Esau 1

Jumana Esau
Mr. Rogers
Government 5
2 November, 2015
Prison Reform
While the United States contains a mere 319 million of the
approximately 7.2 billion people in the world about 5% of the world it
holds about 25% of the worlds jailed population. Since the late 1900s, the
United States government has taken on a fairly harsh stance on prison
sentences and the overall punishment of those who break the law. Bill Clinton,
in trying to appease those who believed that he was soft on crime, created
a Three Strikes crime bill that worsened the problem of mass incarceration.
Recently, in a statement to the media, Clinton admit that his bill placed too
many minor actors behind bars for sentences that were far too long for the
crimes they committed; especially those in prison for drug offenses. The laws
in place from the late nineties, in accordance with the ideals of the War on
Drugs, take a rather cruel stand on all those convicted of crimes, whether
they are repeat violent offenders or nonviolent drug offenders. This problem
of mass incarceration leaves those who have been imprisoned with no
education, training for jobs, and decreased life chances to lead productive
lives-which forces many of them to resort to crime yet again. The budget that
goes into funding prisons comes out of that of education as well as other
programs meant to better the lives of those living in low socioeconomic areas.
Incarceration is costing the United States tens of millions of dollars. However,

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a large portion of that amount could have been going to developmental
programs such as rehabilitation centers for those who are in prisons for drug
offenses in order to keep them out of prison after their time in jail is at its
end. By instating a 28th Amendment to the Constitution, stating that
rehabilitation centers must be installed and funded in all prisons within the
United States and all subject to its jurisdiction, the drug-related offenses will
be lowered, the federal budget for upholding overcrowded prisons will be cut
drastically, and the racial disparity within the criminal justice system will be
addressed.
Those involved in drug offenses are usually from low socioeconomic
areas; their life chances are slim to begin with and many resort to the use and
sale of drugs because of this. While this is perceived as merely a criminal
justice issue, it is also a public health issue, as only those who can afford it
are able to seek medical treatment for drug issues. Therefore, rather than
sentence first time drug offenders to prison after which they will repeat the
crime they have been incarcerated for, the courts should provide for time in
rehabilitation centers that will be instated in prisons. According to the
American Civil Liberties Union, increasingly long prison sentences that have
been adopted by most states over the last 20 years have had little to no
effect on reducing crime rates. In fact, more than half of the people released
from prison will return within three years (Disciplinary). This is because
imprisonment, for lengthy sentences, strike at the foundations of individuals
as well as entire communities, adding to the cycle of poverty and crime that

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led to the arrest to begin with. Social reform is at the heart of criminal reform.
In order to solve the problem of recidivism and mass incarceration, we must
first take steps to ensure that help is always provided for those who seek it.
The increased population of the American prison and the prices that come
along with it are placing a toll on our national budget. The rates of recidivism
are due to an emphasis on punishment rather than help; With an emphasis
on punishment rather than rehabilitation, U.S. prisoners are often released
with no better skills to cope in society and are offered little support after their
release, increasing the chances of reoffending (Dunec). While many believe
that instating rehabilitation centers is too costly in comparison to simply
incarcerating those who possess or use drugs, the cost that goes into helping
them will reap benefits as, every dollar spent on drug treatment in the
community [will] yield over $18 in cost savings related to crime (Criminal).
Rather than have the peoples taxes go into funding for overcrowded
prisoners with minor actors that use resources, their money is better spent in
funding rehabilitation centers that prevent them from even going to prison.
Furthermore, jail reduces work time of young people over the next decade by
around 25% when compared with arrested youths who are not incarcerated.
This reduced work time plays into the many causes of recidivism. Treatment
simply offers the best alternative for interrupting the drug use criminal cycle
under which a great portion of our nation has fallen victim to. Offenders with
drug problems should be provided help, not disregarded and thrown in a

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prison cell. Jail or prison, by having rehabilitation centers, should be a place
where drug offenders can get the help they so desperately need.
By instating rehabilitation centers within prisons and jails, the federal
budget for upholding overcrowded prisons with minor actors will be drastically
cut and used for developmental programs that benefit the nation as a whole.
According to the organization, The Price of Prisons, The average cost of
incarcerating one inmate was around $31,000 per year (Vera). The money
being spent on one inmate could be used to fund several rehabilitation
centers to accommodate many inmates that would otherwise be using
$31,000 each. Since every dollar being used on treatment yields $18 in
savings, whatever is spent on installing and funding these rehab centers
within prisons is well worth the cost of what would have otherwise gone into a
futile effort to reform drug users without addressing the problem they face.
The proposition to amend the prison system and how it deals with drugs
stems from prison spending, since, Nearly 75 percent of imprisonment
spending happens at the state level, where dollars are drawn from a general
fund that is meant to pay for a range of public needs, including health care,
housing, public assistance, and education (From Nixon). With the nearly 7
million citizens involved with the criminal justice system, including 5 million
under probation or parole supervision, the states taxes are going directly into
prisons and what is left over may trickle into education or housing. The heavy
investment of incarceration over that of education reflects in how low
socioeconomic neighborhoods send a larger percentage of their youth to jail

