker because of the lack of proper medical
care (Mercimer). Current inmates should undergo a mental health evaluation to decide who has
issues in the mind and who simply cannot obey the law.
Releasing inmates to a mental health facility can also help the individual become
healthier and teach them how to cope with their illness as opposed to them potentially causing
harm to others or themselves. The failure to acknowledge and treat those with mental illness is
directly related to the increase in crime, in North Carolina and in many other states. There are
now as many mentally ill individuals in prisons as there were in asylums decades ago. And these
prisons are in many ways even less suited to treat these individuals than the asylums were,
meaning mentally ill inmates leave the prisons significantly worse than they entered (Flatow).
We as a country shut down many psychiatric hospitals because we thought it was
inhumane to the people. By putting these people in jails where authority has no experience
treating these illnesses, it can do even worse damage to the person.

Amelia Graham
ENG 112-59
30 March 2015
For those who need to be in jails and prisons, the problems of solitary confinement and other
means of punishing the mentally ill are dire. One recent North Carolina court ruling
revealed how that states prison authorities routinely abused, neglected and
humiliated these inmates, allowing several to die after grave medical neglect (Flatow).
The point is, this disregard and misplacement could all be avoided if we allowed every inmate to
be evaluated for mental illness before being completely booked into jail. The jails would
become less crowded at a very quick rate, allowing prison violence to go down too. North
Carolina has one of the worst overcrowding jails problems in the country and has not been
successful in solving the issue. They are way behind other states like California and Montana
who a have started to ease their overcrowded prisons by opening mental institutions for those
persons who qualified for treatment instead of sentencing. So the obvious solution here is to
open up more mental health facilities for inmates. It will better those citizens as a person, as
opposed to letting them sit in jail not understanding their mental situation. Some cannot help the
fact their brain does not function on normal level and most of the time they do not understand
that this is happening to them. That is why they lash out and commit crimes. A mental
evaluation of inmates will help the individual realize their sickness and reduce the amount of
mentally ill in jails.

Amelia Graham
ENG 112-59
30 March 2015

Works Cited

Eckholm, Erik. "A State Cuts Jail Time for Probation Violators, and Costs." New York
Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.Sep 12 2014. ProQuest. Web. 19 Mar. 2015 .
Flatow, Nicole. "Why Our Prisons Are Making The Mental Health Crisis
Worse." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., 09 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Marshall, Katie. "Jail Overcrowding Problem Hard to Solve." McClatchy - Tribune
Business News: 1. Aug 27 2006. ProQuest. Web. 19 Mar. 2015
Mercimer, Stephanie. "There Are 10 times More Mentally Ill People behind Bars than in
State Hospitals." Mother Jones. N.p., 08 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Sewell, Abbey. "In Push to Keep Mentally Ill out of Jail, County to Expand Crisis
Centers." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Sullivan, Cara. "Prison Overcrowding: North Carolina." ALEC American Legislative
Exchange Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
"GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2009." Www.ncleg.net. PDF
Document, 1 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.