Over Population in the Prison System Costs Billions, and...

Over population in the prison system costs billions, and that affect us all! Tjy Helms Composition 1 ENG1001 BH Week 5 Professor Henry 05/6/2011 I say why should we the people pay to house, feed, and provide medical care for people who have never had a history of violent behavior? The issue becomes compounded when we cram thousands of people into a space designed for hundreds. Look at the number of people who are doing hard time, for non-violent crimes. These are the people who are costing us unneeded expenses. I’m willing to pay to keep the murders and rapists off the streets, to keep the child molesters as far away from my children as I can get them. But I’m not willing to pay to house feed and care for the guy who should have†¦show more content†¦Katel (June 2, 2006) wrote in her paper on the war on drugs that roughly â€Å"700,000† of the â€Å"1.7 million† arrests made in 2004 on drug charges were for â€Å"marijuana,† and this is almost triple the arrest rate in and before 1980. The â€Å"war on drugs† has had a significant impact on the prison population. According t o Don Stemen, research director for the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the New York-based Vera Institute for Justice, Drug incarcerations jumped an extraordinary 1,000 percent between 1980 and 2005, In 2003, the last full year for which detailed statistics are available, drug offenders accounted for 55 percent of federal prisoners — down from a high of 60 percent in 1995 — and about 20 percent of state prisoners. This increase in drug incarceration is putting a great strain on the system. There is a growing debate about the value of imprisoning and jailing people for minor drug offenses, especially since about 74 percent of drug-offender inmates had no history of violence, according to The Sentencing Project. Most agree that incarcerating big-time drug traffickers is best for society, but they also believe that the incarceration of small-time dealers and usersShow MoreRelatedEducation State Funding Vs. Public Education1019 Words   |  5 Pagesstate fundin g. Within the past 15 years, Federal state spending has increase but decrease state funding towards education and protection system. Although education state funding has a higher income than the protection system, it is not distribute fairly, due to the population in each system. Keep in mind, over the past 15 years money has changed, causing to affect and benefit different areas. What is the purpose of a higher education? Isn’t a higher education the most valuable resource a human beingRead MoreComparison Between Schools And Prisons1732 Words   |  7 PagesSchools Vs Prisons The United States prison population has grown from approximately 500,000 to 2.3 million people in three decades. 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