PRISONIA - AMERICA'S GROWING MEGALOPOLIS

• NCJ Number: 64695
• Journal: Quarterly Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: (AUTUMN 1979) Pages: 47-54
• Author(s): W G NAGEL
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: Pennsylvania Assoc on Probation, Parole & Correction
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. PRESENTED AT A SEMINAR FOR LEGISLATORS ON ALTERNATIVES TO NEW PRISON CONSTRUCTION, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 18, 1979

Annotation

AMERICA'S GROWING PRISON POPULATION, REASONS FOR ITS INCREASE, AND WAYS TO REDUCE NUMBERS OF PRISONERS ARE DISCUSSED.

Abstract

IF ALL OF AMERICA'S PRISON AND JAIL INMATES WERE INCORPORATED INTO A CITY ('PRISONIA'), IT WOULD BE A MEGALOPOLIS RANKING BEHIND ST. LOUIS AND JUST AHEAD OF DENVER. IT WOULD BE LARGER IN POPULATION THAN 21 OF THE UNITED NATION'S CURRENT MEMBER NATIONS. IN PRISONERS PER 100,000 POPULATION, THE UNITED STATES IS SURPASSED ONLY BY THE SOVIET UNION AND SOUTH AFRICA, AND SOME OF THE STATE'S IMPRISONMENT RATES EXCEED EVEN THOSE COUNTRIES'. FURTHER PRISON GROWTH CAN BE EXPECTED, LARGELY DUE TO PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF INCREASING CRIME, PUBLIC POLICY SHIFTS TOWARD DETERMINATE AND/OR MANDATORY SENTENCES, AND PLANS IN MANY JURISDICTIONS TO BUILD NEW AND EXPAND OLD PRISONS AND JAILS. ALTHOUGH VICTIMIZATION STUDIES FAIL TO SUPPORT PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF INCREASING CRIME, OFFICIAL STATISTICS DO FEED THAT PERCEPTION, AND THE PREDOMINANT PUBLIC REACTION TO PERCEIVED CRIME INCREASES IS A DEMAND FOR MORE AND LONGER PRISON SENTENCES. IN STATES WHERE DETERMINATE AND/OR MANDATORY SENTENCING HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED, PRISON SENTENCES HAVE TENDED TO BE LONGER, THUS INCREASING THE PRISON POPULATION EVEN THOUGH THE NUMBER OF ADMISSIONS MAY NOT HAVE INCREASED. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT, IN STATES WHERE PRISON CAPACITIES HAVE BEEN ENLARGED, PRISON SENTENCES HAVE INCREASED TO FILL THE NEW CELLS. IN JURISDICTIONS WHERE THE INCREASE IN PRISON CAPACITY HAS BEEN LIMITED, PRISON POPULATIONS HAVE STABILIZED OR DECREASED. THE USE OF PRISON FOR VENGEANCE OR THE INCREASED INCAPACITATION OF OFFENDERS HAS NOT BEEN SHOWN TO DECREASE CRIME, AND MANY STUDIES HAVE DOCUMENTED THE CRIMINALIZING ASPECTS OF IMPRISONMENT. IF THE PRISON POPULATION IS TO BE REDUCED, GREATER EFFORTS MUST BE MADE TO DEVELOP ALTERNATIVES. THE SUCCESS OF SUCH EFFORTS CAN BE SHOWN IN SUCH NATIONS AS SWITZERLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS AND IN STATES SUCH AS PENNSYLVANIA.