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rather than college (Moretti). Not only are taxpayer dollars going into
overcrowded prisons, but that money is coming out of the range of public
needs that paying taxes should essentially fund.
The racial disparity within the United States criminal justice system is
most evident when it comes to drug offenses. People of color, because of
factors such as low socioeconomic living standards in urban ghettos, are
incarcerated at twice the rate of whites for crimes related to drug use and
sale. The War on Drugs marked the beginning of enacting laws that allow
drug crimes to be prosecuted in both federal and state courts, imposing very
brutal sentences. The Rockefeller Drug laws, specifically the 100 to one
clause, treats crack 100 times more harshly than powder cocaine. According
to studies conducted by Stanford University including gathered data and
statistics about the California prison and rehabilitation system, Possessing 5
grams of crack cocaine is necessary to invoke the same sentence threshold
as 500 grams of powder cocaine (The California). While this may seem like
an economic issue rather than a race issue, African Americans receive longer
prison sentences for the same drug offenses than whites. By providing
rehabilitation centers within prisons, the number of incarcerated African
Americans will reduce from the high rate it is at the moment. Approximately
two-thirds of all people in prison for drug offenses are people of color
(Alexander). Since many of those in jail for drug-related crimes are repeat
offenders, providing a center in which they can attempt to reform themselves
may prove beneficial in lowering the rate at which African Americans are

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incarcerated. Many believe mass incarceration of African Americans is the
New Jim Crow. The economic segregation of a large population of African
Americans leads to their imprisonment during this period of mass
incarceration (Pager). To test the limits of our criminal system and our legal
systems soundness, we must be able to provide help for those who are being
incarcerated for something that can be dealt with.
Many believe that mass incarceration, while placing a strain on our
budget, is effectively lowering the crime rate in the United States and
ensuring public safety by locking up the criminals. Although people have faith
in a system of cause and effect, a system in which crime is met with
punishment, this often yields the opposite results especially when the
punishment is as cruel as that of our government. When these dangers to
society are thrown in a cell, they will soon be released to do the same things
that got them there to begin with. James Gilligan, in his book titled
Preventing Violence, states that Generations of research has shown that
the more severely children are punished, the more violent they become, as
children and as adults (Gilligan). Therefore, a nonviolent drug offender who
is severely punished may leave prison as a now violent drug offender, which
counteracts the theory that the stricter the punishment, the better the
results. Furthermore, in accordance with data collected by the Department for
Correctional Services, appropriate programs that focus on bringing about
changes in an offenders actual functioning may significantly impact crime
rates (Annual). Focusing on amending the Constitution so that state as well

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as federal prisons are altered is imperative as most of the inmates in the
United States large population of prisons are under the jurisdiction of the 50
states (Gilmore). Therefore, focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment
within our criminal justice system actually significantly alters the behavior of
those convicted of drug-offenses in a positive way. By altering their behavior
rather than punishing them for it, they are able to change what they were
doing and refrain from repeating the crime.
In all, the 28th Amendment should be passed and ratified so as to lower
drug-related offenses in the nation, cut federal and state spending on prisons
and prisoners, and address the issue of racial disparity within our criminal
justice system. Though many have attempted to deal with this problem by
creating new laws about drug offenses or increasing punishment and
sentence time for those who are incarcerated, this method is futile because a
majority of those incarcerated will return to prison within three years for a
similar crime. Recidivism is a major issue as it places a strain on our budget
and incarcerates millions of people who could have been rehabilitated and
working a job that aids our economy. Rather than focus on punishing those
who have gone against the law because they were carrying crack rather than
powdered cocaine, we must focus on why they were carrying it to begin with
and how we can stop that issue before we take on a larger scope of issues
altogether. You can rarely stop someone from doing drugs by punishing them,
but you can offer to help.

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Works Cited
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness. Print.
"Annual Report." Department for Correctional Services. Web.
<http://www.corrections.sa.gov.au/annual_report/20032004/rehabilitation_and_reparation.htm>.
"Criminal Justice Fact Sheet." Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. NAACP. Web. 24
Sept. 2015. <http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheetstatistics>.
"Disciplinary Sanctions and Punishments." American Civil Liberties Union.
Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
<https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/massincarceration_problems.pdf>.
Dunec, Joanne L. "Incarceration and Recidivism: Lessons from Abroad."
Natural Resources & Environment 16.2 (2001): 129-30. Web.
<http://www.salve.edu/sites/default/files/filesfield/documents/Incarceration_a
nd_Recidivism.pdf>.
"From Nixon's." "War on Drugs" To the Prison Industrial Complex: Crime Is Big
Business. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.academia.edu/7906977/From_Nixon_s_War_on_Drugs_To_the_Pris
on_Industrial_Complex_Crime_Is_Big_Business>.
Gilligan, James. Preventing Violence. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001. Print.
Gilmore, Craig, and Kevin Pyle. "Prison: Paying the Price." The Real Cost of
Prison Projects. Web. <http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=6282&context=etd>.
Moretti, Enrico and Lance Lochner. The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence
from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports. Web.
<http://eml.berkeley.edu/~moretti/lm46.pdf>.
Pager, Devah. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass
Incarceration. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2007. Print.
"The California Prison and Rehabilitation System." The California Prison and
Rehabilitation System. Stanford University. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.

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<https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/citypoverty/californi
a.htm>.
"Vera Institute of Justice: Making Justice Systems Fairer and More Effective
through Research and Innovation." The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration
Costs Taxpayers. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.vera.org/pubs/special/priceprisons-what-incarceration-costs-taxpayers>.