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Danger of Overcrowding in California Prisons

Jennifer Creacy
Cal Baptist University

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Dangers of Overcrowding in California Prisons
Prison overcrowding is an issue that many states, including California, are affected by. It
is caused by the insufficient space for prison inmates. Prison overcrowding occurs when the
prisoners are not released in a timely manner or not enough deaths of the inmates occur and new
inmates are being brought in.
To understand the history of prison overcrowding one must understand its origins in our
country. Prison overcrowding has been an issue since the first modern American Prison was
established in 1790. (Campers 2012) The problem with that prison system was they kept all their
prisoners in solitary confinement, which made it difficult to keep up with all the inmates coming
in. Thats when they realized they needed a new prison system established where the inmates
had to congregate, and do hard labor during the day and confinement only at night. Even with
that new system in place they still experienced a problem with overcrowding.
New problems have surfaced currently in prison overcrowding. Not only are prisons at
the maximum capacity but the inmates are now faced with many dangers. Evans (2014) writes
an estimated 49,000 state prisoners were sexually assaulted during their incarceration. There
were 27,300 incidents of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse and around 27,100 incidents of sexual
misconduct by a staff member. In total, about 9.6% of state prisoners were believed to be sexual
assaulted. Not only is sexual assault an issue in prisons but also there a significant amount of
deaths in prison. Evans (2014) also mentions, a total of 3,232 inmates died while incarcerated in
2010. The majority (88.7%) of deaths were caused by illnesses, mostly cancer (27.7%) and
heart disease (26.4%). Also, 6.7% of inmates committed suicide while incarcerated.

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There are many factors that go into prison overcrowding and how it affects the inmates.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the largest prison
system in the United States. (Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. n.d.) Due to the large
amount of people incarcerated in California prisons, all 33 CDCR are at or above maximum
operational capacity, and 29 of those prisons are so overcrowded that they are housing more than
15,000 inmates in conditions that pose high safety risks, namely, prison areas never designed or
intended to house inmates. Rooms such as, common areas such as prion gymnasiums, day
rooms, and program rooms, with about 1,500 inmates sleeping on triple bunks. The dangers that
come with having inmates triple bunk is it creates a line-of-sight problem for correctional
officers by blocking the views of the inmates, which then creates a substantial security risk.
Also, there is a greater chance for the inmates to spread infectious diseases being that close
together.
With the current severe overcrowding problem in the 29 CDCR prisons is that it has
caused a risk to the health and safety to the men and women who work inside the prisons and
also the inmates that are incarcerated. (Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. n.d.) With such
a high number of inmates housed in large common areas there is an increase in violence and it
makes it harder for the officers to control the large number of inmates. Not only does
overcrowding affect the prisoners directly but it also has a huge impact on the actual prions and
they way they are able to hold up to the massive amount of inmates. The electrical systems
and/or the wastewater/sewer systems of the 29 CDCR prisons are required to operate at or above
the maximum intended capacity which results in in an increase of risking the health and safety to
the staff and also the inmates for many reasons. The first, by overloading the electrical system it
can

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result in power outages in the prisons, which then creates a huge security risk for everyone.
Second, overloading the prison sewage and wastewater systems can result in the discharge of
ease beyond treatment capacity, which can result in thousands of gallons of sewage spills and
environmental contamination.
Not only does prison overcrowding affect the inmates but some of the problems can have
an affect on the publics health as well. When the prison has an overdischarge of waste, bacteria
can contaminate the drinking water supply, which puts the publics health at risk. (Office of
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. n.d.) Also, overloading the prison sewage and water systems
can result in increased, risk of damage to state and privately owned property and can result in
multiple fines, penalties, and/or notices of violations to the CDCR related to wastewater/sewer
system overloading such as groundwater contamination and environmental pollution.
Put the dangers aside that prison overcrowding has and there is another issue that may not
be as important but is is a big part of prisons and the resources the prisoners receive. With the
use of common areas for inmate housing it has eliminated certain inmate programs in the 29
CDCR prisons. Also, the severe overcrowding has limited to restricted inmate movement,
causing reduced inmate attendance in academic, vocational, and rehabilitation programs.
Overall, crowding causes harm to people and property, leads to inmate unrest and misconduct,
reduces or eliminates programs, and increases recidivism as shown within this state and in other.
(Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. n.d.)
The prison officers are not just in danger of the health risks and safety risks presented
above, it takes a psychological affect of them as well. In the article, Online Bachelors Degree in
Criminology and Criminal Justice, it states that overcrowding has been known to cause far more

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stressful situations and has prompted prison officials to react inappropriately on occasion due to
being forced to accommodate ill-advised numbers of prisoners. There was even a case in 1981
that addressed overcrowding as cruel and unusual punishment because of the many conditions
the inmates have to live in.
There have been some things done to try and help with the problem of overcrowding but
long term it doesnt fix the problem and may even cause more danger while inside the prions.
The article, Prison Overcrowding, it talks about the correctional systems inability to meet the
increased demand for more space. There has been a strong tendency to misclassify offenders.
Overcrowding has resulted in offenders being classified on the basis of the space available rather
than the correct security level and the programs most suitable for the crime committed. It is not
uncommon for an inmate to be classifies as medium security and to be incarcerated in a
maximum security facility, while others were in a medium security facility who would have
previously been considered candidates for maximum security. Overall, the effects of
overcrowding and misclassification create a vicious cycle for the inmate. It begins with
overcrowding, then the assignment to the incorrect facility or programs, followed by the inmate
stress to the lack of services, no movement or progress within the system, being labeled as
falilure to adjust, no parole release, rule infractions to regressive transfer. At that point the
cycle will start all over again.
There doesn't seem to be a real end in sight for the problems in overcrowding.
Henrichson &Delaney (2012) write, as states continue to deal with unprecedented fiscal strain,
most are taking steps to reduce their inmate populations and costs while protecting public safety
and holing offenders accountable. Hopefully in time there will be a program that the released

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inmates will find helpful and keep them out of the system. Without that there really doesn't seem
to be an end for prison overcrowding in California.

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References
Evans, K. M. (2014). Crime, prisons, and jails. Detroit, Mich: Gale.
Henrichson, C., & Delaney, R. (2012). The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs
Taxpayers. Retrieved from http://www.pertrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadfilees/pcs_assets/
2012/httpwwwveraorgdownlaodfile3495thepriceofprisonsupdatedpdf.pdf
Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.-Newsroom. (n.d.). Retrieved January 7, 2016, from
http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=4278
Online Bachelors Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10,
2016, from http://online.ccj.pdx.edu/resources/news-articles/prison-overcrowding-is-a
growing-concern-in-the-u-s/
Prison Overcrowding. (n.d.). Retrieved January 9, 2016, from http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/pub/
C42.htm

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